Women of Troy

Poseidon & Athene

  • Athene & Poseidon are characterised as petty and vengeful, more interested in their personal stakes than in the suffering of the humans - It is significant that the play begins with the god's departure

Poseidon is looking upon the 'smoking ruin' of the 'city of Phrygians'

The goddess Athene, who has supported the Greeks for the duration of the conflict, enters and asks the antagonism between her and Poseidon to be forgotten. Her reason, it is revealed, is because she has been 'insulted' and her temple 'descrated.' For this, Athene seeks retribution, and Poseidon happily argress to help her.

Hecuba & Andromache

Andromache and Hecuba share their sorrows

Cassandra

Cassandra enters in the grip of prophetic madness, celebrating her enforced marriage to Agamemnon. She entreats Hecuba to give up her "sad keening song" and join her in a celebratory dance, calling for Hymen, to "bless me" and "bless my wedding." Cassandra attempts to frame her enslavement to Agamemnon as consensual, rather than a violation. She tells her mother that she will exact revenge for the Trojans upon the Greeks, and that her marriage to Agamemnon will end in his death.

Andromache, horrified by her fate, has lost all hope and argues that 'to die is better than a life of agony'

Hecuba counsels Andromache that where there is life there is hope, and that Andromache's son may rebuild Troy to its former glory

Menelaus

He has come to take vengeance upon his wayward wife for being the catalyst for the war

Hecuba, bereft of hope, tries to 'run into the flames,' hoping to die in the 'embrace' of the city of which she was queen

Euripides

One of the aims of playwriting was to educate citizens in the practice of good citizenship

Paris

Paris' return to Troy brought about the city's prophesied destruction

Poseidon makes no effort to prevent the atrocities against Polyxena or Cassandra, nor to console the grieving Hecuba.

  • He is concerned with his own personal loss, not that of the people of Troy; he remains distant and aloof and fails to save the surviving Trojans

First Stasimon

She appears to be a woman whose fortunes are at their lowest point.

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Talthybius

  • The frequent ellipses in Talthybius' speech suggest he is uncomfortable with his task, though this can also be interpreted as prevarication.


  • When prompted for the news of Polyxena, Talthybius engages in "diplomatic evasion," claiming that she "is to serve Achilles, at his tomb" and her "troubles are over," though, as revealed in the prologue, Polyxena has already been murdered at Achilles' tomb.

Agamemnon has taken her "for himself." This revelation, which Poseidon alluded to in the prologue, highlights the victorious Greek's brutality. Agamemnon's willingness to indulge his carnal lusts by making a "consecrated virgin" his concubine is the first of many events that position the audience to condemn the conquerers

Cassandra welcomes her fate because the "god-drunken ecstasy" of prophecy has given her a vision of the future, where she will achieve the "annihilation of the House of Atreus."

Cassandra offers a revisionist interpretation of victory, condemning the Greek army's folly in waging war on the Trojans, while presenting the Trojans' deaths as glorious acts of heroism. In a display of sophistic logic, Cassandra suggests that it is better to have "died fighting for [the] fatherland" than to "lie forgotten in a foreign country." This assertion would have been confronting for the Athenian audience, many of whom have fought, or would soon fight, in the Peloponnesian War.

Euripides is clearly aiming to undermine the myth of the glory of war, emphasising the sacrifices required of an Athenian soldier, who risked ignoble death and the lack of a proper burial, an important aspect of ancient Greek culture. Yet Euripides is careful not to alienate his audience: although Cassandra asserts that "any sensible man must hate war," she concedes that "it is a crown of honour" to die in defence of one's city. Cassandra praises Hector as "the greatest of men," since his "glory" was revealed through the Greek attack on Troy.

Their lament starts in the traditional manner, appealing to the Muses, the "god of song," asking that they "help... sing Troy's sorrows." This appeal to the gods is particularly poignant considering that the prologue indicates the gods have abandoned the Trojans.