Name: The Trojan Women
Rating: 4 (9 reviews)

Euripides

Diskin Clay

English translation of Euripides' tragedy about the consequences of war and the fate of those defeated in war. Introductory essay; appendix on Euripides' "Trojan Tetrology"; a translation of Gorgias' "In Praise of Helen"; suggestions for further reading.

The Trojan Women

Gilbert Murray

As bleak and agonizing a portrait of war as ever to appear on the stage, The Trojan Women is a masterpiece of pathos as well as a timeless and chilling indictment of war's brutality. Plays for Performance Series.

lala

“No life, no light is any kind of death, since death is nothing, and in life the hopes live still.”

This play by Euripides is one of the play that evokes your emotion. The Trojan Women— left by the ruins of the 10 years long Trojan War was set in trial for their lives. No men of Troy was spared, even the still baby Astyanax. The women of Troy laments their fates, first, Hecuba who is to be given to Odysseus, and then her daughter, Cassandra who Agamemnon picks, as she reveals the oncoming disaster that will happen to the Greeks. Andromache, Hector’s widow, sadly have to give up her son to the hands of the Greeks. And then there’s Helen— who pleads with her life that the events that lead to the war was not of her doing, but rather a will that the Goddess Aphrodite has made, and she cannot escape. For me, I love how Hecuba denies Helen of her plead, she later saying that Helen came to Troy on her own and not by Aphrodite’s will. Hecuba’s statement as the Greeks set fire upon Troy is chilling and beautiful. Truly one of the most memorable Greek plays.

Andrew John Kinney

I read this years ago, in college, and I have always remembered the horrible scene in which Hecuba sees the body of her very young grandson, Astyanax, the son of Hector, who has been thrown from the city walls by the Greeks. This is not the same translation as the one I read before, because I vividly remember Hecuba's comment about seeing the "white bone" in the little boy's broken body, and the wording here is slightly different, not as stark. Later I read Caesar's account of taking towns in Gaul, and how the defeated kings would throw themselves from the walls to avoid slavery. Astyanax was seen as a threat because he was the last living link to the throne of Priam; so sad, because of course the little boy would have had no understanding of the politics of which he was the pawn.

Nikki Sojkowski

*i did not read this exact translation, but this story by Euripides

As bleak and agonizing a portrait of war as ever to appear on the stage, The Trojan Women is a masterpiece of pathos as well as a timeless and chilling indictment of war's brutality. Plays for Performance Series

The Trojan Women

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