The Hercules of myth is an ambivalent figure. He can be viewed optimistically as an exemplar of courage and endurance, a benefactor of mankind by clearing the world of dangers. Alternatively he can be seen as the archetype of the flawed action-hero or extreme “Type A personality”, one who is obsessed with achievement and competitiveness, fuelled by aggression and megalomania – a danger to himself and his friends, as much as to his enemies. In his play
Hercules, Seneca explores the destructive potential of such “heroism”.
Hercules is one of eight tragedies composed by Seneca, the Roman poet, philosopher and statesman, in the mid-first century A.D. Later two non-Senecan plays, Hercules Oetaeus and Octavia, were inserted in the corpus, and Furens (“Mad”) was added to the title
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Citation: Fitch, John. "Hercules". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 March 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13464, accessed 22 November 2024.]
