Homer's Women
by Anna Dybis '99
Winner of of 1999 Harold J. Ralston Classics Writing Contest
INTRODUCTION
It is generally accepted among classical historians that when Helen, wife of Menelaus, left Sparta to go with Paris to Troy, conflict started. Whether Helen was directly the cause of the Trojan War is unknown, but she is said to have the "face that launched a thousand ships."
One of the most disputed issues involving Helen of Troy is whether or not she really wanted to leave Menelaus to go with Paris. This play is based off of that issue. Homer wrote two great stories about the Trojan War and what followed, The Iliad and The Odyssey. In those stories, there are many powerful females who influence outcomes dramatically. Imagine if you will, that Helen of Troy was able to talk with all of these women. This play examines what might happen if four of Homer's women got together to advise Helen.
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
HELEN, queen of Sparta, wife of Menelaus
PENELOPE, queen of Ithaca, wife of Odysseus
ATHENA, goddess of wisdom, arts, and just warfare
APHRODITE, goddess of love, wife of Hephaestus
CASSANDRA, priestess of Apollo, daughter of Priam, sister of Paris
ACT ONE
Scene One
Helen's Bed chamber in the palace at Sparta
HELEN
O, woe is me. My heart, once so sure to Menelaus, now is torn. Only nine days ago, a Trojan prince by the name of Paris came as a guest to this our Spartan palace. I know not whether it was his youthful physique and piercing eyes, or if it was his care-free ways, not bound by the duty of a king, but he has sparked an ember in my heart that has now consumed me with flame.
Early this morning, Paris snuck into my Bed chamber and bade me to return with him to Troy. Menelaus knows nothing of this, but surely he must suspect. My thoughts have not been following anyone's words but lovely Paris'. So much of me is with him already, that it seems easy to leave. Yet, Menelaus has been nothing less than perfect to me. He has made me a queen and heaped upon me all the benefits that accompany royalty. What am I to do?
Wait, I know. I shall write to Tyndareus' niece Penelope. Tyndareus has been like a father to me, and Penelope and I know each other well. Perhaps she can aid me in my decision.
Exit Helen
ACT ONE
Scene Two
Helen is sitting in a receiving room in the palace. Enter Penelope
PENELOPE
Fair Helen, I came as quickly as Odysseus and I could.
HELEN
He came too?
PENELOPE
Helen, I am due to give birth in only a month. It is dangerous enough for a woman to travel
alone without her husband. But being pregnant and all, I need him near in case something should
happen.
HELEN
Do you have any names picked out for the baby yet?
PENELOPE
If the baby is a boy, Odysseus and I were thinking about Telemachus. If the child is a girl, we're
not really sure. Perhaps we will name her Anticlea after Odysseus' mother. But I don't think
you called me here to talk about baby names. What is going on Helen?
HELEN
That young Prince, Paris, whom I have mentioned about in my letters to you, has asked that I
return with him to Troy. And I am not sure exactly what..
PENELOPE (Interrupting)
Leave Menelaus for Paris? Are you insane? Menelaus is your husband, whom you vowed to
love and obey. A woman doesn't just leave a marriage. It's unheard of these days!
HELEN
But Penelope, he is young and free of the burdens that accompany a king. Plus, don't you just
ever wish for a change?
PENELOPE
No Helen I don't. I love Odysseus with all of my heart. He too is a king. Why do you let your
eyes wander from Menelaus? If you want a change, redecorate a room in the palace.
HELEN
But he stirs these emotions I can't explain.
PENELOPE
Look, if you are all bothered by him, the thing to do is to be in the ladies' chamber weaving. It
always clears a confused head. Whatever you do, you shouldn't be talking to Paris. Focus rather
only on Menelaus and your years with him.
HELEN
But if I left, time would heal Menelaus' wound, and he would find a new love.
PENELOPE
Even if Odysseus was gone for 20 years, I wouldn't lose my love or fidelity to him, regardless of
who came knocking on my palace door. Doesn't commitment mean anything to you?
HELEN
Have you looked at Paris' body?
PENELOPE
Great goddess Athena there is no hope for you.
(A flash of lightning, poof of smoke, Athena appears before Helen and Penelope)
ATHENA
I heard my name. What's up Penelope?
