Sophie's Choice

Just a quick note on the comments about "Sophie's Choice." I saw the movie when my daughter was about 3 years old and believe it was one of the most upsetting movies I have ever seen. Meryl Streep is an incredible actress and was able to play that gutwrenching part perfectly, but to appreciate the horror of that scene you would have to have a child to imagine her torment in making that choice. As intense as love is between lovers, or husband and wife, it pales in comparison to what you feel as a mother, and I believe, as a father towards your child.

So, to prepare myself for the movie tomorrow which I can only assume will be the scene when Hecuba is preparing her grandson's body I found another translation of "Trojan Women." The translation is by Kenneth McLeish, I found it a little less tedious and and less wordy, while still keeping close to our translation. This is Hecuba's speech after Talthybius gives her her grandson's body on Hector's shield:

Put down the shield, my Hector's shield.
I should smile to see it; it tears my heart.
O Greeks, how big you are, how brave!
Why murder him? A child!
Were you afraid?
That he'd pile up Troy again?
Make it great again? We're dead.
We were dying even then,
When Hector swam
In his glory, in all that sea of spears.
We were dying even then-
A million men! -
And now our city's gone.
You're afraid of one tiny child.
It's beyond belief. I spsit on you.
My little one, why did you die like this?
You could have died for Troy,
A grown man, a husband,
In majesty like the gods:
Fulfilled, if such things bring fulfillment.
Your inheritance! You saw it everyday,
You knew it in your heart,
And it's snatched away.
Poor little boy. Your curls, your mother
Kissed them, tended them,
Flowers in a graden.
Now they're ripped away:
The hard stones,
Troy's bones, Apollo's stones.
Blood grins in broken bone.
How can I bear it?
Such sweet hands, your father's hands,
Dangling. Lips, dear lips.
How they chattered,
What promises they made.
D'you remember? How you hugged me?
'Granny, when you die
I'll cut off all my hair.
I'll come to your grave
With all my friends.
We'll sing and sing for you.' Not so.
Old buries young.
A child, an old woman,
Cityless. Oee moee.
Were they for this?
Hugs, kisses.
Sleepless nights
When I watched you sleep?
What can we write of you,
Write on your tomb?
'This baby scared the Greeks.
They murdered him.'
Hear that in Greece and blush!
Your father's power and wealth,
They're not for you.
Your inheritance is one bronze shield.
Your bed below the earth......
Bring what's there,
What you can, to wrap him.
Poor boy! We've nothing:
Fate sees to that.
But all we have is yours...
If we're fooled by human happiness,
We're fools..... (cloaks are brought from the Trojan dead)
These robes are yours.
Wedding robes for your marriage
To some princess from far away.
Shield, glory of Hector,
Mother of victories,
Here is your crown.
Dead with this death,
You'll never die. He honours you.
What shield of Odysseus, so wise, so false,
Now shines so bright?
I bandage your wounds,
A poor doctor who finds no cure.
Your father will ease your pain
There with the dead below.


I'm not looking forward to this tomorrow.

On a somewhat lighter note, I'm interested in what part women play in wars. Historically women have been given as peace offerings, they are considered a commodity when collected like a prize (as in the case of Trojan Women: to the victors go the spoils). They have been kidnapped, ransomed, raped. Even in wars raging now, raping of women in conflicts is methodof war, a way for the men to exert domination and fear. Instead of women being seen as victims, they are often considered to have brought dishonor to their families if they survive the rapes. In some middle eastern countries it is acceptable for a male family member to kill the woman who has brought dishonor to the family in such a way. In my search for information about women during the classical period, I found a great book that is written by a woman who describes herself as a "feminist critic who is simultaneously a Hellenist," and considers the place of Greek tragedy in feminist criticism. The section I am reading now looks at the relationship between gender, power, and sexuality in tragedy. She says Euripides may indeed "invent women" and "reverse traditional representations" but ultimately he recuperates the female figures for patriarchy. The next chapter I intend to read is about women as sacrifices, citing Iphigenia. The book is "Anxiety Veiled" by Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz. I wish I could be reading it on a warm sunny beach over break, but sitting by a fireplace at home will have to do.