Satire in the Tragedies of Euripides

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The world of Euripides' tragedies was one that espoused ancient ideas of religion. The belief in ancient legends that formed subject material for the tragic drama had passed. The crowd that attended the theater at this time did so as a sort of religious celebration.
It was under these circumstances that Euripides had to bury what might have been his true beliefs, and instead replace them with ideas that would relate to his audience. This did not mean that Euripides had to forgo his beliefs entirely. Rather, this meant that Euripides had to include his own interpretations of these ancient beliefs in a way that was not outwardly corrupt or blasphemous. By exploiting the human dimension of understanding beliefs, Euripides was able to insert in his tragedies the ideas of satire that would allow the audience to think, but not overtly counter their established beliefs.
The brand of satire used by Euripides can be defined as exposing contradictions and problems. This type of satire is not obligated to solve the contradictions and problems, but rather to just expose them. For the most part, the playwright Aristophanes is best known for this use of satire, but this type of satire, as used by Aristophanes, was mostly political. This can be seen in Aristophanes play The Knights, where there was a direct personal attack on the then powerful Cleon. Alfred Bales suggests in Drama: Its History, Literature, and Influence on Civilization”, that this is an example of the most “scathing and vigorous satires in literature” (Bales 59).
It is also important to note that according to Dana Ferrin Sutton in the book Ancient Comedies: The War of Generations, the ancient Greeks of Euripides time had no word for satire. The terms that were mostly associ...

... middle of paper ...

... chooses to just expose them as they are,and for the most part, leave the audience to answer the questions he presents. This form of exposition and rhetorical questioning can only be seen as satire.

Works Cited

Bates, Alfred. The Drama; Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization. Vol. 2. London: Smart and Stanley, 1903. Print.
Euripides. “Helen.” Classics.mit.edu. Trans. Edward P. Coleridge. Daniel C. Stevenson, Web Atomics, 1994. Web. 16 Nov. 2013.
Euripides. "Heracles.” Classics.mit.edu. Trans. Edward P. Coleridge. Daniel C. Stevenson, Web Atomics, 1994. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Euripides. “Ion.” Sacred-texts.com. Trans. Robert Potter. Internet Sacred Text Archives, 2010. Web. 21 Nov. 2013
Euripides. Medea. Trans. John Davie. London: Penguin, 1996. Print.
Sutton, Dana Ferrin. Ancient Comedy: The War of the Generations. New York: Twayne, 1993. Print.

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