HELEN
Oh my god..dess
(Penelope and Helen fall to their knees)
ATHENA
I knew I should have come in disguise like I usually do. Please get up. It's difficult to talk to you two when you have your face cemented to the marble floors. Penelope, because you and your Odysseus have been so good and pious to me, I come to you now in your time of trouble.
PENELOPE
I thought Helen was the one having problems here.
ATHENA
Yes, but you are failing in your attempts to convince her to make the right decision. That's where I come in.
HELEN
Great Goddess, what am I to do?
ATHENA
Helen, let me be frank here. I don't like you. You gain what you want by your looks. Once you get it, you continuously ask for more. I know how you got all those jewels from Menelaus. Where you should be spending time I handiwork, you are working in other ways. Your home is decorated with shrines only to golden haired Aphrodite, you..
HELEN (Interrupting Athena)
With all due respect, where is this leading to? If you have just come to complain about me you can just..
PENELOPE (Interrupting Helen)
Hold your tongue! Do not insult Athena like that. Do want to end up like Arachne?
ATHENA
This is why Penelope and Odysseus are protected by me and you aren't. But I stray. I am here to make an exception. Helen, Paris does not love you as Menelaus does.
(Aside) If Helen doesn't leave Menelaus, Aphrodite will have to give back that golden apple and I can get my deserving hands on it.
(To Helen) Also, as I pointed out before, you like a man with a lot of power and deep folds in his toga for all that money.
HELEN
But Paris is a prince.
PENELOPE
But a prince does not necessarily equal a king.
ATHENA
Exactly. If you remember correctly, the eldest son of a king inherits his throne. Paris is not the eldest son of Priam, Hector is. As security that the line will be passed to Hector and his family, Hector and Andromache his wife have born a son, Astyanax. Even if Hector died, little Astyanax would inherit the throne, and not Paris. The top title Paris can ever achieve is prince and you could never bear him a future king.
HELEN
Menelaus is a king already. If I bore sons to him one of them would be a king, and I would be given the honor of raising him. Already I have been guaranteed a future queen by the birth of my daughter, but I do yearn for a king. I didn't think about the fact that all of Paris' kids are going to be losers.
ATHENA
Think about the devotion factor too. Menelaus adores you, and has never strayed. Paris meanwhile, meets you for the first time, and nine days later wants you to run away with him. Who is to say that he won't do this again to another beautiful woman even if you do marry him?
HELEN
You are right Athena. What ever was I thinking? I will never leave Menelaus. Penelope, thank you for coming and bringing your divine inspirations. Take care on your ride home, and now I must go make offerings of thanks to the gods.
ACT TWO
Scene One
Shrine Room, Enter Helen, she kneels before the altars
HELEN
O great goddess Athena, I offer you these burnt offerings, accept them with my gratitude.
O great goddess Aphrodite, to you I pray that I may never stray from the arms of Menelaus my dearest husband.
(Flash of lightening, poof of smoke, appear Aphrodite)
APHRODITE
What? Why all of a sudden do you love Menelaus again?
HELEN
But Aphrodite I thought that was what I was supposed to do. You know, the whole commitment thing.
APHRODITE
Whom have you been talking to?
HELEN
Just Penelope and Athena.
APHRODITE
Athena, I might have known. Helen, she doesn't even like you. Athena is just using you so that she can..
(Athena appears from behind the altar)
ATHENA
Watch it lover-goddess.
APHRODITE
Oh, Athena, I didn't realize you were still here.
ATHENA
The minute I heard Helen start praying to you, I knew things would get ugly if I didn't hang around.
HELEN
(aside) Wow, this decision must be of great importance. I have two goddesses fighting over my love life.
APHRODITE
Look Helen, Paris has been with you for nine days now. Could you really just leave him? It's not as if you haven't sinned already you know.
ATHENA
Helen you didn't.
HELEN
It wasn't my fault. He came on to me, and he was so much more, well you know, than Menelaus.
APHRODITE
Yes I know. And if you go with Paris, you could have nights like that until eternity.
ATHENA
Is sex all you think about?
APHRODITE
Yes, and if you ever had it you would understand why, O virgin goddess.
APHRODITE
I am not a whore. I'm a good little goddess.
HELEN
Goddesses, please, can't we all just get along?
ATHENA
Aphrodite is the last person who should be advising you on a relationship Helen. She can't even control her own marriage.
APHRODITE
Don't you dare...
