SECTION A: WOMEN OF TROY
THEMES
VOCABULARY
Futility of War
Although at the time of Euripides many Greek writers wrote
about the Trojan War, there were few that chose to focus on the
aftermath and even fewer still that made the women and
children their primary plotline.
Duty & Honour
The women, especially Hecuba and Andromache, cling to the
ideas of obligation and duty. Both are honourable women who
built upright reputations in their respective positions and the
authority they possess even after they have been reduced to
prisoners of war confirms their command over the Trojan
citizens.
Fate
Interestingly, it is not until the last remaining lines of the play
that Hecuba acknowledges the Trojans have always been faced
with ill-luck and pleads with the gods
Loss
The loss of a great war, the loss of many lives, both Grecian and
Trojan, and the continual loss experienced by the survivors of
war. The main characters feel loss most acutely, with Hecuba
vocalising the full brunt of her despair at having seen her strong
sons ‘all killed by Greek swords…their father murdered…’ and
‘Troy captured’; her short, sharp sentences and disjointed syntax
belying the true grief of the former Queen of Troy.
Social Class
On the shores on the destroyed city of Troy all of the prisoners
are reduced to equality and, aside from the lingering loyalty
some of the women have for their aged Queen Hecuba, they are
all united in their suffering and loss.
Anagnorisis: the moment in
which the tragic hero recognise
s(and possibly accepts) their error
in judgement, generally occurs at
or near the climax of the play.
Catharsis: the emotional release
experienced by the audience of a
tragedy.
Hubris: a song of lamentation
that the Chorus and a character
sing together
Lament: a passionate expression
of grief or sorrow.
Monody: an ode sung by a single
actor in a Greek tragedy
Pathos: the sympathy and sorrow
felt by the audience for the tragic
hero.
Peripeteia: the tragic hero’s
change in behaviour resulting
from their anagnorisis, or
realization of their circumstances.
In tragedy, the events set in
motion by the characters’ actions
are generally too far advanced
for the hero to be able to change
their fate.
Tragic Hero: a literary character
who makes an error of
judgement or has a fatal flaw
that, combined with fate and
external forces result in tragedy.
METALANGUAGE
Capacious: able to hold or contain
large amounts
Cavalier: showing lack or concern
Desecrated: treated a sacred place
or thing with violent disrespect
Phrygians: another name for the
inhabitants of Troy.
Sanctuary:
Stichomythia:
A technique were
characters speak
alternate lines of a verse.
This is found in the
second episode as
Hecuba and Andromache
join in a song of sorrow,
each speaking of their
suffering and pain.
Summary: Hecuba
laments the loss of her
family and her city. The
Chorus join her and
contemplate their future
lives as slaves.
Key Points: Hecuba’s
monody indicates her
hatred for Helen, whom
she blames for the fall of
Troy. She will confront
Helen in the third episode.
Summary: Talthybius arrives to
reveal the women’s fate.
Cassandra enters.
Key Points: Cassandra warns the
Agamemnon ‘will find me more
destructive as a wife than Helen
ever was’ because, like Helen, she
will bring about the destruction
of a royal house.
In one of many moments of
dramatic irony, Cassandra
prophesies her revenge upon the
Greeks. However her curse
means that neither Hecuba nor
the Chorus believes her, declaring
‘the disasters you prophesy are
fantasies’. This denies them any
reprieve from their suffering.
Summary: The Chorus
mourn the destruction
of Troy.
Key Points: The
description of the horse
as ‘like a black ship’
indicates it is a vessel of
death. The simile evokes
the destruction
contained within the
horse’s belly,
heightening
anticipation of the
moment when the
Greeks emerged from
the ’monster’.
Lament:
A passionate expression
of grief and mourning. In
Hecuba’s opening when
she cries ‘ Oh, weep,
weep, for my burning
home, howl for my dead
children, for my husband
dead’.
SYMBOLS
Hector’s Shield: As an instrument of war, the shield symbolizes
Hector’s masculine power and strength as a warrior. However, when
repurposed to hold the body of a dead child, it becomes a symbol of
the steep cost of violent conflict. Its use as a coffin reflects the price
paid by the man who wielded it, but also by all those he cared about
and fought to protect. The shield, in both cases, acts as a defensive
object, but in battle it defended Hector against physical, tangible
blows, whereas in death it combines with the funeral rites
administered by Hecuba to guarantee young Astyanax safe passage to
the afterlife.
