Trojan Women Analysis

In the book Trojan Women and other plays, there is a consequence that they face at times of war or just in general. They faced constant judgement from men who did not find them as strong or capable of handling themselves. Most of these women were enslaved or if they did get lucky with higher roles, were still silenced. Throughout the essay I will examine what Euripides mentions about the treatment of women, specifically Hecuba’s. Did she and any other woman deserve to be treated this way and were men 's actions justifiable against these women? In the play Hecuba, Hecuba had been married to the king of Troy, Priam. She once lived the life of luxury, living in a palace with her own servants. However, during the war Priam had been killed and she became a widow and soon her life started to crumble. Her son Polydorus had also died and all that remained was her daughter, Polyxena. Hecuba became a slave and heard news of her daughter, she was chosen as a sacrifice for Achilles. Another child of hers was going to die, and she was stricken with more grief. This was cruel to do to Hecuba and especially Polyxena because she had not done anything wrong to deserve this kind of treatment. During the play Odysseus, a Greek general, comes and tell Hecuba of the fate she

They suffer losses of their own whether it’s a spouse, child or even, in Hecuba’s case, both. We see how even when Hecuba has done a good deed for Odysseus, he was still part of the plan to kill her daughter Polyxena. In response to her reminding Odysseus of what she had done for him in his time of need, he only tells her the best advice he could give was for her to just willingly accept Polyxena fate. At the end of the day none of what happened to Hecuba and her daughter was justifiable since killing Polyxena was just an act of revenge against her when they were at war with the