''The Trojan Women'' ( grc, Τρῳάδες, translit=Trōiades), also translated as ''The Women of Troy'', and also known by its transliterated Greek title ''Troades'', is a
tragedy
Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...
by the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
playwright Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...
. Produced in 415 BC during the
Peloponnesian War, it is often considered a commentary on the capture of the
Aegean island of
Melos and the subsequent slaughter and subjugation of its populace by the
Athenians earlier that year ''(see
History of Milos)''. 415 BC was also the year of the scandalous desecration of the ''
hermai'' and the launch of the
Athenians' second expedition to Sicily, events which may also have influenced the author.
''The Trojan Women'' was the third tragedy of a trilogy dealing with the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...
. The first tragedy, ''Alexandros'', was about the recognition of the Trojan prince Paris who had been abandoned in infancy by his parents and rediscovered in adulthood. The second tragedy, ''Palamedes'', dealt with Greek mistreatment of their fellow Greek
Palamedes. This trilogy was presented at the
Dionysia
The Dionysia (, , ; Greek: Διονύσια) was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the s ...
along with the comedic
satyr play
The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is str ...
''Sisyphos''. The plots of this trilogy were not connected in the way that Aeschylus' ''Oresteia'' was connected. Euripides did not favor such connected trilogies.
Euripides won second prize at the
City Dionysia
The Dionysia (, , ; Greek: Διονύσια) was a large festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central events of which were the theatrical performances of dramatic tragedies and, from 487 BC, comedies. It was the s ...
for his effort, losing to the obscure tragedian
Xenocles
Xenocles ( grc-gre, Ξενοκλῆς) is the name of two Greek tragedians.
There were two Athenian tragic poets of this name, one the grandfather of the other. No fragments of either are currently known, except for a few words of the elder appar ...
.
The four Trojan women of the play are the same that appear in the final book of the ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
'' lamenting over the corpse of
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
. Taking place near the same time is ''
Hecuba
Hecuba (; also Hecabe; grc, Ἑκάβη, Hekábē, ) was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War.
Description
Hecuba was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "da ...
'', another play by Euripides.
Plot
Euripides's play follows the fates of the women of
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and their remaining families taken away as slaves. However, it begins first with the gods
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...
and
Poseidon
Poseidon (; grc-gre, Ποσειδῶν) was one of the Twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and myth, god of the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 In pre-Olympian Bronze Age Greece, he was venerated as a ...
discussing ways to punish the Greek armies because they condoned that
Ajax the Lesser
Ajax ( grc, Αἴας ''Aias'' means "of the earth".) was a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax the Great, son of Telamon. He was the leader ...
raped
Cassandra
Cassandra or Kassandra (; Ancient Greek: Κασσάνδρα, , also , and sometimes referred to as Alexandra) in Greek mythology was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter true prophecies but never to be belie ...
, the eldest daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, after dragging her from a statue of Athena. What follows shows how much the Trojan women have suffered as their grief is compounded when the Greeks dole out additional deaths and divide their shares of women.
The Greek herald
Talthybius arrives to tell the dethroned queen Hecuba what will befall her and her children. Hecuba will be taken away to the Greek general
Odysseus, and Cassandra is destined to become the conquering general Agamemnon's
concubine
Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive.
Concubi ...
.
Cassandra, who can see the future, is morbidly delighted by this news: she sees that when they arrive in
Argos
Argos most often refers to:
* Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece
** Ancient Argos, the ancient city
* Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland
Argos or ARGOS may also refer to:
Businesses
...
, her new master's embittered wife
Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra (; grc-gre, Κλυταιμνήστρα, ''Klytaimnḗstrā'', ), in Greek mythology, was the wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and the twin sister of Helen of Troy. In Aeschylus' '' Oresteia'', she murders Agamemnon – said by E ...
will kill both her and her new master. She sings a wedding song for herself and Agamemnon that describes their bloody deaths. However, Cassandra is also cursed so that her visions of the future are never believed, and she is carried off.
