Seneca’s Tragedies: summary, characteristics and structure, style, brief analysis of the content and pedagogical purpose.Seneca wrote nine tragedies during the years of his activity at the court of the emperor Nero and also after his retirement from political life, in 62 AD.
The tragedies have reached us in a completed form, they are inspired by Greek theatre, especially by the tragedies of Euripides .
In these works, Seneca conceives the myth as an exemplum to express the concepts of Stoic philosophy . The philosophical treatise is thus replaced by tragedies that have a pedagogical and moral character : it is as if Seneca wanted to teach Nero how power can degenerate.
The themes are similar to those of De clementia . Seneca stages bloody and strong stories to exhort man to moderation, to magnitudo animi . In the tragedies we find great experimentalism: classical composure is lacking. In Greek theater the relationship between man and God was evident, while in Seneca the divine world is totally absent.
Seneca rather highlights the relationship between mens bona and furor (wisdom and madness).
For example, the hero who is the symbol of strength, Hercules , is presented in two moments in which it is not strength that characterizes him but madness . In Hercules Furens the hero who has avenged the offenses suffered by his wife Megara and his children by killing the cruel Lycus, is driven mad by Juno, so much so that he no longer recognizes his loved ones and exterminates them (only later will he regain consciousness and go to purify himself in Athens).
Seneca is attracted by the macabre aspect of the myth. In the Hercules Oetaeus he is driven mad by the terrifying suffering caused by the tunic dyed with the blood of the centaur Nessus, sent to him by his wife Deianira, unaware of the power of her gift. Hercules dies torn and only after death will he regain his heroic physiognomy.
Seneca: tragedies
The rational principle that governs the universe cannot stem the spread of madness .
Two other tragedies are based on Mycenaean myth: The Agamemnon and The Thyestes . The Agamemnon tells of the return of Agamemnon to Troy and his murder by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover. The Thyestes tells of the revenge plotted by Atreus against Thyestes because the latter had seduced his wife. Atreus plots a banquet with the flesh of Thyestes’ sons.
The Phoenissae and the Oedipus are based on Theban myth . The Phoenissae tell of the contest between Eteocles and Polynices. The Oedipus tells of the revelation of the soothsayer Tiresias who tells Oedipus that his house will be plagued by a curse.
Three other tragedies are Medea , Phaedra , Troades , which have female protagonists. In the first Medea, abandoned by Jason, decides to kill the man’s children right before his eyes. Phaedra talks about the accusations that Phaedra hurls against her stepson, guilty of not having accepted her amorous effusions. Troades emphasizes the unhappy fate of the Trojan women taken prisoner. Andromache will see her little son die and Polyxena, Priam’s youngest daughter will be sacrificed on the tomb of Achilles, her father.
Seneca’s Tragedies: Structure
According to some critics, Seneca’s tragedies are only meant to be read because of the macabre scenes. Others maintain that it is precisely for this reason that they should be performed.
Seneca poses a new conception of myth as exemplum . The mirum, the desire to amaze, is however the main intent. Some passages have the character of declamationes , others of sententiae (philosophical maxims). We have bloody scenes alternating with moral reflections (in the chorus). Seneca’s tragedies represent the internal conflict of the human soul between mens bona and furor . In the Augustan age this genre had become extinct, in the Julio-Claudian age the genre was reborn due to its strongly anti-tyrannical component .
Educational and moral purpose
Seneca’s tragedies are closely linked to the concept of power .
The author represents the degenerations to which it can lead (Polyxena is sacrificed on her father’s tomb), they can almost be understood as an exhortation to Nero to moderation.
Man must be aware of his precarious fate and realize that power obtained by violence cannot last long. Power is insubstantial, and any wind can carry it away.
Furor leads man to exercise violence, defeats the logos , everything internal to the human soul. Excesses and pride must be avoided. Seneca accuses himself because he had witnessed Nero’s brutal crimes without being able to do anything. Thus Agamemnon could do nothing to prevent the crimes committed against the Trojans.
The tragedies have a philosophical, pedagogical, moral, sententious and reflective character . Some critics have highlighted the limitations of Seneca’s tragedies, underlining their pompous character typical of the time in which he lived.
