Troy 11
by CTCWeb Editors
Helen's Guilt
There are many different versions of Helen’s story after the war. One version is told in the fourth book of Homer’s Odyssey. Homer tells of Helen’s return to Sparta with Menelaus where the couple lived in harmony. They hosted Odysseus’ son Telemachus during his quest for information concerning his father. They speak of the Trojan War with him and recount Odysseus’ brave and cunning deeds before sending Telemachus on his way.
Euripides, on the other hand, has two less rosy and odder versions of Helen’s fate. He recounted each of the two versions in respective plays. In his play The Trojan Women, Euripides has Helen’s character speak and blame the gods instead of herself for the Trojan War. She claims that she attempted to flee Troy after Paris’ death. In the play, a discussion about how to deal with Helen takes place between Menelaus and the Trojan women. These women suggest that Helen gloried in her position among the Trojans and did not want to escape. Menelaus, after originally threatening to kill her, takes Helen back to Sparta and the play ends.
A very different account of what happened to Helen is told in Euripides’ play Helena. In this version, Zeus’ wife Hera creates a false-Helen. This impersonator accompanies Paris to Troy, while Zeus takes the real Helen from Sparta to Egypt to wait for Menelaus. In this version of the story, Helen is completely free of blame for the Trojan War. In due course, Menelaus arrives in Egypt. After some wariness and a bit of deception, husband and wife are reunited and eventually leave for Sparta.
What really happened to Helen? Probably only the gods know.
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Modern Depictions of Helen
The story of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, has captured both ancient and modern imaginations. Her story has been retold hundreds of times by authors and movie makers. Below are some 20th and 21st century depictions of Helen in movies and novels. Click on a thumbnail below to view the large image.
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2004 Warner Brothers movie poster
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2003 USA Network movie poster
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1956 Warner Brothers movie soundtrack cover
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1956 Warner Brothers movie poster
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Book cover for The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine (1925)
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