Viewed in one light, the Iliad is a story of people trapped in events that they know will be disastrous for them, but which they cannot escape, for reasons either that they cannot control, or that are imposed on them by their codes of duty and honour. In this extract, the prisoners of circumstance are the great Trojan warrior Hector and his wife and infant child. In another part of the field, no less trapped is Achilles, who will suffer a devastating bereavement that he could have avoided by sacrificing pride, and who, though he will be the instrument of Hector’s death, is fully aware that he too will die young.
The meeting of Hector and his wife, Andromache, takes place a quarter of the way through the poem. Andromache begs Hector to direct the Trojan defence from the wall, rather than return to the battle. But neither Hector’s duty as Troy’s defender, nor his warrior’s code, will allow him to do so, although he foresees his own death and the fall of the city as clearly as Andromache foresees that she will soon be a widow and her son an orphan. We learn, too, that Andromache’s life has already been ravaged by Achilles, Hector’s future killer.
The translation covers the whole meeting, but the performance, in italics, is of Hector’s speech, and his and Andromache’s interaction with their baby son, which shows that, even if only temporarily, the warmth of human life and love can prevail against the chilling effects of circumstance.
See the illustrated blog post here.
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