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May 23, 2024, 01:38:12 pm

Author Topic: EURIPIDES WOMEN OF TROY: Text Response  (Read 3593 times)  Share 

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Musty.100

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EURIPIDES WOMEN OF TROY: Text Response
« on: March 16, 2019, 03:29:38 pm »
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Help please, on the topic: "The women of Troy are victims of an unjust world".
What ideas could i explore?

OZLexico

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Re: EURIPIDES WOMEN OF TROY: Text Response
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2019, 09:32:18 pm »
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It will be a good idea to do some planning first, to clarify what you really think about this topic.  Make sure you look at the dictionary meanings of the key terms "victims" and "unjust."  What makes the women "victims"?  What makes the world "unjust"?  (which "world" are you going to refer to - the world of the Trojan War or the world of Euripides and his audience?) Polyxena is certainly a victim (she's a human sacrifice) and the other women are injured or distressed in a variety of ways.  Their position as captives means they are dispossessed (of their land and status/authority), and the royal women are separated from each other and assigned to different men.  They are victims of cultural structures that de-value them as prizes headed for a life of slavery (unjust meaning "unequal').  Also, these women are not combatants - the fighting was done by the men (who are all dead) so why are they being punished with slavery and why is it necessary for the Greeks to burn Troy to the ground at the end of the play?. Alternatively, the behaviour of the Greek commanders could be seen as "just" because they are the winners and they get to decide the fate of the women.  In this respect, the Athenian audience would be very familiar with Athenian forces acting in this way (killing all the men and enslaving the women and children) - from the Bronze Age story of the Trojan War to 415 BCE and the Athenians' war with the Spartans, what's changed?  I think it would also be a good idea to avoid using examples relating to Helen as she's not a Trojan woman (she's a Greek).