In classic Greek culture, there was no greater experience as a human than to attend a tragic play, sharing in the universal sufferings of mankind with the audience, having that moment of catharsis when they ceased to suffer individual loneliness by experiencing common emotions with each other and the drama. That instant, when the play lifts the viewer beyond plot and purifies the soul through bitter anguish and sympathy for the character who has lost all. True Greek tragedies have a plotline in which the tragic hero must face harsh sufferings because of his arête, leading to the complete destruction of the protagonist. A strong sense of the power of the gods must also be present in a tragedy, along with the concept that although men are free to make their own decisions, the gods ultimately guide their fate. When the famous Greek writer Euripides set about...