The Humanities Index

Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus is a confusing play, but one lesson that it seems to impart is that sometimes idealistic value systems do not work when put into practice. Titus Andronicus goes to great — almost hyperbolic — lengths to make this clear, though it is often overlooked trying to make ethical sense out of a [...]

Revenge tragedy depicts a son’s revenge for a father’s murder (or vice versa). The murder is revealed and directed to the protagonist by the murdered man’s ghost. Revenge results from conscious and focused action.

Euripides’ Medea suggests that in order for the patriarchy to understand its inherent double standards, one must strike it at its very center: those who would continue its tradition.

When Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex, the cultural and intellectual zeitgeist of Athens was undergoing a paradigm shift.

The following questions should help you begin thinking about the major themes, characters, and ideas in the primary text.