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Mrs
Katerina Klingensmith
Mrs. Drebus
Honors English 10: 7
22 August 2014
Outline
Thesis: The two Aphorisms here are trying to tell you that your life is short and you need to live it to the fullest before it is too late.
I. “ It is better to die on your feet that to live on your knees”
A. Euripides
1. Born in Athens, Greece, around 485 B.C. Married a woman named Meleto and had 3 sons.
His family was most likely a prosperous one; his father was named Mnesarchus or Mnesarchide, and his mother was named Cleito. Was raised in a cultured family, was witness to the rebuilding of the Athenian walls after the Persian Wars, but above all belonged to the period of the Peloponnesian War. He was a serious questionr of the values of his day. As a realistic person, he often placed modern ideas and opinions in the mouths of traditional characters.

2. He became one of the best known and most influential dramatists in classical Greek culture; of his 90 plays, 19 have survived. Of the three most famous tragic to come out of ancient Greece­ the others being Aeschylus and Sophocles­ Euripides was the last and perhaps the most influential. Euripides competed in the annual Athenian dramatic festivals held in honor of the god Dionysus.He first entered the festival in 455, and won the first of his four victories in 441. He was acquainted with many of the important philosophers of the 5th century B.C., including Sophocles, Protagoras and Anaxagoras, and he owned a large personal library.
A few of Euripides's most famous tragedies are
Medea
,
The Bacchae
,
Hippolytus and
Alcestis.
Euripides was

known for taking a new approach to traditional myths: he often changed elements of their stories of portrayed the more fallible, human sides of their heroes and gods. His plays commonly dwelled on the darker side of existence, with plot elements of suffering, revenge and insanity. Their characters are often motivated by strong passions and intense

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