{"product_id":"four-tragedies-and-octavia-by-seneca-9780140441741","title":"Four Tragedies and Octavia","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA selection of Seneca's most powerful and macabre plays.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on the legends used in Greek drama, Seneca's plays are notable for the exuberant ruthlessness with which disastrous events are foretold and then pursued to their tragic and often bloodthirsty ends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThyestes\u003c\/em\u003e depicts the menace of an ancestral curse hanging over two feuding brothers, while \u003cem\u003ePhaedra\u003c\/em\u003e portrays a woman tormented by fatal passion for her stepson. In \u003cem\u003eThe Trojan Women\u003c\/em\u003e, the widowed Hecuba and Andromache await their fates at the hands of the conquering Greeks, and \u003cem\u003eOedipus\u003c\/em\u003e follows the downfall of the royal House of Thebes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eOctavia\u003c\/em\u003e is a grim commentary on Nero's tyrannical rule and the execution of his wife, with Seneca himself appearing as an ineffective counsellor attempting to curb the atrocities of the emperor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House NZ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46409561964780,"sku":"9780140441741","price":24.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780140441741.jpg?v=1746096578","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/products\/four-tragedies-and-octavia-by-seneca-9780140441741","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}