Hecuba Trojan Women Analysis
On Euripides and War: An Historical Analysis of Hecuba, Trojan Women, and Iphegenia at Aulis History is written. It did not happen. What did happen can only be described and recorded. Of the records that exist today society judges which are "fact," which are and which are "fictional." One striking feature that all records share is a preoccupation with war. This is not surprising, however, since a convolution of all records during a specific time span will show that somewhere war was being waged. What exactly this says about humanity is not here discussed. Instead, a singular instance of one particular consequence of war is discussed. War is waged by humans, that is to say, war is effected by humans. Humans are in turn affected by war. The
…show more content…
During his lifetime, Athens was often at war. Three of his several works that deal with war were written during or just after the Peloponnesian war; a war that lasted most of Eurpides' life. Hecuba was written in 426 B.C., Trojan Women was written in 416 B.C., and Iphegenia at Aulis was written around 407 B.C.; each is a reaction to some particular part of the abstracted idea of war. Critics throughout the past have acknowledged the greatness of these works. Many wish to lift the plays out of historical context, contending that the themes found therein are universal and a historical analysis is unnecessary. This is largely true. The Hecuba, for example, explores ideas about revenge, justice, and friendship; each of those ideas can be investigated outside of history. However, to ignore the fact that Euripides wrote these plays during a war, in reaction to that war, in opposition to that war, and that he was ridiculed for his opinions is folly. When we impose the war environment of mid-fourth century B.C. onto the plays we do restrict the interpretation. However, the interpretations that are then made are stronger and more …show more content…
The Athenians treated Melos much like the Achaeans of Trojan Women treat Illium; the city was destroyed, all the men killed, and all the women taken as slaves. The parallel is obvious once history is imposed upon the play. Furthermore, the themes, characters, and very dialogue of the play are thus given new meaning. In presenting Odysseus, a great chief of the Achaeans and reputedly the most intelligent of them, as a coward and murder, Euripides is commenting on the leaders of Athens and on wartime leaders in general. In regards to another theme, Trojan Women (TW) and Iphegenia at Aulis (IA) together present an argument of the nature of war itself. In TW Helen is effectively put on trial by Hecuba and Menelaus. The dialogue there can be taken as indicting war and describing that war is a thing which feeds on itself. In IA, the same argument is presented in different way. The wavering opinion of the army, its supposed war lust and desire to go home, combined with the sudden reversal of mind that Iphegenia undergoes seem to say that war is madness, and that the madness is contagious and self renewing. A quick perusal of the timeline of the Peloponnesian war through which Euripides lived shows that his assertions are true. Euripides, taken in historical context, is not limited, but rather illuminated and by doing so we can make sense some of the affects of war just as he
During his lifetime, Athens was often at war. Three of his several works that deal with war were written during or just after the Peloponnesian war; a war that lasted most of Eurpides' life. Hecuba was written in 426 B.C., Trojan Women was written in 416 B.C., and Iphegenia at Aulis was written around 407 B.C.; each is a reaction to some particular part of the abstracted idea of war. Critics throughout the past have acknowledged the greatness of these works. Many wish to lift the plays out of historical context, contending that the themes found therein are universal and a historical analysis is unnecessary. This is largely true. The Hecuba, for example, explores ideas about revenge, justice, and friendship; each of those ideas can be investigated outside of history. However, to ignore the fact that Euripides wrote these plays during a war, in reaction to that war, in opposition to that war, and that he was ridiculed for his opinions is folly. When we impose the war environment of mid-fourth century B.C. onto the plays we do restrict the interpretation. However, the interpretations that are then made are stronger and more …show more content…
The Athenians treated Melos much like the Achaeans of Trojan Women treat Illium; the city was destroyed, all the men killed, and all the women taken as slaves. The parallel is obvious once history is imposed upon the play. Furthermore, the themes, characters, and very dialogue of the play are thus given new meaning. In presenting Odysseus, a great chief of the Achaeans and reputedly the most intelligent of them, as a coward and murder, Euripides is commenting on the leaders of Athens and on wartime leaders in general. In regards to another theme, Trojan Women (TW) and Iphegenia at Aulis (IA) together present an argument of the nature of war itself. In TW Helen is effectively put on trial by Hecuba and Menelaus. The dialogue there can be taken as indicting war and describing that war is a thing which feeds on itself. In IA, the same argument is presented in different way. The wavering opinion of the army, its supposed war lust and desire to go home, combined with the sudden reversal of mind that Iphegenia undergoes seem to say that war is madness, and that the madness is contagious and self renewing. A quick perusal of the timeline of the Peloponnesian war through which Euripides lived shows that his assertions are true. Euripides, taken in historical context, is not limited, but rather illuminated and by doing so we can make sense some of the affects of war just as he