Trojan Women Essay Example

Trojan Women Essay The Trojan Women is a Greek tragedy by Euripides. He explores the hardships faced by the women of Troy after their land had been destroyed by the loss of the Trojan War. In the play, the women were faced with various difficulties. They were not only meant to deal with the horrors of the war like the death of their loved ones and their city in ruins but were also faced with the terror of what their future will hold. They yearn for revenge and the hope that life will recover in the future. Awoken after the city is in ruins, the Trojan women gather together amongst Hachure, the former queen f Troy as they wail the loss of their husbands and seek to find what theyre future may hold. However, the horrors of the war did not Just end with death. Hectares daughter Cassandra was raped in the temple of Athena by Alas the Less and the Greeks not only did nothing to stop him from this injustice, he was also never questioned his actions. Another saddening aspect of the war was the commandment of Assistant, the young son of Andromeda and the brave Hector to death by being thrust off the walls of Troy. We will write a custom essay sample on Trojan Women specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Trojan Women specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Trojan Women specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer This was to be done in the belief that he, being the son of brave warrior, would rise against the Greeks when he was older. It was heartbreaking to find his corpse brought back to Hachure towards the end of the play when his wounds were wrapped and he was buried. The future brought the most dreadful situations for the women. Taillights, the messenger, brought news on what was to come. The women would all be separated and enslaved by various Greeks. Hachure worried about how her old age would support her doing household chores. Once a queen, she is now a servant to Odysseus, King of Ithaca. On enquiring about ere daughters she finds that Cassandra, who is already traumatized, had been personally chosen by King Agamemnon to be his lover. This shocked her mother as her daughter has taken a sacred oath of virginity. I as a reader further noted the unbearable feeling the women may have felt when Cassandra broke out with torches thanking Hymen, the god of marriage for giving her the opportunity to slay Agamemnon. Taillights informs Hachure that Andromeda belongs to the son of Achilles whereas Polygene will he located beside the tomb of Achilles. Assistant, as mentioned earlier will be condemned to death. The tone of the entire play was filled with sorrow as the women constantly moan with sadness of the various aspects of the play that had happened or were to happen in the future. They all know that they will be carried off by ship too strange land with no care or comfort. The idea of revenge was another component that I found conspicuous in the play. Many characters seek revenge in the play. Firstly, Athena speaks to Poseidon about how Alas the Less raped Cassandra in her temple when she came to seek shelter. She asks Poseidon to help her saying that she had already spoken to Zeus, the king of the gods who will release hail among the ships and provide Athena with lighting bolts. Poseidon had been given the power to create whirlpools and they both go off to prepare to attack the ships. Another person seeking revenge is Menelaus who plans to kill Helen for abandoning Greece and running off with Paris. Even though she tries to charm her way out of it, convincing him that she is the savior of Greece, Hachure contradicts her theory keeping Menelaus on track to killing her. The women detest Cassandra also seeks revenge as she plans to slay Agamemnon for the sake of her lost father. The readers may feel sad for the various events happened but this need for revenge amongst the various characters conveys that they not only feel depressed but also face heights of anger for everything that has been brought to them due to the war. The aspect of the book that I was personally shocked by was the exploration of hope. On reporting the death of Polygene to Hachure, Andromeda mentions that she is better off dead. However, Hachure mentions that only on living do we find the pope for a better tomorrow. This idea was one of the most captivating in the book because even as Hachure has lost everything she ever had she still hopes that things will get better. It is also ironic that Andromeda has the idea of death being better off right before she finds out about the death of her son to come and the question remains if she would still feel that way about his death. My favorite scene was also the most hear-breaking, when Andromeda finds that her child was to be taken from her and killed. This separation of a mother and a child who was the hope of a better true for Troy was saddening especially when his dead body was returned to her. She speaks to her son telling him to hold on to her, hug her and kiss her. This shows how much it breaks her to leave her son and guilt of how she is letting this happen. It also shows how much she is going to miss him. I find that Euripides has successfully conveyed the various hardships of the women of Troy by exploring ideas of death, dread to find what the future holds, revenge and hope. Many of the ideas explored were heart-breaking and makes us as an audience sympathize with these women for hat they have been put through. It had proven that there is more than what meets the eye in an event of war and has given me an emotional perspective of a war rather than simply focusing on the destruction and death. This play has also given me an insight into Greek theatre. As a theatre student I now have an understanding on the ancient Greek style of writing. The language used was rich and I was unable to understand many of the characters without researching their mythological background. I even had to research the Trojan War and the author to understand what the story was about. This research of the terms in the book led me to many other findings of Greek theatre that I find rather interesting. Not only do I find the work of Euripides fascinating, I also learnt about the ancient festival of Dionysian which took place in an open air stone structure with tiered seating. They were also one of the first to make use of masks. Greek mythology and theatre seem to be a world of its own and I was glad to embark on this unit of my individual study learning about Greek tragedies, mythologies, works and writers and how it pushes me further into the even bigger world of acting.