Resumen
Resumen de Ifigenia en Táuride
Para quién es
For readers who love Greek myth, classic drama and plays driven by conscience and conversation, with themes of exile, loyalty and moral courage.
De qué trata este libro
Iphigenia in Tauris is a play in five acts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. He first wrote it in prose in 1779, and it was staged in Weimar with Goethe himself in the part of Orestes. He then rewrote it in verse in 1787, during his stay in Italy. That verse version is the one most readers know.
Goethe took his story from Greek myth and from the tragedy Euripides wrote on the same subject. But he gave it a new spirit. His Iphigenia is a priestess far from home who tries to end old cruelty by honesty and trust, not by force or trickery. In about two hours on stage, you meet a cursed family, a lonely king and a woman who must choose between safety and truth. This summary walks you through the play scene by scene, then looks at its ideas and its form. Let us begin with a woman standing at the edge of a sacred grove, looking out over the sea.
En este resumen
- 1A priestess longs for her distant homeFree
- 2A king asks for her hand
- 3Two strangers are taken prisoner
- 4Orestes, Pylades and the curse of the house
- 5Truth against cunning is the heart of the play
- 6How Goethe builds the play
Idea clave 1 de 6
A priestess longs for her distant home
The play opens in a sacred grove before the temple of Diana, the goddess the Greeks called Artemis, on the shore of Tauris. This is a land at the edge of the known world, usually placed by the Greeks around the Black Sea. Iphigenia serves here as priestess. She is the daughter of King Agamemnon of Argos, and she has lived in this place for many years.
Her story reaches back to the Trojan War. When the Greek fleet was held at Aulis, she was to be sacrificed so that the winds would rise. In the myth, the goddess saved her at the last moment and carried her away to Tauris. Since then she has been cut off from her family, her language and her country. She speaks of herself as a woman in exile, and she says she feels more a prisoner than a priestess.
Goethe opens with her alone, and her opening speech sets the mood for the whole play. She looks toward Greece and longs to see it again. She is grateful for the kindness shown to her here, yet she cannot call this land her own. Women, she says, have little power over their fate, whether at home or abroad. The ache is quiet and steady, not wild.
We also learn what she has already done in Tauris. Under her care, the old custom of killing strangers at the altar has faded. Her presence has softened the people. This is her quiet achievement, and the play will test it. A king, a friend and a stranger are all about to press on the life she has built.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Questions about Ifigenia en Táuride
What is Iphigenia in Tauris about?
It is about Iphigenia, a Greek priestess living in exile at Tauris. When a king presses her to marry and two Greek prisoners arrive, she must choose between honesty and a lie that might bring her home.
Is Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris based on a Greek play?
Yes. It draws on Greek myth and on the tragedy by Euripides on the same subject. Goethe changes the tone, making the heroine's honesty and humanity matter more than trickery and escape.
When did Goethe write Iphigenia in Tauris?
Goethe wrote a first prose version in 1779, which was staged in Weimar. He rewrote it in verse in 1787 during his time in Italy, and that later version is the standard one.
Who is Orestes and why do the Furies chase him?
Orestes is the son of King Agamemnon and brother of Iphigenia. In the myth he killed his mother Clytemnestra, and the Furies, spirits of vengeance, pursue him with guilt and madness.
Is Iphigenia in Tauris hard to read?
The plot is simple.