Reviews
“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.
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.
leave me with the stones. i’m made of stones. i weep stones. and when i’ve wept all the stones there are, i’ll be done. such a unique way to present a tragedy i loved this anne carson is a genius
*i did not read this exact translation, but this story by Euripides
