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jasonfurman 's review for:
Helen
by Euripides
Helen is an post-Trojan war alternate history: we being with Helen alone in Egypt explaining that after Paris came for her at Sparta Hera whisked her off to Sparta and sent Paris off with some sort of copy that he thought was Helen:
"But Hera, hating having lost,
turned my affair with Paris into wind.
She gave king Priam's on an empty image,
not me but something like me, made of air
but breathing. So he thought that he had me,
but it was just an empty false appearance."
Helen was safe in Egypt until the king died and his son wants to rape and marry her. At this moment Menelaus shows up having spent seven years at sea following the war and after an initial lack of recognition they pair up and formulate a plan of escape--which is made more difficult because the king's sister is omniscient. Ultimately through disguises and a burial trick (almost identical to the plot of [b:Iphigenia among the Taurians|20694759|Iphigenia among the Taurians|Anne Carson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400938018l/20694759._SY75_.jpg|6278905]) and a bloody escape/chase scene they make it out--with a bit of deus ex machina by Castor and Pollux to help them along.
All of it feels like a light action/adventure story more than a fully fledged tragedy. There is a little of the lessons around politics and duty (namely that the new king's sister was right to betray him because he was doing something wrong in the eyes of his own late father and the gods), but mostly it is about the suspense of whether and how Helen and Menelaus will escape.
I should add that seeing Helen portrayed this sympathetically, hearing so much from her, and having her resist the entreaties and worse from men was an interesting twist on her general invisibility in the set of poems, plays and stories that ultimately center around her in important respects.
(Note: I read the translation by [a:Emily Wilson|478455|Emily Wilson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1523444389p2/478455.jpg] in [b:The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides|25893680|The Greek Plays Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides|Mary Lefkowitz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469408925l/25893680._SY75_.jpg|45775582].)
"But Hera, hating having lost,
turned my affair with Paris into wind.
She gave king Priam's on an empty image,
not me but something like me, made of air
but breathing. So he thought that he had me,
but it was just an empty false appearance."
Helen was safe in Egypt until the king died and his son wants to rape and marry her. At this moment Menelaus shows up having spent seven years at sea following the war and after an initial lack of recognition they pair up and formulate a plan of escape--which is made more difficult because the king's sister is omniscient. Ultimately through disguises and a burial trick (almost identical to the plot of [b:Iphigenia among the Taurians|20694759|Iphigenia among the Taurians|Anne Carson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1400938018l/20694759._SY75_.jpg|6278905]) and a bloody escape/chase scene they make it out--with a bit of deus ex machina by Castor and Pollux to help them along.
All of it feels like a light action/adventure story more than a fully fledged tragedy. There is a little of the lessons around politics and duty (namely that the new king's sister was right to betray him because he was doing something wrong in the eyes of his own late father and the gods), but mostly it is about the suspense of whether and how Helen and Menelaus will escape.
I should add that seeing Helen portrayed this sympathetically, hearing so much from her, and having her resist the entreaties and worse from men was an interesting twist on her general invisibility in the set of poems, plays and stories that ultimately center around her in important respects.
(Note: I read the translation by [a:Emily Wilson|478455|Emily Wilson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1523444389p2/478455.jpg] in [b:The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides|25893680|The Greek Plays Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides|Mary Lefkowitz|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1469408925l/25893680._SY75_.jpg|45775582].)