1 EURIPIDES' TROJAN WOMEN PREFACE, TRANSLATION, and ...

This play shows us a new type of heroism, that of the victim. The way that suffering
purifies them may ultimately ennoble their souls. Any audience seeing this play also
experiences the suffering of these women, and possibly a renewal, what the Greeks called
catharsis. After such an experience, the lessons learnt may lead to a better life and better
choices. Here the suggested choice is not to wage war, but, if one does, at least to be
respectful of the gods and holy places, and merciful to prisoners.
Women of Troy has to be seen to be appreciated; it offers superb dramatic roles.
Sometimes the play has been criticized for lack of action, but Euripides knew exactly
what he was doing. He alternates the most despairing scenes with lighter ones and plays
the audience like the psychological virtuoso that he is. He leads them into emotional
crescendos that few plays can match. His curious structure is hugely effective in
performance.
Euripides and his Philosophy
Euripides often reflected the sophistic elements of his time. Sophists were professional
teachers in fifth-century Athens who claimed they could teach a person to win by sheer
ability, rather than by the validity of their claim. Their philosophy is parodied by
Aristophanes in the Clouds. Euripides often featured a debate, and in the Women of Troy
he pits Helen against Hecuba and, true to what the sophists claim, Helen wins the
argument on emotional grounds. Menelaus hands over the intellectual victory to Hecuba
and says that she is quite right, but Helen gets her own way. Any sophist would be
pleased to have Helen as his pupil. Hecuba also has a prayer in this play which begins by
addressing Zeus as either a force in the universe or in the mind of man. This was a
sophistic construction of the gods, and certainly not something which one would regard
as typical of the Hecuba in this play. Even Menelaus comments on it being a strange
prayer. Euripides lets his free thought about the gods reveal itself in dialogue like this.
Euripides questions traditional beliefs and attitudes. His philosophical musings bothered
many critics in the nineteenth century, who would have preferred inspired emotionalism
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