The widowed princess
Andromache
In Greek mythology, Andromache (; grc, Ἀνδρομάχη, ) was the wife of Hector, daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled. The name means 'man battler ...
arrives and Hecuba learns from her that her youngest daughter,
Polyxena
In Greek mythology, Polyxena (; Greek: ) was the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba. She does not appear in Homer, but in several other classical authors, though the details of her story vary considerably. After the ...
, has been killed as a sacrifice at the tomb of the Greek warrior
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...
.
Andromache's lot is to be the concubine of
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's '' Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Pele ...
' son
Neoptolemus
In Greek mythology, Neoptolemus (; ), also called Pyrrhus (; ), was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia, and the brother of Oneiros. He became the mythical progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Molossians of ancient Ep ...
, and more horrible news for the royal family is yet to come: Talthybius reluctantly informs her that her baby son,
Astyanax
In Greek mythology, Astyanax (; grc, Ἀστυάναξ ''Astyánax'', "lord of the city") was the son of Hector, the crown prince of Troy, and his wife, Princess Andromache of Cilician Thebe."Astyanax". ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Oxford, 1 ...
, has been condemned to die. The Greek leaders are afraid that the boy will grow up to avenge his father Hector, and rather than take this chance, they plan to throw him off from the battlements of Troy to his death.
Helen
Helen may refer to:
People
* Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world
* Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress
* Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Helen, ...
is supposed to suffer greatly as well:
Menelaus
In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; grc-gre, Μενέλαος , 'wrath of the people', ) was a king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', Menelaus was a central figure in the Trojan War, leading the Spartan contingent of th ...
arrives to take her back to Greece with him where a death sentence awaits her. Helen begs and tries to seduce her husband into sparing her life. Menelaus remains resolved to kill her, but the audience watching the play knows that he will let her live and take her back. At the end of the play it is revealed that she is still alive; moreover, the audience knows from Telemachus' visit to Sparta in Homer's ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...
'' that Menelaus continued to live with Helen as his wife after the Trojan War.
In the end, Talthybius returns, carrying with him the body of little Astyanax on
Hector
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
's shield. Andromache's wish had been to bury her child herself, performing the proper rituals according to Trojan ways, but her ship had already departed. Talthybius gives the corpse to Hecuba, who prepares the body of her grandson for burial before they are finally taken off with Odysseus.
Throughout the play, many of the Trojan women lament the loss of the land that reared them. Hecuba in particular lets it be known that Troy had been her home for her entire life, only to see herself as an old grandmother watching the burning of Troy, the death of her husband, her children, and her grandchildren before she will be taken as a slave to Odysseus.
Modern treatments and adaptations
In 1974, Ellen Stewart, founder of La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in New York, presented "The Trojan Women" as the last Fragment of a Trilogy (including Medea and Electra). With staging by Romanian-born theater director Andrei Serban and music by American composer Elizabeth Swados, this production of The Trojan Women went on to tour more than thirty countries over the course of forty years. Since 2014, The Trojan Women Project has been sharing this production with diverse communities that now include Guatemala, Cambodia and Kosovo. A Festival of work from all participants is scheduled for December, 2019.
The French
public intellectual
An intellectual is a person who engages in critical thinking, research, and reflection about the reality of society, and who proposes solutions for the normative problems of society. Coming from the world of culture, either as a creator or ...
,
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was one of the key figures in the philosophy of existentialism (and phenomenology), a French playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and lit ...
wrote a version of ''The Trojan Women'' that mostly is faithful to the original Greek text, yet includes veiled references to European
imperialism in Asia, and emphases of
existentialist
Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...
themes. The Israeli playwright
Hanoch Levin
Hanoch Levin ( he, חנוך לוין; December 18, 1943 – August 18, 1999) was an Israeli dramatist, theater director, author and poet, best known for his plays. His absurdist style is often compared to the work of Harold Pinter and Samuel Becke ...
also wrote his own version of the play, adding more disturbing scenes and scatological details.
A 1905 stage version, translated by
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece ...
