Society’s Greatest Tragedy

In 415 B.C.E., the Greek playwright Euripides created The Trojan Women, a play that is arguably one of the best studies of the horrific aspects of war ever written. In her analysis of the play, Professor C.A.E. Luschnig maintains, "[Euripides] has made the Trojan War stand for every war… For war is society's great tragedy: victory is an illusion" (8). While the negative elements of war portrayed by Euripides can be found in all wars and even war’s victors must suffer their defeats, there is an even greater tragedy to society than war itself. War is but one result of the inherent evil nature of men and women and that evil nature, not war, is society’s greatest tragedy.

The Trojan women of the play were Hecuba, the wife of the late King of Troy; Kassandra, Hecuba's virgin daughter; and Andromache, wife of the slain Hector and mother of Astyanax. Other vanquished women of Troy compose the chorus. The young child Astyanax was also from Troy. He represents the innocent victims of war. Also from Troy at the time of the play was Helen, the daughter of Zeus and Leda. She is central to the play and was the cause of the Trojan War, but was not a Trojan. The Greeks in the play are Talthybios, herald and friend to the commander of the Greek army, Agamemnon. In addition, Melelaos is the brother of Agamemnon and was the husband of Helen before she left Greece to be with Hecuba’s son. Agamemnon does not appear in the play but is central to the story. Gods in the play are Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom and justice. Because the Greeks have offended both gods by their actions, the gods conspire to punish the Greeks.

The play focuses on the aftermath of the Trojan War and the time leading up to the departure of th...

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... the combatants for each war must be made with historical perspective and will always be debated. It is certain, however, that a war fought to depose a madman bent on the annihilation of a race of people is more justifiable than a war fought to take revenge on a wayward wife and her new homeland. The desire to commit genocide is not the product of war but the result of the evil that reside in every man and woman. That evil is society’s greatest tragedy. War is simply a byproduct of that evil.

Works Cited

Curriculum Vitae: C.A.E. Luschnig." Letters, Arts & Social Sciences. Web. 10 Apr. 2012.

Euripides. The Trojan Women. Trans. Diskin Clay. Newburyport, MA: Focus Classical Library, 2005. Print.

Luschnig, C.A.E. "Euripides' "Trojan Women:" All Is Vanity." The Classical World 65.1 (1971): 8-12. Print.