The Flaming Torch: By entering the scene carrying a flaming torch,
Cassandra is not only heralded as being different from the other noble
women but also as a vestibule of foresight. Also foreshadows Troy
going up in flames
Helen’s Clothing: In direct contrast to the haggard appearance of the
other prisoners, Helen’s rich robes symbolise her difference from the
other Trojan women and hint to the audience that she will once again
live on the side of victory, with Menelaus.
The Waves/ Ocean: As they wait shackled on the shore, the Aegean
Sea serves as a constant reminder to the women that their fate is
inevitable and soon, they will be parted from one another’s company
and will sail to their allotted locations.
CHARACTERS
Key Characters
Andromache: noted in Greek mythology for her womanly virtue and her loyalty to her husband. She is married to hector, Troy’s greatest warrior. She is taken
by Archilles’ son Neoptolemus to be his concubine.
Astyanax: The innocent son of hector and Andromache and the grandson of Hecuba, Astyanax is condemned to death by the Greeks, who believe ‘the son of
such a father must not be allowed to grow up’ or may live to avenge his father’s death and restore the city of Troy. Astyanax is ‘thrown from the battlements
of Troy’.
Athene: The goddess of wisdom, Athene is patron of Athens and supported the Greeks throughout the Trojan War. The violation of her temple during the sack
of Troy angers Athene and prompts her to seek retribution by making ‘the Greek’s return home a disaster’.
Cassandra: Described by Poseidon as a ‘frenzied visionary’, Cassandra, the ‘consecrated virgin’ and daughter of Hecuba and Priam, is a prophetess who always
tells the truth; she foresees the future but is never believed, and instead considered to be god-crazed’ and ‘manic’. Cassandra is taken by Agamemnon to be his
concubine.
Hecuba: The aged Queen of Troy, Hecuba, has lost her status. This is noted through the symbolic imagery, at the start of the play she is ‘throned in the dust’
and by the end wears only a ‘crown of pain’
Helen: Said to be the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen is married to Menelaus, King of Sparta. Her abduction by Paris is the cause of the Trojan War.
Helen is lambasted in the play as a ‘wicked woman’ though she suggest her life on Tory ‘was most abject to slavery’.
Menelaus: The king of Sparta, Menelaus is the brother of Agamemnon and the husband of Helen. In Homer’s The Iliad, Menelaus is a noted hero; in The
Women of Troy her is characterised as a man full of wrath at the wounding of his masculine pride.
Poseidon: The Greek god of the ocean, earthquakes and horses, Poseidon built Troy, together with the god Apollo and knows ‘every stone… every tower, even
the walls’. He is therefore the city’s patron. At the start of the play, Poseidon declares, ‘I too shall desert famous Troy’.
Talthybius: A Greek officer who acts as a messenger for the leaders of the Greek army, ensuring their orders are carried out, Talthybius exhibits sympathy for
the women in the course of the play, but he is still meticulous in carrying out his orders.
PROLOGUE
MONODY & PARADOS
FIRST EPISODE
FIRST STASIMON
SECOND EPISODE
Summary: Hecuba lies
prostrate on the ground. The
God Poseidon looks over the
devastation of Troy. The
goddess Athene makes a pact
with Poseidon to get revenge
on the Greeks. The Gods leave.
Key Points: Poseidon departs
with an ominous warning that
‘when a man sacks a town’ he
is ‘asking for trouble and ‘the
same destruction’ will ‘sooner
or later… fall on his own head’.
This points to the atrocities of
the Athenians at Melos, and is
evidence of the prophetic
nature of Euripides’ play, given
Athens’ fall to Spartans in 405
BC.
Lyricism:
Hecuba’s monody, there
is a clear rhythm to her
speech that highlights
her feelings of
desperation, such as
when she cries, ‘like
mother bird at her
plundered nest, my song
has become a scream’.
QUOTES
Polyptoton:
The rhetorical repetition
of varying words that
share the same root.
Hecuba uses the words
‘suffering’, ‘suffered’ and
‘suffer’ in rapid
succession to highlight
how unrelenting the
blows to her hope.
Stichomythia:
A technique were
characters speak
alternate lines of a verse.
This is found in the
second episode as
Hecuba and Andromache
join in a song of sorrow,
each speaking of their
suffering and pain.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Background Info: Following the Trojan War,
The Trojan Women takes place. This major
conflict in Greek mythology was probably
inspired by actual conflicts between Bronze
Age Greek soldiers and the "Trojans," a
group of people who lived in what is now
Turkey, between 1100 and 1200 BCE.
