Lucjusz Anneusz Seneka. Herkules szalony
Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger. The Madness of Hercules

Contributor(s): Mateusz Stróżyński (Translator)
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Other Language Literature, Drama
Published by: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Adama Mickiewicza
Keywords: Seneca; Hercules; Roman tragedy
Summary/Abstract: The Madness of Hercules is one of the tragedies written by the Roman philosopher and politician Seneca the Younger, who was Nero's tutor and advisor. He spent eight years in exile in Corsica during the reign of Claudius, and briefly exerted an influence over the ruler after Nero's rise to power. However, he was ultimately accused of plotting against Claudius and was forced to commit suicide in 65 AD. The Madness of Hercules is a work depicting a hero who devoted his entire life to fighting monsters in defence of humanity, but who was unable to protect his own wife and children from the monster within himself. Under the influence of the mad frenzy by his stepmother Juno, who hates him, Hercules brutally murders his family and then comes back to his senses and has to live with the crime he committed. The tragedy can be read as an allusion to the reign of Nero, but in essence it touches on the universal theme of evil and madness that lies within each of us, and asks what the basis of humanity really is.

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