Hercules is the best-known character from classical mythology. Seneca's play Hercules Furens presents the hero at a moment of triumph turned to tragedy. Hercules returns from his final labor, his journey to the Underworld, and then slaughters his family in an episode of madness. This play exerted great influence on Shakespeare and other Renaissance tragedians, and also inspired contemporary adaptations in film, TV, and comics. Aimed at undergraduates and non-specialists, this companion introduces the play's action, historical context and literary tradition, critical reception, adaptation, and performance tradition.
Author(s): Neil Bernstein
Series: Companions to Greek and Roman Tragedy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 168
City: London
Cover page
Halftitle page
Series page
Title page
Copyright page
Epigraph
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Preface
1 Introducing Hercules Furens
Act 1, lines 1–124
First Chorus, lines 125–204
Act 2, lines 205–523
Second Chorus, lines 524–91
Act 3, lines 592–829
Third Chorus, lines 830–94
Act 4, lines 895–1053
Fourth Chorus, lines 1053–1137
Act 5, lines 1138–1344
2 Major Themes in Hercules Furens
Madness and the passions
Courage, violence, and suicide
Ancestry and identity
Moralized landscapes
3 Monster-slayer, Moral Exemplar, and Madman: Hercules’ Ancient Roles
Madman and child-killer: Euripides’ Mad Heracles (Herakles Mainomenos)
Madness on stage between Euripides and Seneca
Augustan Hercules and new modes of heroism
Seneca’s post-Augustan hero
4 Hercules Furens and Seneca’s Career
Seneca the tragedian
Seneca the philosopher
At the Crossroads: the allegorist’s Hercules
Hercules’ rage
The challenge of ambition
The challenges of Fortune
5 Performance and Reception
From recitation drama to pantomime: reconstructing Senecan performance
“Ercles’ vein”: Hercules in the Renaissance
“The drama is all in the word”: the modern reception of Seneca’s rhetoric
Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Hercules
“Zero to Hero”: avoiding madness in contemporary comics and film
Notes
Further Reading
Bibliography
Chronology
Glossary of Greek and Latin Terms
Index
