Trojan Women

The performance of Euripides’ Trojan Women that we saw remained largely faithful to the original; there were, however, some slight variations. The most significant deviation in my eyes came in the death of Astyanax: in Euripides’ original version, Astyanax “was flung to his death from the walls” (l. 1134-1135). In the performance, great emotional weight was placed upon the scene in which we learned that Astyanax was not, in fact, killed by the Greeks – his own mother murdered him first. This change increased the emotional intensity of the performance, and it introduced important thematic questions: When it is done out of love, can murder be acceptable? Are there any circumstances under which a mother can be forgiven for taking the life of her son or daughter? These are ponderous, burning questions that – at least in my mind – were emphasized in the performance despite their absence in the original.

I viewed the performance before reading the original, which created an interesting phenomenon as I pictured the actors that we saw as I read the play for the first time. Most of the characters seemed to be fitting of their original representations, but I saw the most deviation in Cassandra. After viewing the performance, I expected Cassandra to be more of a major character in the written version – but her insanity seemed far less dramatic on paper. Cassandra’s expanded role in the performance increased the dramatic effect and intensity of the play, adding depth and intrigue to the characters. The relatively simple set and limited special effects directed the focus of the play to the complexity of the characters, emphasizing emotion rather than action. Overall, I found the performance to be a relatively faithful and powerful representation of Euripides’ Trojan Women.