At the time of the fall of Troy Andromache, Hector's widow,
was given by the conquering Greeks to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. As his
concubine he took her to his royal home in Thessalian Phthia, where she bore
him a son. Since then Neoptolemus has married Menelaus' daughter Hermione, but
he still keeps Andromache and her child in his house. Hermione, seemingly
incapable of pregnancy, has developed a raging jealousy of Andromache and
accuses the Trojan slave of effecting her barrenness by witchcraft. In fear for
her own and her son's life, Andromache has hidden the boy and sought sanctuary
for herself in the shrine of Thetis near the palace. Neoptolemus is in Delphi
where he hopes to beg successful pardon of Apollo, whom he earlier offended by
rash demands of satisfaction for Achilles' murder at Troy. At this point the
play begins.
Andromache sends a fellow slave to find and ask the help of
Peleus, Achilles' father and Neoptolemus' grandfather, against the treachery of
Hermione and her father Menelaus. The latter has just arrived to help resolve
his daughter's marital problems.1 Hermione enters, a young woman of irrational
disposition and bad temper. She tries to force Andromache out of the sanctuary;
upon failing she retires with vicious threats. Menelaus then appears with
Andromache's son whom he has sought out and captured. He tricks Andromache from
the shrine by telling her that either she or the boy must die. As soon as she
has surrendered, however, he announces that, while he plans to kill her, he
wiIl leave her son's fate up to his daughter. Andromache is shocked by this
deception into a bitter diatribe against Menelaus and Spartans in general.
The captives, with their captor, retire during the stasimon,
returning thereafter on their way to death at the ruthless hands of Menelaus.
Just in time Peleus rushes in and rescues them. He and Menelaus battle with
words, nearly with fists, and Peleus also finds occasion for a number of
pungent remarks about Spartan immorality. Defeated, Menelaus withdraws awkardly
from the scene, while Peleus leads Andromache and the boy to safety. After a
choral ode in praise of noble Peleus, Hermione's nurse enters to report
excitedly that the young wife is trying to kill herself, both because her
father has abandoned her cause and because she dreads the wrath of Neoptolemus
when he hears ultimately of her earlier plot against Andromache. Hermione
herself then rushes in.
As the motherly nurse is attempting to soothe her, a
stranger enters who turns out to be her cousin Orestes. He glibly tells the
chorus that he was on his way to Dodona and thought that he would stop by to
see how Cousin Hermione was enjoying married life. Tearfully the girl explains
matters to him and begs him to escort her safely back to her father's home
before Neoptolemus returns. Orestes reveals that he has come just for that
purpose, to take her away, for she was originally promised to him; further,
that Neoptolemus will never leave Delphi alive, thanks to a combination of
Orestes' plotting and Apollo's wrath. They go off, and, after the next choral
stasimon,
Peleus returns to verify the news of Hermione's departure. A
messenger arrives to tell in detail the heroic and pathetic death of
Neoptolemus at the hands of the Delphians. The corpse is brought in and Peleus,
broken by this development, begins a lamentation. He is stopped, however, by
the appearance of Thetis, his former wife. She promises him immortality and for
Andromache security as the wife of Molossian Helenus. The body of Neoptolemus
is to be returned to Delphi and interred there. Peleus thanks Thetis and dries
his tears.