Additionally, contemporary problems in real
life are presumably what motivated
Euripides. Soldiers from Athens had only
lately taken control of a tiny Greek island,
slaughtering its males and enslaving its
women; this event inspired him to write The
Trojan Women.
Essay Context Sentence :
Euripides’ 5th century BCE tragedy, The
Women of Troy, was written during the
second Peloponnesian War, in the aftermath
of the siege of Melos by the Athenians, and
shortly before their expedition to Sicily.
Hecuba:
‘to see the true face of misery you
need to look no further than the poor
creature lying there’
‘look at me, throned in the dust… an
old woman, dragged as a slave from
my home, all hope plundered from my
god-cursed ravaged grey head, with
no reprieve from my punishment of
everlasting sorrow’
‘true face of misery’
‘lying face down and quite still’
‘who will be the master of my grief’
'weep[s] for [her] burning home'
Talthybius:
‘what a clever fellow he is, this
underling! Officers of your kind are
always hated by everyone, lackeys.
Slaves yourselves, doing great men’s
dirty work’
‘someone tough and unthinking they
need for this job, without pity and no
scruples. I’m not half hard enough’
‘an indecent thing’
‘to be a kings mistress is not a bad
thing’
‘poor woman’
‘suffered so much’
The Chorus:
‘what words, what howling, can give
tongue to a pain no animal could
endure’
‘let the dead hear our pain’
‘the gods hate troy’
‘the disasters you prophesy are
fantasies’
Astyanax:
‘why are you killing this child? What
has he done in his innocence? He’s
guilty of nothing’
‘ “this child was murdered by the
Greeks because they were afraid of
him!” May all Hellas for ever be
ashamed of such an epitaph!’
Cassandra:
‘… the frenzied visionary whom even
the god Apollo left untouched as a
virgin’
‘consecrated virgin’
‘apollo’s nun’
‘god crazed daughter’
‘shot through with lust’
Andromache:
‘I aimed at the highest a woman could
wish to for, and I hit the mark. And
now I have lost everything’
‘made it my business to be the perfect
wife’
‘joyfully fulfilled at home’
Poseidon and Athene:
‘so now I too shall desert famous troy’
‘I shall make the Greeks’ return home
a disaster’
Innocent Suffer During War:
‘what I am suffering, and have
suffered, what I will suffer yet, is more
than enough to make anyone fall and
never get up again’ – Hecuba
‘… a whole generation of women
raped in their own bedrooms,
breeding bastards for the Greeks’ –
The Chorus
Minor Characters
Agamemnon: The king of Argos and leader of the Greek army, and the brother of Menelaus. He claims
Cassandra as his slave.
Ajax; Son of Oileus: A Greek warrior who ‘dragged Cassandra from sanctuary’ in Athene’s temple after
Nature of Valour:
Helen:
‘any sensible man must hate war, he
the fall of Troy. The Greek’s failure to punish Ajax angers Athene and prompts her to punish them.
‘… who was not fragged away from
does his best to avoid it. But if it
Hector: The ‘greatest’ warrior of Troy, who ‘speared’ many Greeks. He is the son of Priam and Hecuba,
her home by force, but ran away and
should come, even if it should end like
husband of Andromache and father of Astyanax. He is killed by Achilles in events proceeding the fall of
was unfaithful, because she wanted
this, it is no shame for a city, indeed, it
Troy.
to!’
is a crown of honour to die nobly, with
Laomedon: An early king of Troy and father of Priam.
‘with one look she makes men’s eyes
dignity’ – Cassandra
Neoptolemus: The son of Achilles; takes Andromache as his concubine
her prisoners, she sacks whole cities,
Odysseus: King of Ithaca; second in command of the Greek army at Troy. In his epic poems, homer
burns houses to the ground with that
Role of Women
portrays Odysseus as a wise and shrewd man who was resourceful and courageous; in The Women of
bewitching smile!’
‘death is what she deserves. And
Troy he is a ‘man without morality’ who is willing to kill the innocent child Astyanax.
other women will learn from her
Menelaus:
Paris: The son Priam and Hecuba, who sparked the Trojan War by absconding to Troy with Helen. Paris
example that wives who betray their
‘that’ll
teach
you
what
is
costs
to
was prophesied to bring about the destruction of Troy, but Priam could not bring himself to ‘strangle his
husbands must expect to die for it’ –
humiliate
me’
brat birth’ to prevent this.