, starred
Gertrude Kingston
Gertrude Kingston (24 September 1862 – 7 November 1937) (born Gertrude Angela Kohnstamm) was an actress, an English actor-manager and artist.
Early life
Kingston was born in Islington in London, the daughter of merchant Heiman Kohnstamm and h ...
as
Helen
Helen may refer to:
People
* Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in the world
* Helen (actress) (born 1938), Indian actress
* Helen (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
Places
* Helen, ...
and
Ada Ferrar as Athena at the
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
in London.
The Mexican film ''Las Troyanas'' (1963) directed by
Sergio Véjar
Sergio Véjar (11 October 1928 – 15 February 2009) was a Mexican cinematographer, film director and screenwriter. His 1963 film '' Los signos del zodiaco'' was entered into the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival.
Selected filmography
* ...
, adapted by writer Miguel Angel Garibay and Véjar, is faithful to the Greek text and setting;
Ofelia Guilmain
Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in ...
portrays Hecuba, the black&white photography is by Agustín Jimenez.
Cypriot-Greek director
Michael Cacoyannis
Michael Cacoyannis ( el, Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης, ''Michalis Kakogiannis''; 11 June 1922 – 25 July 2011), sometimes credited as Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriot theatre and film director, writer, producer, and actor.
...
used Euripides' play (in the famous
Edith Hamilton
Edith Hamilton (August 12, 1867 – May 31, 1963) was an American educator and internationally known author who was one of the most renowned classicists of her era in the United States. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, she also studied in Germany ...
translation) as the basis for his 1971 film ''
The Trojan Women
''The Trojan Women'' ( grc, Τρῳάδες, translit=Trōiades), also translated as ''The Women of Troy'', and also known by its transliterated Greek title ''Troades'', is a tragedy by the Greek playwright Euripides. Produced in 415 BC duri ...
''. The movie starred
American actress
Katharine Hepburn as Hecuba,
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
actors
Vanessa Redgrave
Dame Vanessa Redgrave (born 30 January 1937) is an English actress and activist. Throughout her career spanning over seven decades, Redgrave has garnered numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Television Award, tw ...
and
Brian Blessed
Brian Blessed (; born 9 October 1936) is an English actor, presenter, writer and mountaineer.
Blessed is known for portraying PC "Fancy" Smith in ''Z-Cars'', Augustus in the 1976 BBC television production of '' I, Claudius'', King Richard I ...
as Andromache and Talthybius,
French-Canadian actress
Geneviève Bujold
Geneviève Bujold (; born July 1, 1942) is a Canadian actress. For her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the period drama film ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969), Bujold received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film cre ...
as Cassandra,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
actress
Irene Papas
Irene Papas or Irene Pappas ( el, Ειρήνη Παππά, Eiríni Pappá, ; born Eirini Lelekou ( el, Ειρήνη Λελέκου, Eiríni Lelékou, link=no); 3 September 1929 – 14 September 2022) was a Greek actress and singer who starred ...
as Helen, and
Patrick Magee, an actor born in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, as Menelaus.
David Stuttard
David Stuttard is a British theatre director, classical scholar, translator, lecturer on classical literature and history, and author, primarily of historical works on the ancient worldbr>
Biography
Stuttard read Classics at the University of St ...
’s 2001 adaptation, ''Trojan Women'', written in the aftermath of the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, has toured widely within the UK and been staged internationally. In an attempt to reposition ''The Trojan Women'' as the third play of a trilogy, Stuttard then reconstructed Euripides’ lost ''Alexandros'' and ''Palamedes'' (in 2005 and 2006 respectively), to form a 'Trojan Trilogy', which was performed in readings at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and
Tristan Bates Theatre
Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story '' Whistle Down the Wind'' to the " kitchen sink" dram ...
(2007), and Europe House, Smith Square (2012), London. He has also written a version of the
satyr play
The satyr play is a form of Attic theatre performance related to both comedy and tragedy. It preserves theatrical elements of dialogue, actors speaking verse, a chorus that dances and sings, masks and costumes. Its relationship to tragedy is str ...
