History Theatre / TheWomenOfTrachis

* TheVoiceless: Iole appears onstage but has no dialogue; when Deianira tries to question her Lichas claims she's mute from trauma.

The rest of the play follows Herakles as he very slowly and painfully dies, cursing his wife. Hyllus, who realized her good intentions after her death, tries to argue in her favour. Herakles forces Hyllus to immolate him, and promise that he will [[{{Squick}} marry Iole]]. Unhappily Hyllus does as he asks.

Deianira takes particular pity on Iole, whom she discovers is Eurytus' daughter. Knowing something is not quite right, she persuades the first messenger to reveal Lichas' deception, and Lichas admits that the reason for the siege itself was Herakles' [[AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder love for Iole]]. Deianira is upset but actually fairly understanding. She accepts Iole but doesn't want her family compromised by the situation, so she decides to smear a robe with a "love potion" that the centaur Nessus had given her as he lay dying by Herakles' bow. After she sends the clothes to Herakles, she realises the cloth she used has been eaten away by the so-called potion (just Nessos's blood, with a good dose of the Lernaean Hydra's blood, Herakles's venom of choice), and that Nessus had no reason to do her any favours. Hyllus comes back to accuse her of murdering Herakles, and Deianira [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself off-screen]].

** After she sees the effect of Nessus' blood on the scrap of cloth, she starts to realize what is going on and begins freaking out. When Hyllus arrives to blame her for killing dear old dad, she really loses it.
** Hyllus too, when he realises that she didn't mean to kill Herakles, and that his words have driven her the rest of the way to suicide.
* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: There is the aforementioned "die now or live long and happily" one, but there's also "Herakles is destined to die at the hands of a creature already dead". Herakles acknowledging this makes a lot more sense [[PropheticFallacy than it used to]] as he dies. [[spoiler: And depending on how you look at it, the dead creature in question might not be Nessos, but the Lernaean Hydra. Herakles habitually tipped his arrows with the thing's extra-poisonous blood. Nessos was killed by such an arrow. The "potion" was Nessos's own blood. You can see where ''this'' is headed, right?]]

* MurderTheHypotenuse: Double subverted. Lichas is reluctant to tell Deianira that Herakles is madly in love with Iole for fear she'll become hysteric and do something drastic. Deianira actually just pities the girl, and understands that LoveHurts ''even for Herakles''. However, not comfortable with the thought that having Iole in the house will compromise her family, she decides to use a love potion on Herakles to get his affections back, which actually kills ''him''.
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After she sees the effect of Nessus' blood on the scrap of cloth, she starts to realize what is going on and begins freaking out. When Hyllus arrives to blame her for killing dear old dad, she really loses it.

One of seven surviving plays by {{Sophocles}}.

Deianira takes particular pity on Iole, whom she discovers is Eurytus' daughter. Knowing something is not quite right, she persuades the first messenger to reveal Lichas' deception, and Lichas admits that the reason for the siege itself was Herakles' [[AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder love for Iole]]. Deianira is upset but actually fairly understanding. She accepts Iole but doesn't want her family compromised by the situation, so she decides to smear a robe with a "love potion" that the centaur Nessus had given her as he lay dying by Herakles' bow. After she sends the clothes to Herakles, she realises the cloth she used has been eaten away by the so-called potion, and that Nessus had no reason to do her any favours. Hyllus comes back to accuse her of murdering Herakles, and Deianira [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself off-screen]].

* PropheciesAreAlwaysRight: There is the aforementioned "die now or live long and happily" one, but there's also "Herakles is destined to die at the hands of a creature already dead". Herakles' acknowledges this makes a lot more sense [[PropheticFallacy than it used to]] as he dies.