Shows / Tragedies
Tragedies
A selection of tragedies from Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Shakespeare. Please subscribe for weekly updates.
Episodes
TragediesMacbeth, Act 1
Macbeth and Scottish forces defeat the Norwegian invasion. The witches prophesy Macbeth shall be King. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth plot to murder Duncan.
TragediesKing Lear, Act 5
The British forces overcome the French. Goneril and Regan die. Edgar kills Edmund, and Edmund repents his orders to kill Cordelia but too late. “The wonder is…
TragediesKing Lear, Act 4
Lear recovers his senses and reconciles with Cordelia. Edgar puts Gloucester through a mock suicide to revive him.
TragediesKing Lear, Act 3
Lear descends into madness in a hovel and conducts a mock trial for his daughters in a hovel. Gloucester is condemned for treason by Cornwall and has his eyes…
TragediesKing Lear, Act 2
Edmund perfects his betrayal of Edgar, and Lear is driven mad and onto the heath by his daughters.
TragediesKing Lear, Act 1
Lear demands his daughters flatter him to earn their share of the kingdom. Cordelia refuses and is banished. Lear resigns the crown, Goneril begins a campaign…
TragediesRichard II, Act 5
Richard is imprisoned at Pomfret, Bolingbroke forgives Rutland but executes the other traitors. He vows a crusade to repent of his guilt.
TragediesRichard II, Act 4
Richard surrenders the crown to Bolingbrook in Parliament. Carlisle prohesies civil war.
TragediesRichard II, Act 3
In Act III of Shakespeare’s Richard II, the struggle for England’s throne reaches its turning point. As Bolingbroke’s power grows, Richard returns to find his…
TragediesRichard II, Act 2
John of Gaunt delivers his prophecy to Richard, Richard departs for Ireland and Bolingbroke raises to English nobles in rebellion
TragediesRichard II, Act 1
In the first act of Shakespeare’s Richard II, Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV, accuses the Duke of Norfolk of treason. King Richard fails to persuade them to…
TragediesIphigenia Among The Taurians
Years after she was led to Aulis to be sacrificed, Iphigenia lives in exile as a priestess of Artemis, charged with sacrificing strangers who come to her…
TragediesOedipus at Colonus
An old, blind Oedipus comes at last to Colonus, seeking a place to die. Hunted by his past and fought over for the strange power promised by his death, the…
TragediesThe Persians
In the only surviving tragedy telling of contemporary events, Aeschylus tells of the defeat of the Persian armies at Salamis.
TragediesOdysseus in Hades
Odysseus awakens in darkness, waiting for a dawn that never comes. Guided by Sisyphus through the shadows of Hades, the great king retraces the path of his…
TragediesThe Cyclops
In honor of the release of The Odyssey, this week we read the only extant satyr play, The Cyclops by Euripides. In Greek Theater, authors wrote four plays for…
TragediesHippolytus
A proud young prince devoted to Artemis rejects love and scorns the power of Aphrodite. In revenge, the goddess kindles a forbidden passion in his stepmother…
TragediesHymn to Apollo
In this episode, we turn from tragedy to one of the oldest surviving works of Greek literature: the Homeric Hymn to Apollo. We follow the god’s remarkable rise…
TragediesThe Kindly Ones
Orestes, pursued by the Furies for murdering his mother, flees to Athens where he is tried at the Areopagus.
TragediesOedipus the King
Oedipus ran away from his home in Corinth to avoid the prophecy which foretold he would kill his father and marry his mother. After answering the riddle of the…
TragediesLibation Bearers
Orestes returns from exile to avenge his father’s murder at the hands of his mother and her lover Aegisthus.
TragediesThe Bacchae
The King of Thebes denies the divinity of Dionysus and persecutes the women of the city who have begun practicing the mystic rites of the god. In Euripides’…
TragediesIphigenia at Aulis
At Aulis the Greek fleet is stalled by a divine prophecy: Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to appease Artemis so the armada can sail to Troy…
TragediesPrometheus Bound
After stealing fire from heaven, Prometheus is chained to the side of a mountain but refuses to relent.