La morte della tragedia

- this whole play is basically a massive trojan war retcon: helen was never actually in troy, that was a phantom made by aphrodite all along. the real helen was in egypt, where the new king wants to marry her against her will. and then menelaus coincidentally washes up there 7 years after the war, and there are shenanigans as they have to escape from the lustful/hostile king’s clutches
- the introduction in my edition made this seem like it would be an action-packed genre play full of cheap thrills, adventure and romance; even if this is true (which i don't necessarily believe), in my estimation the thrills i and other people got from this play, as well as those qualities in general, are no less cheap than the thrills the misery-loving old white men who gatekeep literary merit get from their uncritical self-indulgent wallowing and lamentation at the follies of humanity, so basically whatevs
- reading experience feels like part romance, part tragedy, part buddy comedy (with menelaus & helen as the buddies, which is surprisingly progressive even now!)
- meneleus + old woman = hilarious:

OLD WOMAN: Were you important somewhere? Here, you’re not.
MENELAUS: Oh, god! It isn’t fair, this disrespect!
OLD WOMAN: Why are you crying? Who would pity you?
MENELAUS: Because I used to have so much good luck.
OLD WOMAN: Then why not leave? Your friends can watch you cry.
MENELAUS: What is this place? Is this a royal palace?
OLD WOMAN: The house of Proteus. The land is Egypt.
MENELAUS: Egypt? Oh, no! Is that where I have sailed to?
OLD WOMAN: The sparkling Nile: what’s wrong with it, to you?
MENELAUS: I wasn’t criticizing. I’m just sad.
OLD WOMAN: Well, so are lots of people, not just you.

the eons may pass but old ladies remain badass
- i figured out why i don't tend to vibe with euripedes' tragedies — it's because to me, self-pity and wallowing are easy, and let’s just say i’ve spent enough time on both emotions to know there’s nothing new or useful for me personally to learn from them. and in his tragedies, that seems like euripedes’ main ~thing — it feels like the plays mainly exist just to point and say: “oh, look how sad and pathetic and pitiful this character’s life is. don’t they just have it so bad? it must really suck to be them.” there’s no deeper positive message or redemption on offer, and not much of a wider message about society except that it's misogynist af and/or that war is bad. and that might be cathartic for some people — maybe make them feel validated or, to the contrary, feel better about their own lives by comparison — but it doesn’t work for me. because yeah, while the world can suck sometimes, it just feels basic and uncomplicated to offer that vision of it that minimizes all the good and places significance only on the awfulness.
- [basically i’m like 99% sure euripedes had depression and ssris were invented just a couple thousand years too late for him]
- meanwhile, helen has plenty of euripedes' habitual angst and self-pity (i swear every play of his i've read has had some variation of the line, 'o how i've suffered, even [insert unfortunate mythological figure here] was luckier than me'), but only in the beginning. it moves on from that quickly, and then there's comedy and humor (case in point, old woman), joy and love in the reunion of helen and menelaus, and dramatic irony in the entertaining schemes of protagonists you can actually root for, whose successes you can actually enjoy. the play has a distinctly lighthearted tone — its ending makes clear that unlike many of euripedes’ other plays, this one doesn’t take itself too seriously, which i very much appreciate
- gorgeous poetry too, beautiful imagery — this is one of euripedes’ later plays so maybe he had matured both in his worldview and in his craft by time of writing
- in conclusion i think this is the only way i can tolerate euripedes: when he’s sharing is usual blackpill sad boi melodramatic hysterics, but also being self-aware enough to present the other side of the coin — that there is love, and laughter, and beauty in the world too. the poetry doesn't hurt either

Romantic comedy - illusions, mistaken identity, escape, poetry of middle-aged marital love.

Oh, this is so much fun. An alternative story to the foundational myth of the Trojan War. And one written in the 5th century Before the Common Era! Helen wasn't abducted by Paris and taken to Troy. Hera created a figure from the air, one that looked like Helen, a kind of bronze age hologram, and that was the woman in Troy. Helen was transported to Egypt where she dutifully waited for Menaleus to find her. And he does.

Lattimore's translation is very easy and quick to read, but there are still wonderful moments. Here is one on bird migration, that puts the lie to the idea that the ancients didn't understand migration:

Oh, that we might fly in the air
winged high over Libya
where the lines of the migrant
birds, escaping the winter rain,
take their way, following
the authority of their leader's
whistle. And he flying into the rainless, the wheat-burdened flat
places, screams his clear call.
O flying birds with the long throats, who
share the course of the racing clouds,
go to the midmost Pleiades.
Go to Orion of the night,
cry like heralds your message

Just because Aristotle got it wrong doesn't mean everyone did!

