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| Character | Hecuba | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Female | |
| Age Range(s) | Adult (36-50), Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Crying, Persuasive, Descriptive, Depressed, Lamenting, Complaining, Frustrated, Reminiscing life story/Telling a story | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Ancient Greek | |
| Genre | Tragedy, Drama | |
| Description | Hecuba begs Odysseus to save her daughter Polyxena | |
| Location | Episode 1 | |
Summary
The story takes place in Troy right after the end of the Trojan war, after the Greeks triumph but before they sail back to Greece. Hecuba used to the the queen of Troy, wife of King Priam and mother of several children including Hector, the warrior killed by Achilles, and Cassandra, who becomes Agamemnon's concubine after the war. The play deals with Hecuba's loss of her daughter Polyxena, who has been chosen as the sacrifice for Achilles' tomb by the Greeks, and Polydorus, her son that had been sent to the court of Polydorus, the Thracian king, along with a large amount of Trojan treasure, to be protected. The Thracian king betrays Troy and kills Polydorus to take possession of the treasure.
The first part of the play deals with Hecuba's sorrow after she learns that her daughter will be sacrificed. In this monologue she pleads to Odysseus (she is now his slave) to save her daughter from the pointless sacrifice.
The first part of the play deals with Hecuba's sorrow after she learns that her daughter will be sacrificed. In this monologue she pleads to Odysseus (she is now his slave) to save her daughter from the pointless sacrifice.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| HECUBA Art not thou then playing a sorry part to plot against me thus, after the kind treatment thou didst by thy own confession receive from me, showing me no gratitude but all the ill thou canst? A thankless race! all ye who covet honour from the mob for your oratory. Oh that ye were unknown to me ye who harm your friends and think no more of it, if ye can but say a word to win the mob. But tell me, what kind of cleverness did they think it, when against this child they passed their bloody vote? Was it duty led them to slay a human victim at the tomb, where sacrifice of oxen more befits? or does Achilles, if claiming the lives of those who slew him as his recompense, show his justice by marking her out for death? No! she at least ne'er injured him. He should have demanded Helen as a victim at his tomb, for she it was that proved his ruin, bringing him to Troy; or if some captive of surpassing beauty was to be singled out for doom, this pointed not to us; for the daughter of Tyndareus was fairer than all womankind, and her injury to him was proved no les than ours. Against the justice of his plea I pit this argument. Now hear the recompense due from thee to me at my request. On thy own confession, thou didst fall at my feet and embrace my hand and aged cheek; I in my turn now do the same to thee, and claim the favour then bestowed; and I implore thee, tear not my child from my arms, nor slay her. There be dead enough; she is my only joy, in her I forget my sorrows; My one comfort she in place of many a loss, my city and my nurse, my staff and journey's guide. 'Tis never right that those in power should use it out of season, or when prosperous suppose they will be always so. For I like them was prosperous once, but now my life is lived, and one day robbed me of all my bliss. Friend, by thy beard, have some regard and pity for me; go to Achaea's host, and talk them over, saying how hateful a thing it is to slay women whom at first ye spared out of pity, after dragging them from the altars. For amongst you the self-same law holds good for bond and free alike respecting bloodshed; such influence as thine will persuade them even though thy words are weak; for the same argument, when proceeding from those of no account, has not the same force as when it is uttered by men of mark. |
