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Women of Troy Essay...

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“Your suffering is like mine. Your anguished words give voice to my deepest agonies and fears.” In what ways does Euripides’ The Women of Troy give voice to those who have suffered as a result of conflict? Written to the backdrop of the Peloponnesian War, The Women of Troy explores the shared sufferance and experiences of the marginalised as a result of the brutal Athenian war methods. Despite the state of war, Euripides intends to reveal the voices of all those that are victims of the war. Euripides seeks to discomfort his male audience by elucidating the emotional and physical suffering endured by the victims of Troy. Similarly, Euripides utilises women as a means to articulate the fears endured but also to highlight their desire to challenge their subjugation of the Athenian patriarchy and seek justice for what they have lost. Conversely, Euripides creates a voice of those suffering through challenging the hypermasculinity attitudes in the war. Initially, Euripides intends to perturb his male Greek audience through his characterisation of Hecuba, who embodies the collective emotional and physical torment endured by the women. Euripides constructed Hecuba as a means to present the immense suffering as a result of the war, resulting in her to be ‘throned in the dust’. Through his depiction, he enables Hecuba to gain credibility as a voice that represents the collective suffering of the women that even ‘[at] the riverbank of the Scamander echoes with the screams of captured women.’ By representing the grief of the collective, Euripides intends to discomfort his audience to reveal struggles of those enslaved. Similarly, Euripides employs the simile of Hecuba compared to ‘a mother bird at her nest’, reminding the audience of Hecuba’s devastation of her ‘burning home’ in order to deepen the physical loss endured. Through the use of the noun ‘home’ elicits a sense of affection and endearment for the city, further accentuating the drastic loss faced by Hecuba. Through his archetypal portrayal of Hecuba, he uses it as a means to represent the universal loss endured by all victims of war. Euripides’ unflinching descriptions of the women’s treatment who ‘scream and moan... as various Greek lords draw lots of them’ and ‘dragged as a slave’, provides a voice to those suffering and enables Euripides to raise a mirror to the ancient Greek community’s actions. Additionally, through Hecuba’s repetitious echoes of her ‘weep[s] and howl[s]’ serves to remind the audience of Hecuba’s mourning ‘for [her] burning home... for [her] children dead, for [her] husband dead’, Euripides invites his audience understand and become informed about the dire repercussions and the lack of glory associated with war. Thus, Euripides utilises Hecuba as means to highlight the unknown misery to those who survived. Similarly, Euripides demonstrates that those who survived are forced to be dehumanised but also illustrate their defiance against Athenian patriarchy. Euripides employs the Chorus to express the grief of the ordinary women, reinforcing that those of status have become slaves and that they have a shared sorrow. The Chorus echoes Hecuba misery as ‘your suffering is like mine. Your anguished words give voice to my deepest agonies and fears’, representing the views on the unspoken and are objectified and mistreated by their male counterparts. The Chorus echoes the deepest pain of Hecuba, establishing a sense of camaraderie between the female characters of the play. Despite being oppressed by the Greek commanders, they remain defiant in their demeanour towards the Greeks and their sense of loyalty to each other. Through

their echoes sentiments that they do not isolate themselves and resigned to the ‘lord of the Greeks’, but rather Euripides presents them as united in spite of the circumstances. Similarly, this is embodied by Andromache who directly insults the Greeks for ‘[they] have dreamed up such cruelties even the barbarians would flinch at’. Furthering her defiance of those who have victimised her, she directly addresses the Greeks as ‘you Greeks’, undermining the nobility and heroism of the Greek army in their dishonourable war tactics. Additionally, Cassandra embodies similar resistance through a broader lens regarding the ‘what Troy suffers will one day seem like a golden age’ to the Greeks. She foreshadows that ‘the House of Atreus [will be] destroyed’ as ‘Agamemnon... will find [her] more destructive as a wife than ever Helen was’. Her character strength is cemented in her final line of her first monologue that ‘I shall destroy them’, as she foresees that her suffering will not be in vain. Through Cassandra’s acceptance that her ‘naked flesh will be thrown into a rocky gulley, where the storm waters rush’, Euripides emphasises the nobility from suffering. Therefore, through utilising pivotal moments of suffering for those who are marginalised in The Women of Troy, Euripides reinforces the strength of women despite their subjugation and lack of agency. Conversely, Euripides utilises the male voice to contrast the suffering of women in order to reinforce the oppressed experiences. Through the characterisation of Talthybius, Euripides presents him as an instrument of war since he is ‘not half hard enough’ to execute his commands, he remains complicit. This is exemplified by his recognition that the infanticide of Astyanax is ‘an indecent thing’, he executes his superiors command ‘that a son of such a father must not be allowed to grow up’. Euripides characterises Talthybius as reluctant and sympathetic towards the predicament; however, he ‘do[es] great men’s dirt work’ regardless of his own disagreement. This intends to influence the Athenian audience to consider the degree of strength the women in comparison the complicit nature of men. Similarly, through his characterisation of Menelaus, a man with ‘uncontrollable lust’ resulting in ‘tens of thousands dead’ ‘for one woman’s sake’, embodies the Athenian male arrogance and indifference the women’s suffering. His first line is a stark contrast and highlights his insensitivity by stating that ‘even the sun shines brighter today, this most glorious of days’, Euripides immediately presents him as foolish. His hubristic attitudes is further cemented by his consistent use of the pronoun ‘I’ that ‘I am the man’, to exemplify his arrogance and indifference of the recent destruction of Troy. Through his presentation of Menelaus to warn Athenian male audience of the consequences of undermining and belittling a feminine voice. Hence, Euripides employs his male characters as a means to caution his audience of the consequences of disregarding the female voice and strengthen the women’s experience. Thus, The Women of Troy emphasises and reveals the experiences of those who have suffered to warn the audience of the repercussions of disregarding women and thereby emphasise their experiences. In essence, Euripides exposes the atrocities of war on the innocent who forced to suffer the consequences of societal prejudice.

Implied that you should unpack the given quote Voice → who do we hear within the play Hecuba - Present throughout the whole play - Overcome with suffering during the start but voices her agony - More and more is stripped from her throughout the play - Representation of all women and the tragedies of war - Gets worse with each episode of the play, loses hope - The structure of tragedy, staging of Hecuba - Unfolds on stage her loss and suffering is with each episode of the play - Echoed by Andromache  social status - Voice loses hope Women as a whole - Chorus, representative of all women, their fears voiced and articulated - Cassandra and Andromache, their desires to seek revenge against the patriarchy - The chorus  all women fears are voiced (articulated) - Also their desires to seek revenge, and to defy the subjugation of patriarchy Male voice - Gives voice to those suffering by challenging the hypermasculinity of war - Their indifference and arrogance - A voice of arrogance and hubris - Their indifference towards women’s suffering, a direct challenge towards his audience - Warning towards men - Contrasted as male voice of arrogance and ‘loss’ seem - Born of hubris - E.g. menelaus, talthybius, Poseidon https://www.vcestudyguides.com/blog/women-of-troy-by-euripides-don-taylors-version https://www.tsfx.edu.au/resources/YR%2012%20ENGLISH%20LIST%201-%20WOMEN%20OF %20TROY%203-FINAL.pdf...