Package of Notes for Analytical success : Women of Troy by Euripides, Notes, Essay Plans, Greek Terms and Background, and Model Essays
Essay 1: ‘No one is happier dead. The living at least have hope. To be dead is to be nothing.’ How does Euripides explore the limited choices available for victims of war?
INTRO: Explored throughout the Greek tragedy The Women of Troy by Euripides, is the notion of hopelessness; that being the way individuals are given little hope to take control and decide on what they do with their own lives. This is highly evident throughout the play and is especially so, seeing as the world and era that Euripides has depicted, is flawlessly designed to create suffering on several levels.
PARAGRAPH 1: The fate of the women and children shows the complete lack of power as Trojan “royalty” is reduced to the status of a “thing”. Euripides depicts the women as victims of cruel acts of savagery perpetrated by the Greek victors. (Astyanax; his off-stage death which is the climax of the play becomes a powerful symbol of the crushing fate of the Trojans; as does Polyxena’s death. Likewise, Andromache sits astride the “baggage cart” which represents their loss of power and their commodity status.)
- Hecuba uses the metaphor of the sea – when possible the sailors will struggle together, but against the might of “Fate” they tend to give in. “Then they give in to Fate”.. when the sea boils with an overwhelming surge… let the racing waves Hurl them along at will.” 33-34. She notes that the sailors often try to withstand adversity and the turbulence of the ocean, but if the sea is too strong and the waves too overwhelming. They tend to give in: “The gods have drowned me in an ocean of misery”. Like the sailors, she too must submit.
Paragraph 2: Some of the women do have a limited amount of choice as they try to carve out a role for them in this revenge narrative. Cassandra chooses to carry out revenge on Agamemnon: “then Agamemnon, the world famous leader of the Greeks will find me more destructive as a wife than ever Helen was! (19) (Helen seeks to gain an advantage through exercising some control over her destiny; (by giving excuses to Menelaus and Hecuba?)
Paragraph 3: Talthybius is presented as a victim of a brutal regime and is forced to “carry the can” for the consequences of the savage decrees. Using a solitary voice to represent the Greek army, Euripides depicts Talythibius as an official with limited moral authority. Whilst he is aware of the heinous nature of their orders, he seems to be of the view that he has no choice/option but to comply. Sensitively and poignantly he must portray the news of Astyanax’s pending demise. He falters, “I don’t know how to say it… there is no decent way to say an indecent thing” and even admits he “(is not) hard enough” because soldiers need to be “tough and without pity or scruples”. Audiences again are reminded by the playwright, of the complete absence of choice the Greek soldiers have in the world they reside, tying to the limited choices all victims of war have. To some extent the Greek soldiers who are buried in a foreign land are also the victim of a cruel fate. Likewise, although a Trojan, Andromache also laments her limited moral choices. She finds it morally repugnant that she must accept as her new husband, the one who betrayed her husband. She sees herself as a “traitor to the dead”. She also fears the fact that “one night dispels antipathy” and expresses her revulsion at women “who in a strange bed turns against the man she knew And loves another!. She makes a figurative comparison with “even a horse” to suggest that when separated from “its stable companion” generally “will not pull its weight”. (33)
Paragraph 4: Euripides suggests that, like any decision or choice taken by humans, their choices are limited because of the controlling actions and autonomy of the Gods. … Right from the outset, Euripides portrays Poseidon and Athene as gods that have considerable power over humans. Athene determines to take revenge upon the Greeks who become victims of her spiteful attitude owing to the desecration of her temple by Ajax. Athene, who once granted favour to the Greek army and helped them secure victory with the “wooden horse stratagem”, now withdraws her favour and will ensure a tumultuous homeward journey for her Greek victims. In one of the pivotal speeches that form the climax of the play, Helen cites the gods as responsible for the woes of Troy. The focus on the mythical “Judgement of Paris” which becomes the point of debate between Helen and Hecuba, presents the idea that she had no sense of responsibility for the sequence of events that occurred.
References to the cruel power of the Gods: the opening Prologue between Poseidon and Athene who are orchestrating a disastrous return for the Greek ships. (The reference to the Wooden Horse and the fickle and deceptive nature of success.)
Helen presents herself as a victim of her own beauty with little autonomy. Beauty is a “saleable asset” and she criticises the way it is used as a bargaining tool; “prize’ between the goddesses ; Paris/Alexander who choose her beauty’; she seeks to exonerate herself of responsibility for the seduction/subsequent plight of Troy. She concludes her case to Menelaus: “I had no choice”.
Package of Notes for Analytical success : Women of Troy by Euripides, Notes, Essay Plans, Greek Terms and Background, and Model Essays
For Argument Analysis: Leading the way (our 2020 publication)