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2 unusual facts about Amphitryon


Amphitryon

In Germany, Heinrich von Kleist's Amphitryon (1807) remains the most frequently performed version of the myth, with Kleist using Alkmene's inability to distinguish between Jupiter and her husband to explore metaphysical issues; Giselher Klebe wrote in 1961 his opera Alkmene based on this play.

In 1636 Jean Rotrou translated Plautus' work into a successful French language production, Les Deux Sosies.


Bed trick

(Male versions of the bed trick are rarer but not unprecedented; a classical instance occurs when Zeus disguises himself as Amphitryon to impregnate Alcmene with the future Hercules. Similarly in Arthurian legend, Uther Pendragon takes the place of Gorlois to impregnate Igraine with the future King Arthur.)

Prologue

Molière revived the Plautian prologue in the introduction to his Amphitryon.


see also