Heracles

Amphitryon, a mythical hero of the Argolid clan descended from Perseus, is the foster father of Heracles. In Euripides’s play, he was likely played by the actor called the “protagonist,” who would have also played Madness. Euripides presents Amphitryon as an old man, too weak to protect Heracles’s children but committed to standing by their side until the end. Amphitryon is an outspoken moral figure and a representative of courage and duty, especially familial duty. He advocates for his grandchildren’s lives even when the situation is obviously hopeless and rebukes the people of Thebes and the rest of Greece (Hellas)—and even the gods—for failing in their duty to help the children of Heracles, who had done so much as a champion of civilization. Amphitryon defines courage as endurance and perseverance, telling Megara in the Prologue that “to persevere, trusting in what hopes he has / Is courage in a man” (Lines 105-6). Amphitryon is self-consciously hopeful, advising the more resigned Megara to cling to hope that Heracles will arrive to save them until the end.

Amphitryon has a challenging relationship with the gods. He takes pride in having shared his wife Alcmene—and thus the paternity of Heracles—with Zeus, the strongest of the Greek gods. At the same time, he realizes that the gods can be cruel and callous, and relentlessly inveighs against Zeus for abandoning the children of his son Heracles. Indeed, it is the cruelty of the gods—who cause Heracles to murder his family—that ultimately causes Amphitryon’s courage and hopefulness to wane. In the Exodus, Amphitryon, shaken, can do little more than commiserate with his foster son, leaving it to Theseus to make the case for perseverance and hope.

Megara is the daughter of the Theban king Creon and Heracles’s wife. She and Heracles have three sons together. Megara’s character could have been played by the “deuteragonist,” the actor who also played Iris and Theseus.

Megara is depicted as a very dignified character. Despite the enormity of her situation at the beginning of the play, she maintains her composure. Believing that she and her children cannot escape death at Lycus’ hands, she does not try to beg or negotiate but rather speaks of bowing to fate and necessity. Unlike her father-in-law Amphitryon, Megara is resigned rather than hopeful:

The man who struggles hard against his fate

Shows spirit, but the spirit of a fool.

No man alive can budge necessity.

(Lines 309-11)

Megara’s resignation bears a somewhat deceptive resemblance to despair, but Megara is too dignified and practical to simply despair. Rather, Megara is a realist who accepts her situation, who is too conscious of her own high birth and nobility to miss the chance to die an honorable death. This is why Megara chooses to die with her head held high when she comes to believe that there is no hope of rescue from Lycus. Megara’s sense of dignity also magnifies the pathos of the senseless and undignified fate she finally does suffer, when she is slaughtered together with her children by her own husband.

Theseus, the most famous hero and king of mythical Athens, is played in Euripides’s Heracles by the “deuteragonist,” who seems to have also played Megara and Iris. Theseus was best known in Greek mythology for killing the Minotaur, a monster that was part-man and part-bull. In Euripides’s Heracles, Theseus has just been saved from the Underworld by Heracles. He had been trapped there (according to a tradition known from other sources) after he was caught trying to help his friend Pirithous abduct Persephone, the wife of Hades and the queen of the Underworld.

Theseus arrives during the Exodus. It is he who comforts Heracles in his grief, encouraging him to accept his fate and to live on. He takes up Amphitryon’s definition of courage—perseverance in the face of adversity—and convinces Heracles to abandon his plans to kill himself and to weather his shame and grief. In doing so, Theseus exemplifies the qualities of a good friend, representing the culmination of what has been a central motif throughout the play. Theseus is loyal to Heracles, standing by him even when his fortunes have given way to misfortune and putting the needs of his friend before his own. He does everything in his power to help Heracles, offering to give him a home in Athens and to purify him of his crime.

Lycus is a member of one branch of the Theban royal family who usurps the throne of Thebes from the rightful king, Creon. He was played by the “tritagonist,” who also probably played Heracles and the Messenger. Represented throughout the play as an authoritarian figure, Lycus is repeatedly called a “tyrant” (tyrannos in Greek), a term associated (in antiquity as today) with unjust and unlawful rulers.

Lycus himself is an ambivalent figure. Though he is set up, at least initially, as the villain or antagonist of the play, Lycus is not so much immoral as amoral. His policy of killing off Heracles’s family, for instance, is justified by reference to a kind of practical realpolitik:

My policy, old man, is not mere cruelty;

Call it caution. I am well aware

That I killed Creon, the father of this woman,

And only on this basis rule this land.

It does not suit my wishes that these boys

Grow up to take their own revenge on me.

(Lines 165-69)

From Lycus’s perspective, it would be imprudent to allow Heracles’s family to live—and, unsympathetic though this reasoning might be, he is by no means mistaken. Nor is Lycus a man without values. Amphitryon, Megara, and the Chorus characterize him as a coward, but they are not exactly unbiased; Lycus himself sees courage as fighting “firm in the ranks” (Line 163) as a soldier, even arguing that Heracles—who fights alone, against animals, with long-range weapons—is the coward. It is true that in the end, Heracles defeats Lycus, but he does so by ambushing him so that the final battle between the two rivals is arguably not a fair one.

The Chorus of the play is made up of old men from the city of Thebes. Like Amphitryon, the members of the Chorus are too old and weak to save Heracles’s wife and children from Lycus, but, also like Amphitryon, they resolve to do what little they can, even if all they have is words:

Never shall you boast that I am your slave,

Never will you reap the harvest of my work,

All I labored for. Go back whence you came;

Rage there. So long as there is life in me,

You shall not kill the sons of Heracles.

(Lines 258-62)

The Chorus, who are willing to stand up to Lycus (whom they characterize as a “tyrant”), display courage, even if they lack strength. They repeatedly bemoan their impotence, but the Chorus’ songs do much to develop the motifs of strength, aging, and powerlessness, so central to the play.

Iris was a Greek goddess and one of the mythical messengers of the gods. In the play, she was probably played by the “deuteragonist” who also played Megara and Theseus. Iris appears only briefly in the play, in the third Episode, where she commands Madness—on behalf of Hera—to drive Heracles mad so that he kills his family. Together with Madness, Iris represents one side of the duality of the gods, who can be beneficent as well as cruel: While Madness pities Heracles, Iris shares Hera’s relentless hatred for Heracles.

Madness (called “Lyssa” in Greek) is a divine personification. In ancient performances, she was most likely played by the “protagonist,” who would have also played Amphitryon. Madness, in contrast with Iris, takes pity on Heracles and even tries to convince Iris and Hera to “renounce these wicked plans”—that is, their desire to drive Heracles mad so that he kills his family. Madness is forced to carry out her orders despite her misgivings, demonstrating that in the world of Euripides’s play the gods are bound by fate and necessity no less than human beings.