Hecuba (Summary and Reflection)

[Daniel Faraday]

Hecuba is a woman plagued with the pain of life. Her husband has been murdered during the Greek invasion of Troy, the fall of her city also means that she will be an Greek slave. Her son, Paris, has slain the Greek hero, Achilles, but fell as well. Her daughter is to be sacrificed on Achilles' grave, she pleads but her speech falls on deaf ears. Agamemnon will not have the greatest Greek warrior go without a tribute greater than the one given to a normal soldier, nor will he sacrifice an old tramp along with the prized virgin. It seems that things cannot get worse, but they do. Hecuba soon finds her son to be murdered. For nothing other than the gold sent with him from Troy. Surely his murder must be avenged. How, you may ask. Hecuba decides to use the same punishment Oedipus inflicted upon himself. She, and the Trojan women, slice Polymester's eyes, blinding him. They then proceed to killing his children. Polymester cannot bare the act. Agamemnon realizing this starts a trial. In this trial Polymester claims that he killed Hecuba's son out of necessity. He could not have the son of the dead king exacting revenge on Greece. Nor can he wait while Troy to be rebuilt, only to be targeted again. For Greece, for Agamemnon. What other action could he take? His people did not want to get caught up in the fight between Troy and Greece. Hecuba responds with several questions. Why did he not deliver the gold to Agamemnon? Why did he not deliver Polydorus to the Greek s? Why did he not kill Polydorus before Troy fell? These are all great questions, and they all lead to Polymester's loss. Agamemnon finds Polymester guilty of murder, and that is the end of him. Hecuba is seen to be cursed by Polymester, but the last image we see of him is that of a blinded man empty of pride and standing. He is seen as a mad man, no longer accepted in the camp of the Greeks. Led to prison, alone.

Euripides's Hecuba is a great tragedy, and poses and odd scenario for the genre. What questions would you say it poses? We see the curtain fall, but never Hecuba's fall. Does she fall? Is Polymester's threat a serious curse upon her life, or is it the last petty insult from a man who has fell to far? Do you think that the notion of revenge can be seen in a better light, because of the story? Do you, instead, think that Hecuba was using the falsities committed by Polymester as a hypocritical excuse for revenge?