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cally without rival for sheer pathos at its best is the scene in which Talthybius,
the Greek herald, takes from Andromache her son Astyanax. On
the basis of this and similar passages, it has been argued, though not convincingly,
that Euripides in his effort to produce pathos has overstepped
the limits set by true tragedy.
The emotional strain of the whole play perhaps would be intolerable,
were it not for the fact that there is in these women, though utterly desolated,
inspiring courage and the capacity to endure whatever may follow.
It is in this way that Euripides has expressed his ultimate belief in man's
dignity and worth and strength. For example, we know from his portrayal
of Andromache that she will live, and on some terms will live greatly, even
though now she regards death as the highest of goods. The delineation of
Hecuba likewise reveals man's seemingly limitless ability to bear suffering.
But the play as a whole is most impressive as an indictment against
war. When the poet juxtaposes the conquered, in the persons of these
women, and the conqueror, in the person of Menelaus, who, though he has
regained Helen, finds that he has won nothing, we have a situation which
proclaims in powerful accents the cruelty, folly, and futility of war.
European literature can boast a no more potent document on this theme
than The Trojan Women.