Hecuba
‘a sensible man loves someone worthy
Polyxena: daughter of Priam and Hecuba who is ‘murdered at Achilles’ tomb, as a sacrifice to the dead’.
‘Being Hector’s wife, I aimed at the
of his love’
Greek mythology indicates that Achilles’ ghost demanded her sacrifice.
highest a woman could wish for, and I
‘drag her out by the hair’
Priam: King of Troy, husband of Hecuba; slain by Neoptolemus during the fall of Troy.
hit the mark’ – Andromache
Telamon: came ‘across the waves of Aegean to destroy the ancient city of Troy’ after Laomedon refused
Heracles payment for killing a sea monster.
SECOND STASIMON
THIRD EPISODE
THIRD STASIMON
FOURTH EPISODE
EXODOS
Summary: Andromache and Astyanax arrive.
Andromache and Hecuba speak of their suffering;
Hecuba suggest there is still hope. Talthybius
arrives and announces that Astyanax must dies.
Andromache and Astyanax are taken away.
Key Points: The entrance of Andromache and
Astyanax on top of a baggage wagon parodies
the dignified processional entrances traditionally
accorded to figures of royal stature in ancient
Greek tragedy.
The news that Astyanax is to be murdered
reinforces the notion that war is a never-ending
cycle of fear, hatred and retribution. The tragedy
of Astyanax’s death is highlighted by the repeated
assertions of his innocence and purity. Astyanax
must die, not for his actions but because of the
nobility of his birth. This injustice is shown in the
symbol of Hector’s shield, which accompanies
Astyanax throughout the play. Without Hector,
Summary: The Chorus
speak of the history
of Troy.
Key Points: The
second stasimon
reveals how faith is
tested in times of war
– the Chorus’
deepening sense of
abandonment grows
stronger as they see
that their prayers are
‘vain dreaming, false
hopes’.
Summary: Menelaus enters to claim Helen. Helen and
Hecuba argue about Helen’s fate. Menelaus declares Hecuba
the winner of the argument, but rather than kill Helen, he
takes her back to Sparta.
Key Points: Helen’s view of herself as a heroic victim parallels
that of Cassandra, who also envisions her victimhood as a
means for vengeance. In the English translation of Euripides’s
play, the importance of Helen’s comment about love is
lessened. In Greek there are various words to describe
different types of love – in this instance the word used would
have been eros, which is sexual or passionate love. In Greek
myth, eros, is a form of madness brought about by Cupid’s
arrows, shot under Aphrodite’s direction.
Although it was wrong for Helen to blame Hecuba for the
events at Troy, Euripides’ point may be that it is equally
ridiculous to place all the blame on Helen. As shown when
Menelaus commands that Helen be dragged out ‘by the hair’.
Helen, like the other women, is subject to the will of men.
Summary: The Chorus
accuse Zeus of
betraying Troy and
call for vengeance on
Menelaus and Helen.
Key Points: The
Chorus’ shift of
language when they
apostrophise Zeus,
and their assertion
that all their ritual
observances where
pointless, reinforces
Poseidon’s warning in
the prologue that
‘when a town is
destroyed… all
worship ceases’.
Summary: Talthybius and the guards return
with the body of Astyanax. Hecuba and the
women prepare Astyanax for burial.
Key Points: In ancient Greece, the failure to
correctly perform burial rights was
considered an insult to the deceased. Burial
rights were conducted by relatives, primarily
women. In trying to expedite Astyanax’s
burial by washing his body, rather than
allowing Hecuba to do so, tell Talthybius
commits an affront to the dignity of the
deceased child’s spirit.
Hecuba makes an important point to the
Chorus - immortality is gained through the
continued remembrance of the dead, and
their suffering is such that ‘poets a hundred
generations hence’ will take up the story of
Troy ‘as their great theme’, thus
guaranteeing them in mortality.
Summary: Talthybius
orders that Troy be
burned. Hecuba
attempts to throw
herself in the flames
but is stopped; all exit.
Key Points: The
audience is denied
catharsis at the end,
and instead must leave
with the realisation
that the truth the
Trojan women had to
face is the same truth
faced by slaves and
women in their own
society.
the shield is nothing but an impotent symbol of
the lost father.