''Sisyphus'' (2008), which rounded off Euripides’ original trilogy.
Femi Osofisan
Babafemi Adeyemi Osofisan (born June 16, 1946), known as Femi Osofisan or F.O., is a Nigerian writer noted for his critique of societal problems and his use of African traditional performances and surrealism in some of his plays.
A frequent theme ...
's 2004 play ''
Women of Owu
''Women of Owu'' is a 2006 drama written by Femi Osofisan and published through University Press PLC. Adapted from Euripides' ''The Trojan Women'', the book uses the combination of choruses, songs and dance to depict the history of the population ...
'' sets the story in 1821, after the conquest of the
Owu kingdom by a coalition of other West African states. Although it is set in 19th century Africa, Osofisan has said that the play was also inspired by the 2003 invasion of Iraq by the U.S. led coalition.
![Trojan Women - Hecuba & Talthybios](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Trojan_Women_-_Hecuba_%26_Talthybios.jpg)
Another movie based on the play came out in 2004, directed by
Brad Mays
Brad Mays (born May 30, 1955) is an independent filmmaker and stage director, living and working in Los Angeles, California.
Background and education
Mays was raised in the Edinburg section of West Windsor Township, New Jersey, attending the ...
. The production was actually a documentary film of the stage production Mays directed for the
ARK Theatre Company
The ARK Theatre Company is an actor-driven repertory theatre ensemble working in Los Angeles, California.
General
Ark Theatre Company is an ensemble of theatre professionals specializing in classical theatre, with an eye to contemporary plays that ...
in 2003. In anticipation of his soon-to-come
multimedia
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
production of ''
A Clockwork Orange
''A Clockwork Orange'' may refer to:
* ''A Clockwork Orange'' (novel), a 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess
** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (film), a 1971 film directed by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel
*** ''A Clockwork Orange'' (soundtrack), the film ...
'', Mays utilized a marginal multimedia approach to the play, opening the piece with a faux
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
report intended to echo the then-current war in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
.
Charles L. Mee
Charles L. Mee (born September 15, 1938) is an American playwright, historian and author known for his collage-like style of playwriting, which makes use of radical reconstructions of found texts. He is also a Special Lecturer of theater at Colu ...
adapted ''The Trojan Women'' in 1994 to have a more modern, updated outlook on war. He included original interviews with
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
and
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...
survivors. His play is called ''Trojan Women: A Love Story''.
''The Women of Troy'', directed by
Katie Mitchell
Katrina Jane Mitchell (born 23 September 1964) is an English theatre director.
Life and career
Mitchell was born in Reading, Berkshire, raised in Hermitage, Berkshire, and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving Oakham, she went up to Magda ...
, was performed at the
National Theatre in London in 2007/08. The cast included
Kate Duchêne
Kate Duchêne ( (born Catherine Anne Purves Duchêne, 5 January 1959) is an English actress best known for her role as the teacher Miss Hardbroom in the adaptation of the children's books ''The Worst Witch''.
Career
Duchêne started to act at t ...
as Hecuba, Sinead Matthews as Cassandra and
Anastasia Hille
Anastasia Hille (born 1965) is an English film, television and theatre actress, and ceramicist. Born in London, she was a student at London's Drama Centre and won second prize at the Ian Charleson Awards in 1994 (the first prize was awarded to ...
as Andromache.
''The Trojan Women'', directed by
Marti Maraden
Marti Maraden (born June 22, 1945 in El Centro, California) is a Canadian actor and director.
She emigrated to Canada in 1968, and became a leading actor at the Stratford Festival in the 1970s.
She was artistic director of the National Arts Cen ...
, was performed at the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival
The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson (theatre producer), Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was fo ...
at the Tom Patterson Theatre in
Stratford, Ontario
Stratford is a city on the Avon River within Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2016 population of 31,465 in a land area of . Stratford is the seat of Perth County, which was settled by English, Irish, Scottish and German im ...
