Helen by Euripides

Soooooooo…..after reading all of these plays in which the Trojan war is described, and Helen is blamed for it, we are now supposed to believe that she was actually in Egypt the whole time, and it was a phantom Helen that ran off to Troy with Paris.

Helen opens this play with a monologue about her woes.  She was a good and true wife to Menelaus, but Zeus was looking for a way to decrease the population of mankind, and Cypris was looking to make trouble, so Paris was enticed by Helen’s beauty into coming to Sparta to try and win her.  He believed he was carrying her off to Troy, but it was really only a pretend Helen… "an image out of the breath of heaven.”  The real Helen was whisked off to the home of Proteus in Egypt, because he was the most virtuous of all men and would keep and protect her until she could be reunited with Menelaus.  

Menelaus and the hosts from Sparta pursued Paris and many years of war ensued in the attempt to retrieve Helen.  Many men died on both sides, so Zeus accomplished his purpose of population control.  When the war was over, Menelaus thought he had won Helen back and set sail for home, only to wander about having trouble for many more years….and of course, he only had the phantom Helen.

Meantime, Proteus died and his son Theoclymenus, instead of protecting Helen decided that he wanted her for himself.  But, Menelaus and his men are shipwrecked on the shores of Theoclymenus’ kingdom.  Theoclymenus will kill him if he figures this out.  Helen and Menelaus meet and hatch a plan for their escape, but it requires enlisting the help of Theoclymenus’ sister Theonoe, who is a prophetess.  They convince her that helping them is in keeping with the gods’ wishes, so she agrees not to tip Theoclymenus off as to what is really happening.

Menelaus pretends that he is arriving with news of the death of Menelaus.  Helen convinces Theoclymenus that she will be a true wife to him once she has been allowed to bury her previous husband Menelaus at sea.  Theoclymenus is talked into giving her a ship and the other things she needs for the proper burial rituals.  But, Menalaus’ men, who have been hiding in a nearby cave, join him on the ship and overpower the crew.  Helen and Menelaus and the Spartans make good their escape.  Theoclymenus is talked out of pursuing them by the appearance above him of Castor and Pollux, who are brothers of Helen, and who tell him that it is the will of the gods for Helen and Menelaus to be reunited.

Interesting quotes:

*Helen bemoans her beauty as a curse.  Would God I could rub my beauty out as a picture, and assume hereafter in its stead a form less comely…”

*She ponders suicide rather than an unhappy marriage.  …when a husband she loathes is mated with a woman, even life is loathly to her.  Best for her to die; but how shall I die a noble death?

When Menelaus arrives shipwrecked and in rags…This is the crowning woe in all my misery, to beg the means of life from other princes, prince though I be myself; still needs must I.  Yea, this is no saying of mine, but a word of wisdom, “Naught in might exceedeth dread necessity.”

Helen tries to get Theoclymenus to behave as nobly as his father Proteus would have….reflect thy father’s justice; for this is the fairest ornament of children, when the child of a virtuous sire resembles its parents in character.

Conclusion of the chorus:  Many are the forms the heavenly will assumes; and many a thing God brings to pass contrary to expectation; that which was looked for is not accomplished, while Heaven finds out a way for what we never hoped; e’en such has been the issue here.

My conclusion…..All that Trojan War fuss over a phantom Helen?!?!?!?!?