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INTRODUCTION
THE Andromache has never ranked high among Euripides' tragedies. It
was written and produced probably in the early years of the Peloponnesian
War, but unfortunately we do not possess the requisite information
to date it more precisely. We do know, however, that it was presented
for the first time not at Athens, but in one of the dramatic contests held
in some rural district. The plot is focussed upon the fortunes of Andromache,
the widow of Hector, but now the slave and concubine of Achilles'
son, Neoptolemus. In the prologue, composed in the customary Euripidean
fashion, Andromache herself explains her situation—that after Troy's
destruction she became the captive of Neoptolemus, that she has borne
him a son, and that she is hated by Hermione, whom her master has recently
married. It is regrettable that Euripides has not concentrated his
attention upon a study of this domestic situation and its implications, but
rather has tended to emphasize the plot, which, though it contains tense
moments, is unconvincingly developed through too frequent use of timely
but ill-motivated entrances of new characters.
Structurally the play seems to fall into two parts which are but remotely
connected with one another. The first section, wherein the proud
Hermione and her villainous father, Menelaus, are on the point of killing
Andromache and her son, seems to end satisfactorily, if somewhat
melodramatically, when the aged Peleus comes to the rescue. But the
play goes on to present Hermione in hysterical remorse, Orestes coming
to take Hermione away, since he has already planned her husband's
murder, Peleus bearing the undeserved brunt of the "tragedy" when
Neoptolemus' body is brought in, and the final adjustment of the situation
when the goddess Thetis appears. The poet loses sight of Andromache
and the play loses its unity accordingly.
Menelaus as a character is interesting. He embodies all the most detestable
Spartan characteristics which were rousing the hatred of the
Athenians during these early days of the war. In fact, the contemporary
situation of Athens in its conflict with Sparta seems to have been prominent
in the poet's mind as he wrote. The portrayal of Andromache is likewise
not without its power, but the treatment of character throughout
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