Critical Essay on Trojan Women

Introduction

Trojan Women is a tragedy by Greek Troades named drama by Euripides. It was published in 415 BCE during the Peloponnesian War. The playwright is usually considered as an annotation on the occurrence of the Aegean Island of Melos- butchering its men and lessening its women to slavery and the next slaughter and subjugation of its populace by the Athenians earlier that year. Therefore, it is a famous and influential impeachment of the barbarous mercilessness of war.

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An Author’s Life on the Understanding of the Text

All human being are influenced by the world around them and have distinct experiences, which affect one's personality. For instance, from social and economic of Euripides's wrote one could know that the Trojan woman precedes that of the Agamemnon in a mythical era, for it is positioned at Troy when the Greek conquerors are dispensing the Trojan slaves among themselves and preparing to navigate home (Lefkowitz,1979).Thus, the fate awaiting Agamemnon when he returns is revealed to the external audience, who know mythical and tragic traditions regarding the king of Argos and to Cassandra, the motivated prophetess, who predicts his death in the first episode. Therefore, the more a reader knows about the author, the better he/she can interpret the messages core to Euripides's body of work. Moreover, his biography offers insights into the period and the surroundings that shaped the life and the decisions, which he arrived at. Therefore, helping to know what is the most critical and less critical message from the book from the author's choice. From the biography of Euripides, the audience gets to know that he wrote other play on the same theme- tragedy

Why Was the Author Biased

The author was biased because the Trojan women focus on the negatives that war causes, majorly towards the fighters' wives, children, and mother (Franco, 2012). When war strikes it affects all genders, however, females tend to suffer but also male gender suffers too, therefore, the fact that author turned a cold shoulder on the impact of war on the male id biased.

Agenda of the Playwright

In the Trojan women, the author has twisted the epic traditions to challenge the audience to view closely at values and beliefs in their society and he cruelly pushes viewers over the edge as he provoke them with the questioning of the implications of power, sanity, civilization, truth, beauty, freedom, and above all, the meaning of both public and personal triumph.The Trojan Women in Athens was composed by the Euripides in 415 BC at the theater in southern regions of Acropolis. The event was the biggest Dionysia, An event that was conducted annually at Athens exemplified in the label of a god of wine, ribald, drama and Dionysia also known as the Bacchus by the Romans

Source

The play was based on the myths and the legends around the Trojan War. According to Archeological evidence and history, the war took place between 1350 and 1100 BC. However, the early narrators had mythologized the incident before, through and after the fight claiming that the gods and the goddesses had taken sides and mediated in the clashes to shake the outcome of the conflict and the destiny of the heroes. The tellers also overstated the actions of the Greeks and Trojan soldiers.

Setting

Actions took place before the walls of Troy; this was an old city close to the western coast of the current day Turkey. At dawn after the Greek militaries had won the warfare of Trojan the play began. Troy in a mess, dead bodies lied unburied on the battleground in opposite the city. Trojan women, Hecuba the queen of the Troy included assembled outer the city wall in great despair. They were to become slaves to the victorious Greeks.

Why and when the sources were createdEuripides wrote The Trojan Women a short period aftermath an army from Athens, Greece confronted Melos, an island in the Aegean Sea, to push its native to become part of a coalition against the Greek city-state of Sparta. Besides, the Athenians demanded homage. After the island against the occupants refused to meet the demand of the Athenian, the Athenian invaded the city, killing male fighters who stood their ground and seizing women and children to be slaves. Therefore, the main reason why Euripides wrote The Trojan Women was to object the invasion to Melos.

The Explicit Purpose of the Narrative

The central theme of the Trojan women has made the intention of the author exact. This primary theme is the theme of the Horror of war. Through this central theme, the author has been able to exhibit the evenness of war. The horror of war theme helps to depict how Troy is in ruins, the lamentation of women and children for the death of their husband and fathers, rape cases of women such as Cassandra among others. Another theme that had helped to make the purpose of this writing precise is the theme of dread, hopes, and, revenge. However, it is not clear whether it is a paly or tragic of war

Was It Intended for Public or Private Use?

Since the book points several evil acts in a society of that time, perhaps it is addressed more to the public than individuals did. Moreover, Trojan Women is an extremely complex politically motivated play.

The Trojan as Artwork

The Trojan women are art- war play because the narrative does not follow one tragic hero instead it is a chorus of Trojan women who have survived the war and now wait to be slaves (Campbell, 2005). The women are led by Hecuba, the former queen of Troy together with her daughter Cassandra and daughter in -law Andromache and Helen. The play condemns the suffering of Troy and those who fell with it. As the plot discloses, the audience absorbs that the Greeks have resolute that Hecuba will be sent with Odysseus, Cassandra with Agamemnon, Andromache with the son of Achilles, and Helen will be taken home with Menelaus.

Comparison with Rhesus

When compared with both exhibit several markers in Ancient Greek Literature and show the different writing styles and grammar styles of the time. For instance, when Rhesus is compared to the Trojan women, Rhesus is very different from Trojan women because it concentrates on its titular women in the aftermath of the Trojan War. Nevertheless, Rhesus places emphasis on the experience of the Trojans. In other words, in the play, the talk concerns the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta

Female Perspectives

When Illiad is compared to The Trojan women, where Andromanche articulates her grief regarding the war before Hector leaves to join the Trojan troops. Another female perception in the play, Iphigrnia, when she displayed her content with her sacrifice, this perception makes audience to connect more with women.

Structure

Prologue

At the beginning of the play, Poseidon laments on the fall of Troy. It goes on when Athens is telling Poseidon that she had gone against the Greeks she had supported during the battle, this happened because the Greek fighters Aias raped Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess in the temple devoted to the Athens. The prologue ends when finally the queen of the city Hecuba speaks on the collapse of her city and Trojan women's destiny.

Parode, Episode, Stasimon

A parode is made up of the lines that the members of the chorus sing when they make the first appearance. The Parode take place when the Trojan women chorus comes in to ask more about Hecuba's lines in the prologue. Her sad tone left the women wondering. The Parode ends when the choir women grieve and express worry about the coming days. The women spoke in the first person singular, "I look my last and latest on my children bodies; henceforth shall I endure surpassing misery! It may be as a wretched slave."

As the plan upholds, the lines the personality speaks makes an episode. For instance, the first episode starts with the interchange among Talthybius and Hecuba, with a short remark from the choir. It goes on when Cassandra expresses her mind and concludes with a negotiation involving Cassandra, Talthybius, Hecuba and the choir.

Exodus

The lines were forming the final occurrence of the play, starting from the death of Astyanax and the burning down of Troy to the exiting of Hecuba as the slave Odysseus.

References

Campbell, J. S. J. O. (2005). Eros, Paideia and Arete: The lesson of Plato's symposium.Franco, C. (2012). Women in Homer. A companion to women in the ancient world, 54-65.

Garcia, N. (2008). Classic sceneries: Setting ancient Greece in film architecture (pp. 21-38). na.

Lefkowitz, M. R. (1979). The Euripides Vita. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 20(2), 187-210.