andromache Flashcards
1
Q
andomache
epidose 2:
claims “you Greeks” have “dreamed up such cruelties even the barbarians would flinch at”
A
- challenges Athenian assumptions/arrogance forces them to reconsider ideology of war/duty
- makes them reflect on contemporary issues like the atrocities and constant fighting of the Peloponnesian war
2
Q
Chorus “stained the pure waters”
Andromache: Helen should “die in agony”
A
- Ch accuse Hel of being sexually not respected and disloyal -> humiliate all Greeks
- Hel is shameful
- overlooks Helens reality of rape and kidnapping
- A views Helen with disgust
- WOT reinforce and weaponise patriarchal expectations, thus disempowering women and stripping away any agency and sense of togetherness
3
Q
A: the gods always hated us
A
- Astynax murder –> Andromache + Hecuba losing hope –> realisation gods abandoned Troy
- Hecuba + Andromache = loyal servants to gods praying
- reinforced by chorus bc realise gods do not care about WOT
4
Q
cradling Astynax whilst lamenting “why are you killing this child?” “innocence” “guilty of nothing”
A
- Ast = innocent child -> no harm and a threat to Greeks.
- killed because Greeks lost mercy and honour
- inability to comprehend the events and elicits fury
- increases explicit violence in play –> appeal to universal human instinct to protect the children/icconcent to emphasise such acts = dishonorable
- confronting scene
- murder undermines prevailing narrative of heroism in wartime
5
Q
Astynax buried with Hectors battle shield
A
- Hectors shield is a symbol of patriarchal protection father should provide but Hector cannot
6
Q
“to the man who owns me now”
“ i spit in the face of any woman who forgets her dead husband”
A
- praised because of loyalty
- achieves a proper burial for Astynax
- loyalty despite own suffering is considered most appropriate for womens behaviours
- submits to the partiarchy
