Book 4 day 1
Helen
By Pippa Walker
For the original audience it would
have been fascinating to see Helen
and Menelaus together, already being
well aware of the events of the Trojan
war. Therefore Homers depiction of
the Spartan Queen has some rather
interesting choices.
Helen first appears during an internal debate of her husbands;
namely if he ought to mention that he recognises Telemachus
or not, but whilst he deliberates she speaks her mind-which
coincidentally mirrors his. "Shall I withhold the truth or speak
the truth? I feel I must speak. For never in man or woman have I
seen such a likeness before"
In a way this emphasises how right they are for each other that
they compliment each other in terms of differences, but it also
creates a sense of Helen being a strong woman to not fall to
social prejudices and rules. It's rather sweet, and supports both
points that Menelaus doesn't appear to mind being slightly
overpowered by his wife here.
The strangest feature of Helen Homer reveals by far is her
apparent drugging of the men on line 220. Not only has she a face
that launches a thousand ships, not only did she hatch from an egg,
but she was apparently taught by the Egyptians how to use many
herbs, in a rather witch-like way.
That said she is doing this with the best of intentions, as everyone
had just been in tears over painful memories, and she wanted them
to be able to forget their grief for the evening.
Far from declaring it witchcraft of a Medea level, Homer describes
the Egyptians she received them form as "the true sons of Paeeon
the healer"
Having seen to it that the others can enjoy themselves as
Peisistratus himself suggested, Helen sets the evening off by
launching into a tale of Odysseus's cunning, which then leads
to Menelaus's speech of sorts, before everyone retires for
the day. Having, in a sense, fulfilled her duties as a host and
wife this way, Helen is the one to direct that beds be made for
their guests, once again a slight nudge from Homer that
Helen isn't afraid to do what wouldn't normally be her job; up
until now it has been the man of the household to go about
matters related to Xenia. Her job done, we don't hear of
Helen on the second day.
I believe Homer had fun creating a woman who believably is
the daughter of Zeus, is the sole cause of the Trojan war, and
is now queen of Sparta. For that time a lot of her actions and
nuances were rather shocking, but there is no sense that it
causes any problems; theirs is an equal marriage, probably one
of the happiest to still be as they are after the war and lack of
legitimate son I.e. Nobody minding that Megapenthes was
born from a slave girl just goes to show how liberal this country
is in all areas.
Not to mention describing someone so goddess-like; Homer
took quite a lot of artistic licence in his description of the
Egyptians gifts to her.