The Trojan War, etc.

I had a lot of thoughts after today's class. First of all, it occurred to me that if I am going to leave so little time to discuss certain elements of each play, I should give you as much background information as possible well before we discuss the play. So thanks to Jeremy for an excellent presentation on Euripedes and his role in Athenian drama, which gave us a lot to work with when approaching The Trojan Women. Here's some more stuff that might help you. First, this website is a very useful encyclopedia of mythology that will give you some background information about the play's characters. Second, here is some information about the Trojan War.

Here is what we discussed about the play's character lineages today, and what has happened before the play begins: Hecuba was the wife of Priam, King of Troy. Before the play begins, Priam and all of the men of Troy have been killed after the Greeks entered the city in a big wooden horse. This includes Hecuba's son Hector, husband of Andromache and brother to Paris, whose relationship with Helen angered Menelaos and instigated the Trojan War. Given that Euripides was using familiar Greek mythology, here, it is interesting to see how he deals with the re-telling of the story of the burning of Troy.

A couple of things that stood out to me as Jeremy was speaking today: this play was performed at the City Dionysia after a particularly contentious act by the Greeks. In Nicholas Rudall's introduction, he writes that

One year before the performance of The Trojan Women, Athens had invaded the island of Melos, which was greek but determinedly neutral in the war between Athens and Sparta, the Peloponnesian war. Athenian forces captured the island, put its men to death, and enslaved it s women and children. This barbaric act provoked the people of Athens. (3)

With that context in mind, and also considering that (as Jeremy pointed out) Euripides was influenced by sophist thinking that was skeptical about the possibility of knowing any complete truth, what meaning can we attribute to the plot of the play (or lack thereof) and how it is constructed? Also, what do you make of the fact that the location of the play was in a non-Greek country that had been invaded and its people enslaved? How does that knowledge influence your understanding of Talthybius and his entrance into the world of these mourning women?

Before class on Wednesday, try to outline in your mind (or on paper!) what the significant events in the text are. Make a list of what actually happens. Does each event seem inevitable, given the circumstances that precede it? Does it lead to other events that come after? Or do these things just happen to conveniently fall where they do in the plot?

Also, look closely at the Prologue between Poseidon and Athena. Then read from where Menelaos enters until his exit, focusing on the conflict between Helen and Hecuba in the middle of the scene. What does this argument represent? What is its outcome?

One other important thing that came out of today's class: there was a brief dispute about whether or not the major event of the play could be Hecuba's fall from queen to slave. This is a really productive debate to have, because it could determine how you might stage the play. When reading the play for production, if you decide that the story you want to tell is that of Hecuba's enslavement, the weight you give each scene and the outcome of each would be slightly different than if you think the most important event of the play is that Menelaus decides to take Helen with him to receive her punishment back in Greece. Does that make sense? I guess what I'm getting at here is: ultimately, what difference does it make how a plot fits together? And how can a theatre artist's analysis of a script influence its meaning?

Does this play build to a climactic moment, do you think? Are there a lot of complications? What would the point be after which everything changes? And does the ending offer any resolution?

Finally, how might you stage this play in a contemporary context? If you were going to direct it, where would you choose to set it, and why?

Okay, I think that's all I have to say for now. Please feel free to respond to any of these questions in comment form, or in the form of a longer blog entry! See you on Wednesday.