responsibility and to place all fault on the divine. Heracles refuses to agree and holds himself accountable. Heracles goes so far as to say, “ah, all this has no bearing on my grief; but I do not believe that gods commit adultery, or bind each other in chains. I never did believe it; I never shall; nor that one god is tyrant of the rest. If god is truly god, he is perfect, lacking nothing. These are poets’ wretched lies” (lines 1340-1346). He believes that the gods are perfect and can do no wrong, so this horrible act that they cause him to fulfill is his own fault not theirs. He is the one that is to blame, almost like a caregiver taking responsibility for the actions of their charge. Opposites: In myth opposites are often at work. Apollo brings plague, but he also heals; Artemis hunts but also protects animals. Hermes causes chaos by his trickery and also brings about refinement through his invention of the lyre. So is the same the case for Heracles in Euripides’ play of the same name. In it Heracles realizes that he is not completely sure that he himself believes his father, Zeus, is real. This doubt causes a lack of identity for him and may be a root cause of his angry and dangerous side. Even though it is Hera that sends Madness to inflict Heracles, it may also be that he is not emotionally sound or stable and this is what causes him to murder his wife and children. This dark and dangerous side of him contrasts with his positive and constructive side that makes the world better by ridding it of monsters. That he does such awful things and is still forgiven reflects a balance that is achieved between his opposing sides. Heracles murders his family and he saves lives. The play in its dichotomous halves shows the inexorable reality of the existence of destructive and constructive forces in its principal hero, Heracles. Theology: Euripides’ Heracles is a tragedy that, while having many attributes of a classic mythological tale, proposes a sequence of events that goes against the chronology of the traditional story's design. In the typical chronology it is only after Heracles saves his family from the death threat against them that they are later murdered by Heracles himself after being cursed by the living embodiment of Madness, sent