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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
комментарий не про текст, а про меня: если бы из Еврипида мы читали не "Иона", а "Елену", третий курс прошел бы веселее
Helen and Menelaus can be quite the power couple when they want to be.
I was surprised when reading the critical introduction after I had finished this play that it is considered almost a comedy. In fact, no one is quite sure if it’s a comedy. Here’s the thing: if you can’t be sure something is comedy, then the humor can’t possibly be very good. I found it be a dry and dull collection of overly long monologues.
It’s a shame, because I actually found the premise fascinating: Helen isn’t physically taken to Troy by Paris, but is instead carried to Egypt by the gods while her ghost/phantom/spiritual double is brought to Troy. While I settled in to read what I thought might be an interesting ancient take on the divided self or the concept of exile as a metaphor for gender, I instead found myself largely bored by the halfway point. Maybe those ideas are actually present in the text, but I just couldn't muster up enough interest to think about them.
It’s a shame, because I actually found the premise fascinating: Helen isn’t physically taken to Troy by Paris, but is instead carried to Egypt by the gods while her ghost/phantom/spiritual double is brought to Troy. While I settled in to read what I thought might be an interesting ancient take on the divided self or the concept of exile as a metaphor for gender, I instead found myself largely bored by the halfway point. Maybe those ideas are actually present in the text, but I just couldn't muster up enough interest to think about them.
One of my favorite Euripides plays, it's a lot of fun to read.
The back story for the siege of Troy, is that three Goddesses each try to bribe one luckless mortal into declaring them the most beautiful so the winner can claim a Golden Apple. This particularly unfortunate and horny judge is Paris, Prince of Troy, who picks Aphrodite because she promises him the most beautiful woman in the world. This happens to be Helen, or Mrs This is Sparta, and Aphrodite weaves her magic to makes Helen fall madly in love with the young Trojan prince. The rest is history, bloodshed and an inspiration for classical painters and that one crap Brad Pitt movie.
You would think being mind and loin controlled by a deity would absolve Helen for her part in the Trojan War, but apparently that is just not enough (this is the culture that basically accepts Hera punishing her husband's rape victims, after all). Deciding divine intervention is no good reason to let yourself be kidnapped, Euripides (inspired by Herodotus) saw a much simpler solution to the 'Should we condemn Helen?' question, and that would be: Helen was a ghost this whole time!
Yes, this is literally our setup for the play: in order to fully protect her purity, the actual Helen was spirited off by the Gods to Egypt, while a ghostly replica of herself went to Troy. Lonely and unable to contact her homeland, the true Helen is helpless and trapped for the entirity of the Trojan War. She also has the local King, the Greek hating Theoclymenus, trying to woo her and she is running out of excuses when word comes that Menaleus perished after Troy fell. Helen feels hopeless but then, Menaleus' ship crashes on her shore as he tries to sail home to Sparta, and he is very confused to discover he now has two identical wives.
Massive problem the first:
Priam is dead, his children and grandchildren are dead or enslaved, Achilles is dead, Patroclus is dead, Ajax is dead (those poor sheep are very dead), thousands of unnamed corpses are currently baking in the Mediterranean sun, Iphigenia is Schrodinger's Cat dead, Cassandra's defiled, a city is destroyed and Odysseus and Agememnon are about to get madly buggered. All that happens, all that war and poetry and tragedy, and Helen wasn't even in sodding Troy.
Massive problem the second:
'But all of that is unimportant, chaps!' calls a grinning Menelaus, 'This is the happiest and most perfect of endings, you see, because it mean's no one's had sex with my wife but me!'.
Massive problem the third:
Ok, Menelaus' ship might be FUBAR and Theoclymenus will certainly kill him if he discovers the Greek on his land, but he's just overjoyed to have the good and 'pure' Helen back. She's suffered in a way an Ancient Greek arsehole can feel sympathy for, and her demure faithfulness and goodness has completely absolved her of something that wasn't her damn fault in the first place. But how do they now get home?
Easy,
Despite all the above, I really liked this play. It was speckled with swashbuckling, cackling ghosts and was so dumb how could I not enjoy it? It was also good to read something where Helen isn't constantly spat at for something that, again, was the machinations of the Gods and not her damned fault. So we get a happy ending, and it might take the poignancy out of the whole Troy story, but in another way its a wonderful example of just how utterly bloody pointless war can be.
You would think being mind and loin controlled by a deity would absolve Helen for her part in the Trojan War, but apparently that is just not enough (this is the culture that basically accepts Hera punishing her husband's rape victims, after all). Deciding divine intervention is no good reason to let yourself be kidnapped, Euripides (inspired by Herodotus) saw a much simpler solution to the 'Should we condemn Helen?' question, and that would be: Helen was a ghost this whole time!
Yes, this is literally our setup for the play: in order to fully protect her purity, the actual Helen was spirited off by the Gods to Egypt, while a ghostly replica of herself went to Troy. Lonely and unable to contact her homeland, the true Helen is helpless and trapped for the entirity of the Trojan War. She also has the local King, the Greek hating Theoclymenus, trying to woo her and she is running out of excuses when word comes that Menaleus perished after Troy fell. Helen feels hopeless but then, Menaleus' ship crashes on her shore as he tries to sail home to Sparta, and he is very confused to discover he now has two identical wives.
Massive problem the first:
Priam is dead, his children and grandchildren are dead or enslaved, Achilles is dead, Patroclus is dead, Ajax is dead (those poor sheep are very dead), thousands of unnamed corpses are currently baking in the Mediterranean sun, Iphigenia is Schrodinger's Cat dead, Cassandra's defiled, a city is destroyed and Odysseus and Agememnon are about to get madly buggered. All that happens, all that war and poetry and tragedy, and Helen wasn't even in sodding Troy.
Massive problem the second:
'But all of that is unimportant, chaps!' calls a grinning Menelaus, 'This is the happiest and most perfect of endings, you see, because it mean's no one's had sex with my wife but me!'.
Massive problem the third:
Ok, Menelaus' ship might be FUBAR and Theoclymenus will certainly kill him if he discovers the Greek on his land, but he's just overjoyed to have the good and 'pure' Helen back. She's suffered in a way an Ancient Greek arsehole can feel sympathy for, and her demure faithfulness and goodness has completely absolved her of something that wasn't her damn fault in the first place. But how do they now get home?
Easy,
Spoiler
Menaleus pretends to be a messenger bringing news of his own death and Helen pretends to accept Theoclymenus' marriage proposal, just as long he lets her take a boat out to sea, so she can offer a remembrance for her fallen husband. And then husband and wife just straight up fucking murder all the Egyptian sailors on the boat and sail back to Sparta. So, treachery and 'womanly deception' that leads to even more slaughter? 'But it's morally justified, don't you understand?!' shrieks Menaleus, 'It's all fine, because she didn't shag anyone but ME!'Despite all the above, I really liked this play. It was speckled with swashbuckling, cackling ghosts and was so dumb how could I not enjoy it? It was also good to read something where Helen isn't constantly spat at for something that, again, was the machinations of the Gods and not her damned fault. So we get a happy ending, and it might take the poignancy out of the whole Troy story, but in another way its a wonderful example of just how utterly bloody pointless war can be.
adventurous
medium-paced
I declare myself a fan of this play but not of this translation.
3.5 stars. This play has completely changed my opinion of Helen of Troy. Euripides continues to blow me away. His portrayal of Helen was really great. I also really loved the smoke and mirrors element to this play. Nothing was solid. Every moment was layered.