But back to the play. It is "romance," meaning everything works out well in the end. But the whole process is very elegantly done.

I knew nothing about this alternate version, and it is a fascinating look into things that might have been going on in the ancient Athenian imagination.

”My name is Helen. Now let me tell you my sad history.”

Euripides' Helen is, as one might deduce from the name of the play, about Helen of Troy. This play leans on the lesser-known version of the Trojan war, where the Helen Paris ran away with wasn't actually the real Helen, but a phantom version of her, created by the Gods. The real Helen has spent the ten years of the war in Egypt, safe and loyal to her husband, Menelaos. This play follows her, as her protector has died and the newly crowned King of Egypt is demanding she marry him, struggling with her guilt and grief, hoping against all hope that Menelaos would come and rescue her.

Euripides is my favorite of the ancient Greek playwrights. His stories are always very intense and the way he depicts his characters' emotions is beautiful. The Helen of this story is tired and weary, dead smart and cunning, and also crushed by her guilt over the deaths of countless Trojans and Greeks, even though it wasn't truly her that they fought and died for at Troy, it was a shade of her - she still considers it her fault, and curses herself and her life, which, in her eyes, has been just a long line of painful events. She misses her husband desperately, and it was nice to see a version of this story where she and Menelaos are truly and deeply in love. They were actually quite sweet in this play.

I loved seeing this completely different side of Helen, and this play definitely solidified her place as one of my favorite female figures from Greek Mythology. There are so many versions and interpretations of her, and it's so fascinating to read them and see all the different ways she's been written. Euripides has written two of my favorite versions of her: I love her in this play and I love her in the play The Trojan Women.

I really enjoyed this play, but not as much as some of Euripides' other plays. While it was emotional and kept me intrigued the whole way through, it wasn't as impactful as say, Orestes or Medea. I would still highly recommend it, especially if you want to read more about Helen or to learn more about this lesser-known version of the Trojan War!

Technically I didn't read the whole play I only read the abridged version we're doing for Drama, however I'm still counting it :) This play is so strange and funny and I can't wait to perform it.

Possibly the first anti-war drama, as Euripides wrote this - using the legend that Helen had never even made it to Troy, having been waylaid in Egypt when Paris' ship was wrecked there, the Pharaoh keeping Helen there till Menelaus ended up there - after Athens' failed attempt to sack Sicily, where they lost badly.

"Elena" di Euripide è un testo che mi ha sorpreso molto. Si tratta di una versione alternativa della guerra di Troia, scatenata quando Elena è portata nella città da Paride, con l'aiuto di Afrodite. In questo testo innovativo Elena non è mai andata a Troia ed è restata sempre fedele al marito in Egitto, mentre al suo posto a Troia c'è un simulacro.
L' "Elena" di Euripide è un testo che mi è piaciuto molto, lo ho trovato geniale, originale e, in alcuni punti, anche divertente. Lo consiglio a chi piace la mitologia, o a chi semplicemente conosce il mito della guerra di Troia e vuole saperne di più.

Loved this little book!
A very interesting reading at the same time so comically tragic yet romantic and poetic.

Read for School.

Llueven desgracias sobre desgracias.

Some people see this play as a kind of feminist or proto-feminist text. I disagree. There is nothing remotely feminist about it. Euripides doesn't question or examine the underlying values, misogyny and double standards (like he does in Medea) of a society that blames Helen for the Trojan War (e.g. he doesn't question why it was acceptable for men to have multiple relationships, but unacceptable for a woman; why it was acceptable for a husband to leave his wife, but unacceptable for a wife to leave her husband; why women were treated as the property of men; why the entitlement of men justified a war; why Helen was (and still is) unfairly blamed for the actions of Paris, Menelaos and Agamemnon (it was Agamemnon, not Helen, who launched a thousand ships)).

In this play Helen doesn't deserve to be blamed and hated precisely because she didn't go to Troy; it is assumed that if she had gone to Troy with Paris, that placing the blame on her would be entirely right, proper and justified. Therefore Euripides' Helen offers nothing new or radical in its attitude towards women. Rather it reinforces the patriarchal view of a "good" woman: someone who remains faithful to her husband no matter what (Menelaos says that even if he dies and someone marries Helen against her will, that it is still a betrayal on her part because 'force is just an excuse', and it is best if Helen kills herself instead of betraying him like that).