Helen

Roles

• Helen - Young Adult (20-35), Female

About this piece

Helen laments her fate

Summary

The legend says that the episode that caused the Trojan war, the epic war between Troy and the Greek army, was the kidnapping of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, by Paris, Prince of Troy. Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty, held a beauty contest with other goddesses, Athena and Hera and promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world if he judged her as the fairest. Paris chose Helen as his prize and took her to Troy. Another legend says that in reality Helen never reached Troy but was brought to Egypt by the gods. The woman that Paris brought to Troy was only a phantom look-alike. This play takes as a premise this possibility and takes place in Egypt, where the real Helen has lived for the entire time of the Trojan war. This monologue is delivered after Helen learns from a messenger that Menelaus, her husband, has died in a sea storm. She laments the fact that everybody in Greece hates her for being the cause of the Trojan war and laments the death of her husband, which now makes her available for marriage to the Egyptian prince Theoclymenus, who wants to marry her.

Tone

Use cases