The Ovid’s Female Letter Missing from Euripides’ Tragedy

Abstract

This writing is an analysis of an epistolary poem (4.) from the collection "Heroides"
by Ovid and of the tragedy "Hippolytus" by Euripides. The connection between these two poetic
forms can be made on the basis of the mythological tradition regarding the content.
However, what enables a deeper and broader hermeneutic analysis is the possibility to connect
them in terms of their structure and intertwine them into a unique poetic form. Namely,
regardless of the intentio auctoris, this female letter by Ovid has an intertextual potential
to become part of Euripides’ female play in a certain form of a pre-play. Furthermore,
this meta collaboration between two poetic forms from different cultural provenances has
the capacity to generate intergeneric similarities and dependences enabled by the letter, as
a hybrid or unifying genre.