ATHENA
For Zeus' sake! You sleep with Aries. To top it off, you let your husband Hephaestus trap you in the act. That was one net I don't think any of us will ever forget.
HELEN
But why do you two care so much about me?
APHRODITE
(aside) Why do I care? I have to hold up my end of the bargain here. If I don't deliver Helen to Paris I lose that apple. And if Athena even thinks she could touch a golden apple, especially one labeled "To the fairest," she has another thing coming.
(To Helen) I say all of this to you because I just want to see you happy Helen.
ATHENA
Oh please. Helen, look at the most admirable qualities in the women of today. They are good wives who cook, clean, sew, and blindly obey. They are faithful to their husbands and delight in raising their children. You are already renowned for your beauty. Imagine if you were known for your virtues as well. You would be a hero to every woman in the known world.
HELEN
I don't know. This is so complicated.
APHRODITE
Look, if you don't believe me, let me have you talk to Paris' sister. I'm sure she can tell you how wonderful and great Paris is.
ATHENA
I suppose a mortal's opinion couldn't hurt anything. And Cassandra does know Paris well. It was she who first identified him after he was lost for so many years.
HELEN
Paris has spoken of Cassandra highly. She is a priestess of Apollo you know.
ATHENA AND APHRODITE
Helen, we're immortal. We know everything.
HELEN
(aside) If they know everything, why can't they make a decision as simple as this one?
ACT TWO
Scene Two
Helen's Bed chamber. Enter Athena, Aphrodite, and Helen.
APHRODITE
This seems like a good place for all of us to talk.
ATHENA
Stand back girls, it's time to hijack a priestess.
(Flash of light, exploding sound)
CASSANDRA
Where in Tartarus am I?
HELEN
Cassandra, as queen of this land of Sparta, and as a friend of your brother Paris, allow me to extend welcome to you.
CASSANDRA
Has Apollo brought me here?
ATHENA
No, Aphrodite and I have. We goddesses have enlisted you to tell us all that you know about Paris.
CASSANDRA
My brother? Well, he is quite dear to me. He is not as noble a warrior as his brother Hector, but he still fights valiantly in a battle. He was a shepherd for a while before he knew he was royalty. Because of this, he is quite robust and tanned. Can I ask why you all care so much?
HELEN
Your brother has asked me to go back to Troy with him. I am having trouble deciding. You are not only his sister, but a priestess too. Can you help me?
CASSANDRA
Wait, I'm having a vision. I see, I see.. a war, blood, mothers wailing, walls burning, Greeks and Trojans slain, all in Helen's name. Oh no, Hector on the pyre, Astyanax fallen, Paris dead, and I a bride to a doomed Greek king.
APHRODITE
What kind of lies do you dare tell? Athena, what have you told her?
ATHENA
This is none of my doing. Personally, I think you have been spending a little too much time in the temple Cassandra.
HELEN
Paris and Hector dead? Why do you wish these fates upon your own family?
CASSANDRA
Why doesn't anybody believe me?
ATHENA AND APHRODITE
Go back to Troy, deluded priestess...
(Cassandra disappears in a flash of light)
HELEN
I'm beginning to wonder if I should have ever met Paris at all.
APHRODITE
Enough of this. I'm sick of listening to you be all wishy-washy. Everyone in this world has fallen for the spells of love before, and you Helen, will be no exception.
ATHENA
Now wait just a minute
APHRODITE
Don't try to deny it. Even you, the virgin goddess, has fallen victim to me. Yes, you have loved before. Granted, it wasn't physical, but would you deny that it was less than love you felt for Pallas? (Turning to Helen) Helen, resistance is futile. If I cannot convince you by words alone, perhaps my son will.
ATHENA
You can't bring Cupid into this! That's cheating.
APHRODITE
(as Helen, with a golden arrow in her back, exits, calling for Paris)
Too late. Sorry Athena, but face it. As Paris and Menelaus have been smitten by love for Helen, so shall Helen fall. Besides,(she says, holding the golden apple in front of Athena's face) Gold never was your color.
Athena disappears in a cloud of smoke and Aphrodite disappears in a flash of light
FINIS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fantham, Elaine. Women in the Classical World. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Rees, Ennis. Homer: The Iliad. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991
Rosenburg, Donna. World Mythology. Illinois: NTC Publishing Group, 1994