Girls who have uncontrollable lust12/27/2023 ![]() The use of epizeuxis – “Howl! Howl! Howl!” – or other forms of repetition (e.g anaphora, epiphora, etc) also helps the dramatist depict the Trojan women’s abject misery. By framing their dirge and “threnody of tears” in the form of stichomythia, Euripides highlights the universality of their plight, showcasing the indiscriminate nature of the tragedies catalysed by warfare. The Trojan’s endless lament reflects their perpetual pain and despair, and puts forward the notion that a life of misery has only begun. However, the lack of articulated structure of the play helps convey that there is no story to be told because Troy is now forsaken, and so are the Trojan women. Comparison: “Happier dead than I am living”Ĭentred around the pain and suffering of the Trojan women, The Women of Troy’s plotline may appear to be overly simplistic or lack nuance.Symbolism: Cassandra’s torch – a “grotesque paradoy”.Juxtaposition: “One woman, one moment of uncontrollable lust” vs “ten thousands dead”.By comparing between the women’s future as slaves with death, Euripides augments the pain of the Trojan women which resulted from the conflict and appealed to the audiences’ sympathy. The playwright underscores that a life under “a loathsome Greek” is worse than being deceased, where people are “happier dead than I am living.” The women’s desire to no longer be alive is apparent during the Second Episode, where Cassandra’s torch – the symbol of the glimmering hope – could also be seen as the women’s suicidal intent when confronted by the “grotesque parody” of their fate. While the Greeks’ moral degradation is a central idea, his main focus throughout the play is to highlight the sufferings that the conflict had brought onto the Trojan women – the forgotten victims of war. The lack of power and agency exhibited by those most affected further augments the tragic element of the play, which simultaneously serves as a polemic of the crimes committed by the Greeks. The attainment of kleos proves to be an insufficient justification for the immense agony endured by the titular Trojan women. Euripides’ pacifist message is conveyed as he renders warfare a product of impulse and bellicosity. Constantly juxtaposing the reasons behind the annihilation of Troy, being “one woman”, “one moment of uncontrollable lust” with its cost – “tens of thousands dead”. The sheer futility of war is constantly encapsulated by the playwright’s portrayal of the consequences of irrational military conflicts. Euripides imbues the play with visual imagery and lyrical poeticism, effectively delineating the horror of warfare and the misery afflicted by those in power upon society as a whole. The Women of Troy’s narrative starkly parallels the aforementioned Peloponnesian war, and its cataclysmic outcome, with casualties reaching the thousands and the horrendous mistreatment of female victims. The entire tragedy itself is set during the aftermath of the conflict between the Trojans and the Greeks, therefore inherently introduces wars as a central theme of Euripides’ heavily anti-war play. Since the Hellenic society is largely phallocentric, where women are considered subordinate to their male counterparts, Euripides’ proto-feminist works were not highly regarded perhaps due to their subversive nature. He foregrounds the injustices that are not often discussed in other classical works within the Hellenic repertoire, namely the infliction of pain on women and children. Instead of aggrandising the actions of the Homeric heroes, such as Odysseus, Euripides scrutinises their actions and renders their bellicosity irrational. His play, as the title suggests, is centred around the commodification of the eponymous Trojan women and the misery they are forced through despite their lack of power and involvement in the matter. The play serves as Euripides’ allegorical warning of the consequences that may be brought about by the Athenians’ crimes against the Melians. Set amidst the immediate aftermath of the infamous Trojan war, Euripides’ tragedy The Women of Troy serves as a critique of the atrocities committed by the Greeks during both the siege of Troy and Melos.
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