‘The Trojan Women’ by Euripides via Rosanna Bruno, Text by Anne Carson  (2021) – 78 pages

I have no qualms about reading a comic or graphic version of Euripides’ play ‘The Trojan Women’, especially when it is scripted by the world-renowned classicist of Ancient Greece and one of my personal favorites Anne Carson.

Troy has been defeated in war by the Greeks, and all of its men are dead in battle. The women and children of Troy have been rounded up and will be carried off on ship by the Greeks to serve as the Greeks’ concubines or slaves.

“We can’t go on. We go on.”

‘The Trojan Women’ focuses on four of these women:

Hecabe (often spelled as Hecuba) – Wife of King Priam who is of course dead now

Helen – The most beautiful woman who some say started the war by leaving her husband Menelaus to join King Priam’s son Paris in Troy. Paris is of course dead now too.

Kassandra – daughter of King Priam. Some say she’s a prophetess, some say she’s crazy.

Andromache – another daughter of King Priam, married to the brave warrior Hector who is also dead. Much of the play ‘The Trojan Women’ centers around the murder of her young son Astyanax by the Greeks

The artist of this comic book, Rosanna Bruno, takes great liberties in depicting these characters as well as all of the other characters in the play. Hecabe is depicted as a dog, Helen as a sable fox, Andromache as a poplar tree. Only the psycho Kassandra is depicted as a human woman. The god of the sea Poseidon is depicted as a giant ocean wave. The goddess Athena is depicted as an owl wearing overalls.

These depictions do take a bit of getting accustomed to, especially that of Andromache as a poplar tree, but ultimately I did not have a problem with them.

All of these Trojan women are bemoaning the fate of Troy and their own fates as they are forced on to ships to be taken away by the Greeks. Troy has been burned to the ground. The Greeks murder the child Astyanax for fear he will become a brave warrior like his father Hector.

“That man is a fool who counts on success lasting, it leaps around like a lunatic. And no one makes their own luck.”

Reading this comic proved to be a mainly painless way to become familiar with this ancient Greek play.

Grade:    A