Theatre
Hekuba
Not translated into English
Marin Držić · 1559
Synopsis
Hecuba, queen of fallen Troy, is a slave in the victors' camp. Her daughter is taken from her to be sacrificed on a tomb; then the sea returns to her the body of the last of her sons, the one she had entrusted to a friendly king. She then asks that king for an audience. The whole weight of the play rests on her lament: a queen reduced to nothing reminds us that the loss of renown and power can befall anyone.
Context
The play comes from Euripides, but by way of Lodovico Dolce's Italian adaptation, and it was recast in verse in the language of Dubrovnik. The city government opposed its performance for fear of the unrest it might provoke, and it was staged only early the following year, by a company from the city. The growing disagreement with his fellow citizens decided its author to leave Dubrovnik for Venice, where in 1563 he became chaplain to the archbishop. Seven years after that performance, he wrote from Florence to the Duke of Tuscany proposing to overthrow the government of his home city; the duke did not reply, and the letters, found long afterwards, speak of the nepotism he denounced.
Who it is for
A tragedy in verse, in a sixteenth-century language. No French edition exists. It is best to know Euripides' play.
Prizes and reception
One of the five tragedies written in Dubrovnik in the second half of the sixteenth century, and the only one by its author, who is known for his comedies.