Characters (Leaving Cert Classical Studies): Revision Notes
Characters
The characters in Euripides' Trojan Women each represent different aspects of war's devastating impact on the defeated. This tragedy focuses primarily on female voices, showing how women experience and respond to the destruction of their city and families.
Hecuba - The fallen queen
Hecuba stands as the central figure of the play, embodying the complete transformation from power to powerlessness. Once the proud Queen of Troy, she now finds herself reduced to a grieving, enslaved widow facing an uncertain future. Her character serves as the voice of Troy's collective suffering, mourning not only her personal losses but the destruction of her entire world.
What makes Hecuba particularly compelling is her ability to maintain dignity even in the depths of despair. She grieves for her lost city, her dead children, and her former status, yet she never loses her sense of nobility. Through her, Euripides explores how the defeated must find ways to preserve their humanity even when everything they valued has been stripped away.
Her role extends beyond personal grief - she represents the complete collapse of Troy's royal line and the destruction of the oikos (household), a concept central to Greek society.
When she laments "Sing me a song of sorrow; my city is gone" and asks "What wretched slavery awaits me?", she speaks for all who have lost everything in war.
Andromache - The mother's anguish
As Hector's widow, Andromache embodies the themes of loyalty and maternal love that war destroys. Her character demonstrates how conflict doesn't end with victory - it continues to claim innocent victims long after the fighting stops. Her greatest torment comes when she learns that her young son Astyanax must die, representing the Greeks' determination to prevent future revenge.
Andromache's response to this news reveals both acceptance and profound despair. She understands the logic behind the Greeks' decision but cannot reconcile herself to the loss of her child and her family's future.
Her words "There is no end to my grief" and "My child, they are killing you, and I cannot save you" capture the helpless agony of a mother who cannot protect her son.
Through Andromache, Euripides explores the destruction of the next generation - she represents not just personal loss but the complete elimination of Troy's future. Her maternal love becomes a source of both strength and unbearable suffering.
Cassandra - The prophetic voice
Cassandra brings a unique perspective to the play through her dual nature as both mad prophetess and clear-sighted seer. As Apollo's cursed priestess, she possesses the gift of true prophecy but the curse of never being believed. This creates a tragic irony - she alone can see the full scope of what's coming, yet no one takes her warnings seriously.
Her character becomes particularly powerful when she uses bitter irony to celebrate Troy's destruction, arguing that it marks the beginning of Greek suffering rather than their triumph. She declares "I will destroy him who destroys me", referring to Agamemnon, and reminds others that "They do not believe me, though I speak the truth."
Cassandra embodies both divine insight and human madness, showing how the gods' gifts can become curses. Her forced journey to become Agamemnon's concubine foreshadows his murder by Clytemnestra, demonstrating how the cycle of violence will continue long after Troy's fall.
Helen - The contested beauty
Helen's appearance late in the play creates one of its most dramatic moments through her confrontation with Hecuba. As Menelaus's wife, she bears the blame for causing the entire Trojan War, yet she attempts to defend herself through skilled rhetoric and claims of victimhood.
Her defence strategy involves portraying herself as a victim of divine forces - specifically Aphrodite and Paris. When she pleads "Do not blame me, blame the gods", she attempts to shift responsibility away from her own choices. However, Hecuba fiercely challenges this defence, declaring "You are the cause of all our sufferings."
Through Helen, Euripides examines themes of female beauty as a destructive force and the tendency to scapegoat women for conflicts. Her character raises questions about responsibility, divine influence, and how societies assign blame for catastrophic events.
Talthybius - The sympathetic herald
Among the Greek characters, Talthybius stands out for his human compassion. As the herald who must deliver the Greeks' harsh orders, he finds himself caught between his duty to obey and his natural sympathy for the Trojan women's suffering.
This internal conflict becomes particularly evident when he must announce Astyanax's death sentence. Unlike other Greek leaders, Talthybius shows reluctance and genuine sorrow, expressing "I weep for you, though I must obey my orders." His character represents the ordinary soldier who recognises the human cost of war even while participating in it.
Through Talthybius, Euripides shows that compassion can exist even among the victors, suggesting that the capacity for empathy transcends the divisions of war.
Astyanax - The silent victim
Though young Astyanax never speaks, his presence dominates much of the play's emotional impact. As Hector and Andromache's son, he represents Troy's future and the continuation of its heroic line. The Greeks' decision to execute him by throwing him from Troy's walls demonstrates their determination to prevent any future revenge.
His death symbolises the complete destruction of Troy's future and the brutality that war inflicts on the innocent. The horror of his fate affects not only his mother and grandmother but also moves characters like Talthybius to pity, showing how the killing of children crosses moral boundaries that even warfare typically respects.
The chorus of Trojan women
The Chorus consists of the surviving women of Troy, giving voice to collective grief, fear, and despair. They provide commentary throughout the play, often echoing and amplifying the audience's emotional responses to the unfolding tragedy.
These women express the universal experience of female suffering in war, extending the play's themes beyond the royal family to encompass all women affected by conflict. Their lament "There is no end to tears, no end to grief" captures the endless nature of war's emotional damage.
Through the Chorus, Euripides presents war's impact on entire communities, not just individual heroes or leaders.
The gods - Poseidon and Athena
The gods appear in the prologue, providing a divine frame for the human action that follows. Poseidon mourns Troy's fall, while Athena, angered by Greek impiety, plans to punish them during their return journey.
Their presence reveals the capriciousness of divine justice and adds irony to the entire conflict. The gods' casual attitude towards human suffering contrasts sharply with the intense grief experienced by the mortal characters. When Poseidon declares "I am leaving this famous city of Troy; the Greek army has destroyed it", his detached tone emphasises the gap between divine and human perspectives on tragedy.
Key Points to Remember:
- Each character represents a different response to defeat and loss - from Hecuba's dignified grief to Helen's defensive rhetoric
- The play focuses on female voices to highlight how war particularly impacts women and families
- Contrasts between characters (like Hecuba vs Helen, or Andromache vs Cassandra) illuminate different aspects of suffering and resistance
- Astyanax's silent presence demonstrates how war destroys not just the present but the future
- The gods frame the action to show divine indifference to human suffering, adding tragic irony to the entire play