>>24649442
Like you said, Helen is given characterization in the Iliad but Euripides really elevates her to a whole different level. The play titled Helen is emblematic of his style - “evil women” as being misrepresented entirely in previous versions of the story, women possession male wisdom (sophrosyne is an attribute given to Medea in her play and it is of course a masculine word and likewise Helen is the most noble and clever woman to appear in her play) and gods as evil and cruel people who relish in terrorizing man- this last point is most clearly felt in Helen.

I’d say the most important Euripides plays are
>Medea
>Helen
>Electra
>Trojan woman
>Both Iphigenias (her sacrifice as well as the sequel about her fate in Crimea among the Tauri people)
>Bacchae

Anything else is nice to read but these core plays represent his values, ideas and style the best.

>for all of his faults, Euripides is the most tragic of the poets
-Aristotle