History Theatre / TheTrojanWomen

* TheOphelia: It's a requirement for Cassandra's every single appearance. This time is even more {{justified}}: she has just endured a TraumaCongaLine of rape and enslavement, so that's probably why she's depicted as a bit... nutty.

** Ajax the Lesser assaulted Cassandra while she was seeking shelter in Athena's temple, an unforgivable act of ''hybris'' [[note]]Hybris is an ancient Greek term which describes extreme pride or dangerous over-confidence, leading to a behavior that defies the norms set by the gods or even challenges them. Such behaviour is ''always'' punished in Myth/ClassicalMythology and the ancient works inspired by them[[/note]];

%%* TheVamp: This is by far one of the worst interpretations of Helen.

Meanwhile, goddess Athena, once protectress of the Achaeans, is enraged by Ajax the Lesser's rape of Cassandra, which took place while she was seeking shelter in Athena's temple and was embracing her statue (a unforgivable act of blasphemy, according to the customs of that time). Because of this, and the [[RapePillageAndBurn generally bad behaviour of the Greek army]], she has decided to team up with Poseidon (once her {{archenemy}}) to make sure that the Achaeans would have an awful return journey... but that's [[Theatre/{{Agamemnon}} another]] [[Literature/TheOdyssey story]].

The women who have a prominent role in this tragedy are exactly [[CallBack those who were mourning Hector at the end of]] ''Literature/TheIliad'' - [[OutlivingOnesOffspring Hecuba]], [[WidowWoman Andromache]], [[TheCassandra Cassandra]] and [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Helen]]. Since they are RoyalBlood and they are the losers' women, each of them has been destined to a different Achaean general - Hecuba will be taken away by Odysseus, Cassandra by Agamemnon, Andromache by Achilles' son Neoptolemus, while Helen has been sentenced to death by her estranged husband Menelaus. FromBadToWorse, horrible news are yet to come: Andromache and Hector's son [[WouldHurtAChild Astyanax has been condemned to die]], because the Achaean leaders are afraid that the [[CycleOfRevenge boy will grow up to avenge his father]] and would not take that risk. The boy will be thrown off from the battlements of Troy.

* PyrrhicVillainy: The one comfort the Trojans have is that the Greeks suffer, too, from the war. They have lost many people in the war, will lose more in storms the gods send to their returning ships, and Agamemnon is destined to be murdered when he returns. All this for getting back Helen, who they want to have killed anyway.

* AdultFear: Plenty of. To name some of them:
** Your city sacked and burnt down, to be never rebuilt;
** Your children being slaughtered, even if innocent children, for the crime of being the king's blood,
** For the young women like Cassandra or Andromache, being taken away by a Achaean general as a glorified SexSlave.

* HateSink: Once more, Helen is source of contempt for the Trojan women, as the living ''casus belli'' and also because they know she will be spared.

* NeverMyFault: In Helen's speech to Menelaus about the reasons she left, she blames Hecuba's defiance of exposing Paris, on Aphrodite's schemes and even ''Menelaus himself'', obviously never remotely mentioning that she may have followed Paris on her own will. Perhaps it was true. Or perhaps not. However, Hecuba herself is having none of it.
* TheOphelia: It's a requirement for Cassandra's every single appearance. This time is even more {{justified}}: she has just endured a TraumaCongaLine of rape and enslavement, so that's probably why she's depicted as a bit...nutty.

* TalkingYourWayOut: Helen successfully talks her way out of Menelaus' attempt to kill her by claiming that first that Hecuba should not have let Paris live since an oracle said he would bring destruction of Troy. Next she says that Aphrodite gave her to Paris against her will, and ''then'', that Menelaus himself shouldn't have left Sparta when Paris was there, and if he had stayed, perhaps Paris would not have dared what he did. She gets away with it.

* WarIsHell: Is it ever! The tragedy is surprisingly and aversion of the usual [[WarIsGlorious treatment of war]] by Achaeans, and that's why it's still interesting in the eyes of a modern reader or scholar.

Meanwhile, goddess Athena, once protectress of the Achaeans, is enraged by Ajax the Lesser's rape of Cassandra, which took place while she was seeking shelter in Athena's temple and was embracing her statue (a unforgivable act of blasphemy, according to the customs of that time). Because of this, and the [[RapePillageAndBurn generally bad behaviour of the Greek army]], she has decided to team up with Poseidon (once her {{archenemy}}) to make sure that the Achaeans would have an awful return journey...but that's [[Theatre/{{Agamemnon}} another]] [[Literature/TheOdyssey story]].

* SlaveryIsASpeicalKindOfEvil: The play is ''emphatic'' about slavery--in this particular case women as war trophies--being abominable. Each of the protagonists dreads being forced into slavery and the play paints each of them as sympathetic figures facing a real horror, driving home just how terrible slavery is.

* TheVamp: This is by far one of the worst interpretations of Helen.

* InfantImmortality: {{Averted}}. Andromache and Hector's little son is slain by Achaeans to avoid any purpose of revenge.

''The Trojan Women'' was the third tragedy of a trilogy about the Trojan War, which included ''Alexandros'' - featuring the recognition of the [[MosesInTheBulrushes abandoned Trojan prince Paris]], and then ''Palamedes'', which featured the Achaean mistreatment of their fellow Achaean Palamedes. The tragedy is one of the earliest examples of WarIsHell, as narrated through the eyes of the innocent civilians who end up losing everything they hold dear, and also the barbaric treatment of the spoils of war by the winners. Unfortuately, that's a theme still relevant in our days - that's why ''The Trojan Women'' has aged so well, and is still a source of endless debate and adaptations, each with their own outlook on war and of course their RealitySubtext about each authors' historical context.

The women who have a prominent role in this tragedy are exactly [[CallBack those who were mourning Hector at the end of]] ''Literature/TheIliad'' - [[OutlivingOnesOffspring Hecuba]], [[WidowWoman Andromache]], [[TheCassandra Cassandra]] and [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Helen]]. Since they are RoyalBlood and they are the losers' women, each of them has been destined to a different Achaean general - Hecuba will be taken away by Odysseus, Cassandra by Agamemnon, Andromache by Achilles' son Neoptolemus, while Helen has been sentenced to death by her estranged husband Menelaus. FromBadToWorse, horrible news are yet to come: Andromache and Hector's son [[WouldHurtAChild Astyanax has been condemned to die]], because the Achaean leaders are afraid that the [[CycleOfRevenge boy will grow up to avenge his father]] and would not take that risk. The boy will be [[DisneyVillainDeath thrown off from the battlements of Troy]].