Peleus enters from Pharsalus. His
arrival has been prepared (79-91) but long enough ago and in doubtful enough
terms to be a surprise now. He has arrived in the nick of time, since Menelaus
is on the point of killing Andromache (547). It is repeatedly stressed that he
is extremely old, but he orders “Lead me faster!” It would be an effective dramatic connection if the attendant who
leads him were the same slave-woman whom Andromache sent to alert him. There
follows an agon between Peleus and Menelaus, in which the Spartan is bested and
defeated. Peleus begins with a series of
indignant questions, including “what’s this? (Ti tauta) a colloquialism, one of
several that contribute to the portrayal of Peleus as abrupt and excitable.
Then, at 577-80 Peleus forbids the
execution and commands the servants to release her. Orders
given to mutes on stage seem normally to have been carried out immediately, but
these attendants here are given diametrically opposed orders and accordingly do
nothing! Peleus eventually dismisses them (715) and frees Andromache himself.
Andromache is suppliant, reaching
out her fettered arms as far as she can, a stroke of pathos very characteristic
of Euripides. (573 χειραι ) She remains kneeling until 717. The
dramatic moment of Andromache’s release from her bonds, which marks the defeat of Menelaus’ plans, is
made more vivid by the dense sequence of
symbolic stage action, in which Peleus drives off Menelaus’ retinue, unties Andromache, summons the child to help,
and berates Menelaus for his cowardice.
Menelaus, scion of a Greek first
family, he cannot believe that Peleus, member of a similar line, would ever
side against him with a barbarian slave whom in the name of decency he ought
long ago to have chased far from the land and beyond the Nile. Accordingly, he
remonstrates with Peleus, mildly and with a patronizing tone (645-690).
"Let's be reasonable. This woman's children might grow up to become
rulers-of Greeks!" The thought should horrify Peleus as it does Menelaus.
When he sees that it does not, he sighs: "Ah, you are old, you are
old," and proceeds to set the old man straight on the matter of Helen and
the debacle at Troy. "It was the gods," he explains, "who
involved my wife in her 'difficulties,' but it did turn out well for the
Greeks. They discovered war and companionship in battle, from which, you know,
'men learn all things: Furthermore, it was self-control which kept me from
slaying my wife when I found her, which is more than I can say of you when you
killed your brother Phocus:' He ends by pointing out the good nature with which
he has replied to Peleus and counsels the older man to follow his lead. But Peleus
has not been chastened. Menelaus' remarks on war ring unpleasantly in his ears.
In his next speech (693-726) Peleus
gives his own opinions on this great "teacher," opinions which for
the third time suggest the intrusion of the playwright. What is war to the
Greeks? The rank and file do the work, the generals get the glory. Menelaus and
Agamemnon, swollen with pride after Troy, derived their fame from the toil and
misery of thousands of others cleverer than they. The democrat's view of an
army is quite in tune with this drama wherein vicious leaders vie with talented
slaves. As we look back over the characters, we note how virtue increases as
status wanes. Peleus, in fact, is the first "free" person to display
any commendable qualities at all, and he is here, as earlier at 639- 641, a
benevolent spokesman for the common folk. He disdains further conversation with
Menelaus.
After ordering him once again to
depart and to take his "barren heifer" of a daughter with him, the
old king turns his complete attention to Andromache. Fumbling, and with clucks
of disgust, he finally unties the poor woman's ropes, while the chorus notes
his irascible pertinacity. Menelaus has stood by in silent defeat, perhaps
thinking out a plan by which he can make a graceful exit. He has no choice but
to leave, yet he cannot admit that he has been bettered. He must state
explicitly some reason for going if he is to keep face, a reason, that is,
other than the true one, Peleus' palpable victory. "It was to oppose
violence that I came to Phthia," he begins, speaking to no one, and adding
with marvelous pomposity: "and I shall neither commit nor endure any
nonsense!" As he speaks, a good excuse comes to mind: he was planning to
leave all along. He is a busy general, after all. Why, right at the present
time there is-a city, yes, that's it! a city, near Sparta, once friendly but
now hostile. It's imperative that he go reduce it at once! When matters are
once again under control at home, however, he will return and confront
Neoptolemus himself on this matter. He takes a final stab at Peleus: "You
are but an opposing shadow with a voice, powerless to do anything but
chatter." This is not only petty and obviously untrue, but not even
original, for it echoes Peleus' own succinct estimate of Menelaus at line 641:
"As for you, you are nothing!"
Menelaus left only because of
Peleus' unquestioned superior position as commander of the local armed forces.
But is this the impression which the scene is supposed to leave? Is Peleus
really drawn as a pathetic and effete old man who achieves his end not, as he
thinks, because he is brave but only because he happens to have the army on his
side? Is this not perhaps a pitfall for those who recall the characterizations
of Amphitryon in the Heracles and of lolaus in the Heraclidae? There is nothing
unduly "touching" about Peleus. He stands in such extreme contrast
with those who have preceded him on the stage, and his arrival is so welcome,
his attitudes so refreshing, that we may tend to "love" him more than
he deserves. His virtues are those of courage, determination, and a resolute
feeling for justice. They should win our serious respect before our affection,
as they won the respect of the chorus. The episode opened on a woman and her
child about to be murdered by an evil, interfering general. It closed with the
general in hasty retreat, the woman and child freed from their predicament. One
old man accomplished this turn of events with nothing more than bold words, the
conviction of wisdom and justice, and a brandished stick. He accomplished it
only because he was courageous and the general was a coward.
Thus, virtue momentarily has
triumphed. The conflict developed in the first scenes of the play has to some
degree been resolved. What will happen next? wonders the audience. Menelaus may
go through with his threat to return and see the plan of murder to its
fulfillment. Where is Hermione? She may have left with her father as Peleus
angrily demanded, or she may still be in the palace hatching new plots in her
jealous mind. Neoptolemus too has yet to make an appearance. So much is left
undeveloped or untold: the play has by no means ended.
NEXT- And what about Hermione?
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