Euripides' Hecuba: Webs of Obligation in Greek culture: Charis, Xenia, Philia

 

Charis, Xenia, Philia

Before I do some close reading of the text of the Hecuba, I want to explicate some cultural and historical context about Greek social customs.

All the characters in the play are  linked by a web of obligations and favors. Odysseus is in debt to Hecuba, who saved his life (239-50). Polymestor, out of friendship with Priam, agreed to take care of Polydorus and to safeguard his gold (4-12); Agamemnon receives Cassandra’s sexual ‘favors’, which, according to Hecuba, puts him under the obligation of helping Cassandra’s family (824-35). The text describes these links of obligation in using terminology that was standard in Greek culture: Xenia “guest-friendship”, Philia “friendship or family relation” and Charis “favor.”

In the Hecuba, Euripides explores the cultural norms of Xenia “guest-friendship” and Philia “friendship or family relation”.". Utilitarian or commercial calculation of advantages and disadvantages is ideally banned from xenia or philia relationships. No quid pro quo, no cost/benefit analysis, just hospitality and kindness, bound by Zeus. Of course, humans often disappoint such expectations, hence tragedy. Hecuba is at the center of a web of relations with Odysseus, Polyxena, Agamemnon and Polymestor.

In this tragedy, the expectations of reciprocity conspicuously and repeatedly fail: the war destroys the links of aristocratic obligation and forces Hecuba to employ new and unexpected ways  to enact her shocking revenge.

Hecuba expects Odysseus to conform to the aristocratic values of reciprocity. When she meets him, she asks him to return a favor (charis); she spared his life when he secretly entered Troy as a spy. She also adds that Greek law forbids the killing of slaves. Instead of explaining why this law does not apply in war, Odysseus focuses on his willingness to repay Hecuba with exactly the same favor: he will spare her life if she wants (301-2), but cannot spare Polyxena’s because it has been demanded by the ghost of Achilles. Honoring their war dead comes first for the Greeks before other considerations.  Odysseus stresses both aristocratic and civic values, in contrast to Hecuba, who focuses on only obligations which link aristocrats belonging to different communities.

     Polyxena defiantly proclaims her allegiance to aristocratic values, to the point of self-annihilation. In particular, she rejects the possibility that she will become an object of commercial exchange, she who was “worthy of princes” (366) will not tolerate to be sold for a piece of silver (360) and given as wife to a servant bought “somewhere or other.” (365). 11

Polyxena points out to her mother that any attempt to resist the violence of the Greeks simply invites more violence(405-8). She thus manages to  preserve part of her status precisely by persuading the Greeks that she has willingly chosen the fate that they were trying to impose on her.

So, tomorrow:

Dialogue between Odysseus, Hecuba and Polyxena, 216-443

I have chosen this scene for close reading partly because this is one of the earliest scenes in Greek tragedy where three actors actually engage in a three-way conversation.