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These quotes are taken from some of the Greek Tragedies you might study at A Level (for A2s).

Contents 1 Hippolytus 1.1 Things Hippoolytus says 2 Oedipus 2.1 Things Oedipus says 3 The Electra 4 Agamemnon 5 Bacchae 6 Medea 7 Comments

Hippolytus

• "But for his crimes against me I'll have revenge on Hippolytus this day" Aphrodite
• "No god worshipped by night wins my respect" Hippolytus
• "One i love is my destroyer" Phaedra
• "In my house i have a charm that is a spell for love- it only came into my mind this moment" Nurse
• "It was my tongue that swore, not my heart" Hippolytus
• "But in so dying i will prove deadly to another's life" Phaedra
• "Now Poseidon, use one of the three curse you promised me once and destroy my son" Theseus
• "To this day i remain a virgin" Hippolytus
• "the wave sent forth a bull" Messenger
• "I will take revenge on...whatever man she loves most on earth" Artemis
• "I absolve you of this bloodshed" Hippolytus

Things Hippoolytus says

• 'women, this counterfeit coin'
• 'women it seems are always evil'
• 'My body is innocent to this day of sexual love'
• 'since gods may choose who they honour, so may men' (hubris)
• 'To me she [Aphrodite] means nothing'
• 'woman is an evil pest'
• 'One thing saves you women, I fear the gods' (of course not Aphrodite, irony)
• 'my curse on the whole race of women'
• 'You will never meet a man whose nature is more pure, more sound than mine'

Oedipus

• "my children" Oedipus to Chorus
• "Drive the corruption from the land" Creon (speaking prophecy)
• "Blind who has eyes, beggar who now is rich" Tiresias
• "I say you are the murders you hunt" Tiresias
• "A swirl of it, nerves and clots" Messenger
• "I haven't come to mock you" Creon
• "All come true, all burst to light!" Oedipus
• "not if you see things clearly, rationally, as i do" Creon
• "Let that man drag out his life in agony" Oedipus
• "So much for prophecy" Jocasta
• "I turn to you Apollo, you are nearest" Jocasta.
• "Chance rules our lives" Jocasta
• "You pray to the gods, let me grant your prayers" Oedipus
• "I am Oedipus" (I think we know who says that!)
• "Blind, lost in the night, endless night that nursed you" Oedipus to Tiresias

Things Oedipus says

• 'the world knows my fame, I am Oedipus'
• 'I'll let loose, I have such fury in me'
• 'Mock me -- and you'll reveal my greatness'
• 'I curse myself as well... if by any chance he proves to be an intimate of our house' (irony)
• 'I will fight for him [lias] as if he were my father' (irony)

The Electra

• "If i speak harshly to you, it is only because i get nothing but harsh words from you" Clytaemnestra
• "O misery!" Electra
• "If you will not cease your wailing you are to be sent to some place will you'll never see the light" Chrysothemis
• "Now my good lads...we must make our plans and loose no time" Tutor
• " I cannot help but suffer, when my own loss is the price of my own living" Cly.
• "Must this good deed be hidden from the daylight?" Aegisthus
• "Then i must do the thing myself alone" Electra
• "Have mercy my son, have mercy on your mother" Cly.
• "is it really you?" Cly - orestes
• "Orestes is dead" - Tutor
• "Have you taken leave of your senses you two?" Tutor to orestes and Electra
• "Half my life is wasted away in hopeless waiting" Electra
• "My Policy is to bow before the storm" Crysothemis
• "In name, but nothing else, a mother" Electra on Clytaemnestra

Agamemnon

• "I spell the open grave" Cassandra
• "She must learn to take the cutting bridle" Clytaemnestra
• "Let the red stream flow and bear him home" Clytaemnestra
• "I am not ashamed to tell you how i love the man" Clytaemnestra
• "Spoken like a man, my lady" Chorus.
• "She brings a fresh, voluptuous relish to my bed" Cly.
• "That woman, she manoeuvres like a man" Watchman
• "You treat me like a woman" Ag.
• "What a brilliant day it is for vengeance" Cly.
• "The ox is on my tongue" Watchman
• "From the king himself I'll gather all i need" Cly.
• "Cry, cry for death but good win out in glory in the end" Chorus
• "Words, endless words I've said to serve the moment." Clytaemnestra

Bacchae

• "Mother, have mercy" Pentheus
• "You must first dress yourself in a fine linen gown" Dionysus
• "We agreed to equip ourself with Bacchic wands and fawnskin cloaks" Tiresias and Cadmus
• "I will demonstrate to him, and to all Thebes, that i am a God" Dionysus
• "He shall be stoned to death" Pentheus
• "I am sane and you are mad" Dionysus
• "Those who desired milk only had to scratch the earth with fingertips" Messenger.
• "I seem to see two suns, a double Thebes" Pentheus
• "Aphrodite supplants Bacchus in their ritual" Pentheus
• "The beast was gentle" Guards to Pentheus
• "With our hands hunted and took this beast, then tore him limb from limb" Women, specifically Agaue.
• "Run, dance, delirious, possessed" Chorus
• "A woman will be safe from corruption if her mind is chaste" I think Pentheus, but I can't remember

Medea

• "Zeus do you hear how i am mocked?" Medea
• "We can't escape from her sword" Children
• "Swear by the earth...the sun...and the whole race of gods" Medea to Aegeas
• "...like gum drops from a pine tree's bark" Messenger to medea about the deaths
• " You must not do this" Chorus
• "All happiness to you, medea" Aegeas
• "I've reached your heart, and that is right" Medea to jason.
• "The laughter of my enemies i will not endure" Medea
• "....for one short day forget your children" Medea to herself
• "Your news is excellent" Medea to messenger
• "You filthy coward!" Medea to Jason
• "I'd rather stand three times in the front line than bear one child" Medea
• "Death take you, with your father, and perish his whole house" Medea to Children
• "she'll not relax her rage till it has found its victim" Tutor
• "Jason was my whole life" Medea to Aegeas
• "I will not desert a friend" Jason to Medea
• "Do you think i would ever have fawned on this man, except to gain my purpose?" Medea
• "you can hardly in one day accomplish what i am afraid of" Creon
• "The middle way...is best by far" Nurse
• "I kneel to you" Medea
• "If only children could be got some other way, without the female sex" Jason.
• "Her mood is cruel, her nature dangerous" chorus, I think, or nurse
• "We were born women- useless for honest purposes." Medea

Comments

Please remember to check any quotes against your own copy of the book as you may be using a different translation meaning some quotes could be slightly different.

Quote originally gathered by Bboy_Soapy, Teao the Cat and TRB on TSR Forums.