, Canada, from May 14 to October 5, 2008 with Canadian actress
Martha Henry
Martha Kathleen Henry (née Buhs; February 17, 1938October 21, 2021) was an American-born Canadian stage, film, and television actress. She was noted for her work at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario.
Early life and training
Martha ...
as Hecuba.
Sheri Tepper
Sheri Stewart Tepper (July 16, 1929 – October 22, 2016) was an American writer of science fiction, horror fiction, horror and mystery fiction, mystery novels. She is primarily known for her feminist science fiction, which explored themes of so ...
wove ''The Trojan Women'' into her
feminist science fiction
Feminist science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction (abbreviated "SF") focused on theories that include feminist themes including but not limited to gender inequality, sexuality, race, economics, reproduction, and environment. Feminist ...
novel ''
The Gate to Women's Country''.
Christine Evans reworks and modernizes the ''Trojan Women'' story in her 2009 play ''Trojan Barbie''. ''Trojan Barbie'' is a postmodern updating, which blends the modern and ancient worlds, as contemporary London doll repair shop owner Lotte is pulled into a Trojan women's prison camp that is located in both ancient Troy and the modern Middle East.
In 2011,
Anne Bogart's SITI Company
The Saratoga International Theater Institute (also known as SITI) was an ensemble-based theater company based in New York City and Saratoga Springs, New York. SITI was founded in 1992 by American director Anne Bogart and Japanese director Ta ...
premiered ''Trojan Women (After Euripides)'' at Getty Villa before touring the production, which received mixed reviews.
In 2016, Zoe Lafferty's version of the play, ''Queens of Syria'', in Arabic with English subtitles, was put on by the
Young Vic
The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth.
The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 201 ...
before touring Britain.
In 2021,
Anne Carson
Anne Carson (born June 21, 1950) is a Canadian poet, essayist, translator, classicist, and professor.
Trained at the University of Toronto, Carson has taught classics, comparative literature, and creative writing at universities across the Unit ...
, the experimental poet, translator, and classicist, published her translation as ''Trojan Women: A Comic'' with illustrations by
Rosanna Bruno, a portion of which was excerpted earlier that year in the 236th issue of the
Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
.
[https://www.theparisreview.org/miscellaneous/7662/from-euripides-the-trojan-women-anne-carson-rosanna-bruno] Carson's vision was realized by Bruno to stage the production of a tragedy in the form of a "comic," or
graphic novel
A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...
with the characters cast as uncanny figures, such as
Hekabe
Hecuba (; also Hecabe; grc, Ἑκάβη, Hekábē, ) was a queen in Greek mythology, the wife of King Priam of Troy during the Trojan War.
Description
Hecuba was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "da ...
as an old, once-regal dog, the goddess
Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...
as a pair of overalls wearing an owl mask, and the murdered baby
Astyanax
In Greek mythology, Astyanax (; grc, Ἀστυάναξ ''Astyánax'', "lord of the city") was the son of Hector, the crown prince of Troy, and his wife, Princess Andromache of Cilician Thebe."Astyanax". ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Oxford, 1 ...
(last heir to the Trojan throne) as a
poplar tree
''Populus'' is a genus of 25–30 species of deciduous flowering plants in the family Salicaceae, native to most of the Northern Hemisphere. English names variously applied to different species include poplar (), aspen, and cottonwood.
The w ...
sapling
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
.
Translations
See also
*
List of plays with anti-war themes
An anti-war play is a play that is perceived as having an anti-war theme.
Some plays that are thought of as anti-war plays are:
*''Peace'' (421 BCE) - by Aristophanes
*''The Trojan Women'' (415 BCE) - Euripides
*''Lysistrata'' (411 BCE) - Aristoph ...
Notes
References
* Croally, Neil (2007). ''Euripidean Polemic: The Trojan Women and the Function of Tragedy''.
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press
A university press is an academic publishing hou ...
.
Additional resources
Mortal Women of the Trojan War information on each of the Trojan women
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Trojan women
Plays by Euripides
Trojan War literature
Anti-war plays
Women and death
Plays set in ancient Greece
Greek plays adapted into films
Women in ancient Greece