Polyxena

(click title to see passage)

E. P. Coleridge’s translation of Hecuba by Euripides asserts that in sound mind Polyxena chose death rather than it being forced upon her. Polyxena utilizes two major elements to come to this conclusion, syllogism, and logic. To describe her argument, her depiction shows that she made the choice of dying rather than to continue onward with the life she will lead. From line 342 -378 Polyxena backs two main premises leading to her choice; Her perception of slaves as fodder, and now that she was a slave her the conclusion was that she had become meaningless and worse than death. Throughout this passage, Polyxena’s goal is to prove that her death by her choice and no one else’s.

In the opening of the argument, Polyxena makes a point about her past, setting up for the initial premise about slaves being fodder. To Polyxena, her life only held value when she was in a royal and affluent family, she states “I was nursed on fair hopes to be a bride for kings, the center of keen jealousy among suitors” (352). This evidently points to her perception of value, that she only holds power when she is higher up on the societal ladder. On another note, she continues to depict her power only in affluence, stating “me! Admired among maidens, equal to a goddess, save for death alone, but now I am a slave!” (356). This implicates that being a slave she has literally lost any form of power she once had. She even states herself that, “I see nothing within my reach to make me hope or expect with any confidence that I am ever again to be happy” (371). She sees being a slave as such a burden that when she is called one she longs for death, “that name first makes me long for death, so strange it sounds…” (360). It seems that through her lens of perception she comes to the conclusion that in this world to be a woman and a slave she is the fodder of all things. Throughout the passage, her implications of slavery point to slaves being worse than anything in her world, with the information provided above.

In the premise that intertwines with the first, Polyxena points to her situation as a slave, choosing death over her inevitable sorrow. Her implications toward the sorrows of what is to come as a slave is what force her to feel as though there is no choice but death. She states “Why should I prolong my days?” further giving evidence toward the fact that she knows that her life will be significantly shorter because of her enslavement. In her argument she also imagines a situation in which that prove her thoughts are as sad as her perception, “one would buy me for money … who would make me knead him bread within his halls, or sweep his house or set me working at the loom, leading a life of misery;” (365). As you can tell her thoughts run wild and the preconceived notions of the negatives of being a slave take place in her thoughts. Her statements prove how she had already premeditated death for herself before even truly becoming a slave.

In conclusion, Polyxena’s utilization of logic of syllogism effectively underlines how even as a slave, one can still free themselves, when allowed the opportunity.