Semantron 2015

Let us be clear, though: the anomaly of the scene is not thematic . Earlier critics have referred to the scene as crystallizing some of the intellectual issues of the play, or as bringing together some of the play’s most important motifs, or as being the culmination of the play’s concern with marriage. 21 I do not disagree with any of those assessments. But, in my own terms, I would say the following: the agon in Troades is as much concerned with the terrible effects of war as the rest of the play, as well as being specifically concerned with the causes of the war. Those terrible effects are seen in the problems with important constitutive polarities (human/divine; man/woman; free/slave; friend/enemy; Greek/barbarian. 22 But the agon is also a crucial part – along with the Cassandra scene – of the play’s examination of the agon itself. Though agon can describe a wide variety of contests, in all its forms it is not only a regulated activity; it is also designed to produce a victor (however provisional that status is). Cassandra explicitly and paradoxically questions whether the war – one agon – has produced a winner (365-405). The result of the debate between Helen and Hecuba, while apparently explicit (Helen is guilty and will be taken back to Greece to be executed), stands in tension with Odyssey 4, where Helen is alive and well, and indeed enjoying herself. 23 Some critics are certain that Helen is the winner, even if they are depressed about that fact (e.g. Gellie 1986; Worman 1997); others are sure that Hecuba prevails (e.g. Meridor 2000: 25) 24 . Lloyd argues that only two Euripidean debates produce a result ( Hecuba and Heracleidae ): in his view the lack of resolution is typical and unsurprising – tragic conflicts are by definition not easy to deal with. 25 This view, I believe, underestimates the debate’s contribution to the play’s examination of the agon per se. So the anomaly of the agon is not thematic; it is tonal. And that tonal difference is necessary not for the dramatic structure of the play but for – if I can put it this way – the psychological well-being of the audience. Some critics have remarked on something like this. Stinton described the debate scene as emotional relief; 26 Poole thought that the function of the scene was to ‘alleviate some immediate desperation’; 27 Gellie well argues that there is so much pain in Troades but that ‘The truly tragic experience seems to need something else, a make-weight which tugs against misery in a balancing tension’. 28 Again, I do not disagree with any of the above but I do think that we can make our comments and observations about the function and tone of the agon scene a little sharper. To do that, we first need to look at the Andromache scene. As Andromache enters on a cart with Astyanax, we are perhaps not as well-prepared for her being on stage as we were for Cassandra before and as we will be when Helen enters. For both Cassandra and Helen (especially the latter) are mentioned a number of times before they actually enter the stage. This is not so for Andromache. 29 Straightaway, she and Hecuba jointly lament the destruction wrought by war and, in particular, how their status has changed (576ff.). Andromache brings with her news of Polyxena’s death, which unsurprisingly has a crushing effect on Hecuba (622ff.). Andromache then argues that Polyxena is in a far better position than herself, precisely because she is already dead and will not have to endure the humiliations and deprivations that Andromache will experience in Greece (634ff.). In particular, Andromache notes the horrible irony that her reputation as a model wife has caused her to be allotted to the son of her husbands’ killer (643ff.). Despite that, she is determined to remain faithful to Hector (667ff.). Hecuba advises against that, most specifically because, by devoting herself to her new man, she may be able to raise Astyanax. Her lines here are worth quoting (701-5): 21 Stinton 1965: 39; Ebener 1954; Gellie 1986. 22 The examination of these polarities under the pressure of war is the subject of Croally 1994: chapter 2. Rosenbloom 2006: 256-9 argues that the agon in Troades should be read with/against the Melian dialogue, that famous debate that precedes victor’s actions uncannily similar to those of the Greeks in Troades . On the possibility of contemporary allusions in the play see (now) Roisman 1997. 23 On the relationship with Odyssey 4, see Davidson 1999-2000: 126. 24 ‘And win her case, Hecuba does, as is evident from Menelaus’ decision (1036-41).’ Meridor goes on to argue that the death of Astyanax means that Helen is not be executed; see 2000:27. 25 Lloyd 1992: 15-16. For criticism of my argument about the lack of resolution in Troades , see Barker 2009: 7. 26 Stinton 1965: 39. 27 Poole 1976: 274. 28 Gellie 1986: 114. On pathos and lamentation in the play, see also Due 206: 136-50; Loraux 2002: 8; Suter 2003. 29 Meridor 1989 argues this; cf. Phillippo 2007: 328. It is at this very moment, this moment of rare hope, that Talthybius brings news that the Greek army,

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