Helen of Troy in Euripides’ Tragedies

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the character of Helen in the tragedies of Euripides “The Trojan Women” and “Helen”. First, the authors describe the role and significance of the ancient Greek theater. The authors point out that the theater arose from religious activities and, above all, the festivals of Dionysus. However, in time the ancient Greek theater became a socially significant institution with more broad task than the translation of religious dogmas and norms. The more complicated the society, the more unusual and compound were the plots and characters of tragedies. This complication is clearly visible in the character of Helen in the tragedies of Euripides “The Trojan Women” and “Helen”. It should be noted that Helen of Troy deserved a special place among the female images of Ancient Greece for her divine beauty and for those misfortunes that struck her and all Hellas because of this beauty. According to the classic Homeric story, Helen escaped with the Trojan Paris. According to another version proposed by the poet Stesichorus, Paris stole only a ghost, and Helen was transferred to Egypt, where she spent all the years of the Trojan War (a similar, but more rational version is reported by the historian Herodotus). Euripides used both of these versions, what enabled him to produce the character of an unfaithful wife, who needs to justify herself before her husband and the character of an innocent wife. Helen’s multifaceted image was created to fulfill two educational tasks: one was a socio­political, the other was philosophical. The first was to change the friend or foe system and build a more universal worldview. The second was aimed at destroying the “natural attitude” of the ordinary people, according to which there are constant norms that regulate our life. The tragedies of Euripides were a kind of a mouthpiece, through which the new world view, new values, new philosophy, grew louder and loder. Apart from the fact that Euripides was a playwright and a philosopher, he was also a mentor who helped his audience to adapt to the realities of the new day.

Keywords

• ancient theatre