PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS FORM – HISTORY 111 Source Title: What kind of document is it? Author? When composed? THE INTRODUCTORY ESSAY – IMPORTANT POINTS TO THINK ABOUT • • • AUDIENCE(S) AND REASON FOR THE DOCUMENT • • • SIGNIFICANT POINTS MADE IN THE DOCUMENT • • • POTENTIAL BIASES • • • QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS • • • OTHER THAN ITS APPARENT TOPIC, WHAT ELSE CAN WE LEARN FROM THIS DOCUMENT? • • • MISCELLANEOUS NOTES FROM CLASS DISCUSSION Running head: THE TROJAN WAR 1 Introduction The Women of Troy by Euripides is a playwright written in 415 BC that depicts the lives of women in that era. Euripides placed focus on the women and shifted the attention from the usual male heroes of the war. In the process, there developed a different perspective on issues associated with war and the impacts that are atrocious to the lives of the survivors. The content of the playwright aim at creating the importance of the role of women in the war. In the process, the play sensitizes the impacts of war on women. Therefore, the following paper is an analysis of the play Women of Troy and seeks to create a better understanding of the plot through an explanation of the themes. Themes Love and Lust The cause of the war was the excessive passion that Prince Paris had for Helena. Irrespective of being married, Paris pursued her and later kidnapped her. However, Helena’s husband Mycenae consulted with his brother, who assisted in attacking Trojan. The aim was to rescue Helena. A keen analysis of the situation shows that the individuals involved were interested in war and blamed it on a woman. Hauser (2018) suggests that Helena was a victim of the men’s lust as she was taken by force. However, her role in the war is evident as she was in the middle of the controversy. The fact that Mycenae convinced his brother to wage war against Trojan in a bid to rescue Helen is a show of love between the brothers. However, instead of convincing him not to attack Trojan, Agamemnon (the brother) supported him an issue that led to the war between Trojan and Greece. It was also a show of solidarity to a fellow man whose wife has been kidnapped. Unfortunately, the results were a war that had immense negative impacts on innocent lives. THE TROJAN WAR 2 War The entire plot follows a war. Innocent citizens find themselves in an ending battlefield that lasted for a decade. During that time, thousands of people lost their lives while others were displaced. Lives were disrupted while individuals were captured and enslaved. Fone (2018) is of the idea that the author used war as a basis of rising other issues such as love, greed, revenge, and the utter lack of empathy for people’s lives. It is under the circumstances of war that the characters develop their personalities. Euripides (415) uses war as a medium to highlight other aspects of life. Such skills attract the attention of the audience and manage to keep their interest to the end of the play. The war bore fruits in the sense that Helen was rescued. Unfortunately, the aftermath was horrendous. Cities were destroyed, and thousands of people lost their lives (Hauser, 2018). Irrespective of achieving its goal, Greece was thoroughly weakened an aspect that made it vulnerable to other attacks. With a woman being the center of the conquest, the need for the war disintegrated from the perspective of the people who felt the direct impact of the war. Gender Roles Women of Troy places importance on women as opposed to other texts that focus on men and especially gods and heroes. Helen is the reason the war took place in the first place. The issue does not make her a heroine but highlights the issue of victims of war (Fone, 2018). Admittedly, she seemed undecided about staying with her husband or eloping with Prince Paris. However, her indecisive nature is not a valid reason to start a war that involved nations and had thousands of victims. Unfortunately, the fact is if she had not been kidnapped/eloped with the prince, the war would not have taken place. Therefore, she is indirectly a cause of the Trojan War. THE TROJAN WAR 3 Throughout the play, other women represent the struggle women face during war. Hecuba, for instance, is unable to take care of her warrior children irrespective of her royalty status. In essence, her plight indicates that war affects everyone both directly and indirectly. Having nineteen children put her at a precarious situation as in most instances, she could not account them all. The pressure is evident as a number of her children are in an ongoing battle, and she might fail to see them alive again. Deity Greek mythology consists of hundreds of gods who are, in most cases, immortal humans. Helen, for instance, was a daughter of Zeus and Leda. In essence, she was a goddess, a matter that described her incredible beauty. Unfortunately, the infiltration of the beliefs in the powers of the gods and goddesses made people make poor decisions. Irrespective of the apparent signs the gods were not that effective; people still based a significant part of their lives on religion (Hauser, 2018). In the play, for instance, Hecuba as a goddess is expected to have a hold of her family. However, she suffers the same predicament humans have and has an in-depth correlation with people as opposed to fellow gods. A keen analysis of the plot shows that it is the god Aphrodite who started the entire problem. He promised to give Prince Paris Helen as a wife irrespective of the fact that she was already married. Since Prince Paris believed Aphrodite, he decided to kidnap her as she was a gift to him from a god. Regardless of the impossibility of the promise made by Aphrodite, Paris decided to make it happen. Therefore, the obsessive believe and trust in the gods was a significant cause of conflict during the time. More so, the existence of gods that had human features confused the people further and continuously made poor decisions. Therefore, the existence of the mythology in the lives of the people complicated their lives. THE TROJAN WAR 4 The Aftermath Euripides (451) created an ending of the play that seems to attract the attention of the audience as it is tragic. Hecuba, for example, loses her throne when the Greeks destroy Troy. She is later kidnapped and becomes a slave in the house of one of the Greek gods. The issue of enslavement becomes a common occurrence for thousands of Trojan women caught during the war. Children are eliminated in the aim of destroying generations. Through the aftermath of the war, there is a clear indication that women were part of the war but are also among the victims. Apart from women, the play places importance on the innocent people caught in the midst of a war. The issue of starting over after a war is the responsibility of all involved people. However, for the significant characters in the play such as Hecuba, it is impossible as their lives changed. The Greeks and Trojans developed enmity that lasted a decade, and it was through an intervention of other gods. The lost and massive destruction of property in the displacement of people is part of the impacts of war. Unfortunately, there are the psychological impacts that are felt by the survivors. Hecuba, for instance, wound up as a slave in a Greek household. Losing her children and royalty status must have been harrowing. The play captures such tragic emotions in such as a way that it evokes the empathy of the audience. Conclusion The Women of Troy is a depiction of the impacts the Trojan War had on the people. The fact that it started as a result of undecidedness of a woman highlights the vanity of the entire war. Additionally, the author uses a variety of themes that create a better analysis of the plot and a better understanding of the message. Women are ultimately directly affected by war and are THE TROJAN WAR 5 victims of war regardless of being involved or not. It is, therefore, of utmost importance to have an analysis of the plot of a play to understand the underlying message the author intends to pass. THE TROJAN WAR 6 References Euripides (415, BC). An Inquiry into the Horror of War: The Women of Troy. The Ancient World. Fone, B. (2018). Trojan Women: The Fall of Troy. Independently Published. Hauser, E. (2018). For the Most Beautiful: A Novel of the Women of Troy. Pegasus Books.
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