Women of Trachis

“But I was terror stricken. I was afraid

That my beauty would someday be a source of pain.”

Deianeira recalls the battle between Heracles and Achelous to marry her. The interconnection of beauty and pain is pervasive in ancient Greek literature, most famously expressed in the figure of Helen of Sparta. In Women of Trachis, Deianeira’s beauty provoked Achelous to try to capture her, and Iole’s beauty provoked Heracles to wage war against her father. Qualities that are valued can also create strife, leading to unexpected outcomes and reversals of fortunes. Deianeira was happy to be married to Heracles, but their marriage has become a source of grief and worry, while Iole went from princess to enslaved in a single day.

“It would mean either the total end of his life

Or else, once he’d taken this prize, from then on

He’d be able to live the rest of his life in happiness.”

Deianeira shares with Hyllus the prophecy that Heracles left with her. At this point in the play, Heracles is away waging war. The temptation is to interpret his victory as a sign that he has taken his “prize” and can life the rest of his life in “happiness” (99). As often occurs in ancient Greek narratives, optimism, and especially the expectation of success, leads mortals into ruin.

“Never joy without pain:

The King Who Rules All,

Zeus, son of Cronus,

Gives both to humans who will die:

After troubles, he gives delight for everyone

As the Bear turns around on his circling path.”

The “Bear” in Line 130 seem to refer to a constellation that does not fall below the horizon but remains circling above the earth. The image is one of both movement and stability, as the recurring pattern can be seen as predictable. This passage, sung by the Chorus, reinforces the need for mortals to steel themselves for the recurring pattern of joy and pain as companions who travel together. Though the message will be repeated throughout the play, it proves difficult for mortals to heed.

“Once a girl is called a wife

She gets her share of worry in the night;

She is fearful for her man or for her children.

Then she’d understand. And with her own life in mind

She’d appreciate the weight of trouble that I bear.”

Deianeira responds to the Chorus urging her to accept pain with joy and to cling “always to hope” (100). The play’s representation of Deianeira is a source of debate among scholars. Some believe Sophocles portrays her as passive and foolish while others note that she behaves in typically heroic fashion, attempting to shape outcomes according to her will but failing tragically. As in many of the surviving Athenian tragedies, the play focalizes the experiences of ancient women.

“But still, it’s part of being good and watchful

To be afraid—even in success—that passing time

Will bring failure.”

This passage is part of Deianeira’s response to the Chorus when they tell her that her “pleasure is certain and plain to see” (105). News of Heracles’ success has reached Trachis, along with a large group of captive women, Iole among them. Deianeira cannot allow herself to revel in pleasure because she feels pity for “these unfortunate women tossed on foreign land, / Exiled, their homes destroyed, their fathers killed” (105). Heracles’ success came at another’s destruction, and the cycle can reverse course at any moment.

“Nature gives no one joy forever,

And as for Love—anyone who challenges him

To an exchange of blows is out of his mind.

Love rules by his own whim. He rules over gods;

He rules over me. Why not over women who are like me?

So if I blamed my husband for catching this disease,

I’d be a lunatic. And the same for her.

What could she be responsible for, even along with him?

Nothing shameful, nothing wicked against me.”

Deianeira’s response to Lichias represents the customary ancient Greek attitude toward divine forces: She does not blame her husband and Iole but accepts that they are ruled by a divine force. The characterization of Love (Eros in ancient Greek) varied in ancient Greece. In some versions, he is the son of Aphrodite, but in Hesiod, he is depicted as a primordial divine force. Sophocles seems to present him as the latter, here. Deianeira’s claim here is belied by her later plan to bring Heracles back to her with a love potion.

“Even if she was totally melted by their love,

I would not blame her, because I pity her the most.

As soon as I saw her, I realized: Her beauty

Has destroyed her life, ruined her fatherland,

Enslaved her people. She never wanted that!”

Though Iole never speaks herself in the play, her experience is revealed through the lens of Deianeira. Pity for victims, even one’s own victims, is a sacred value in ancient Greece, which Deianeira exhibits. Deianeira’s experiences being pursued by Achelous and sexually assaulted by Nessus creates an experiential connection between herself and Iole: Both are targeted for their beauty. Sophocles draws attention to the tragic outcome for women via Iole’s loss of her home, family, and freedom.

“Love the woman and take care not to budge

From what you said earlier. Because that man,

Who won every prize by the strength of his arms—

He’s been totally defeated by his love for her.”

Lichias here advises Deianeira to remain to committed to her intention not to blame Heracles or Iole, since doing so will only harm herself in the end. Lichias’ characterization of Heracles as a physical powerful mortal defeated by love engages the interconnection of pleasure and pain. Love is also portrayed here as a battle, as it is with Deianeira’s attempt to bring Heracles back to her by deploying love potion as a “weapon.”

“They clinched like wrestlers climbing;

They struck deadly blows

To the forehead,

Grunting and gasping, both of them.

She was lovely and delicate of face.

On the side of a prominent rise

She sat waiting for a husband.

And the contest went on as I described

While the prize of the battle, a girl in form,

Awaited its pitiful end.

Then suddenly she left her mother,

Like a girl-calf newly weaned.”

This passage is from a Choral song that describes the battle between Heracles and Achelous for Deianeira. The play returns to this moment several times, each return more descriptive of the violence of their conflict. Like Iole, Deianeira was once the “prize” that Heracles endured battle to capture. Her fragile beauty and delicateness contrasts with the ferocity of the combatants.

“She’s been yoked—I received her like a package from the sea,

And she’s a cargo that wrecks my heart and mind.

Here we are, two of us—and we are going to be embraced

Under one single blanket? That’s what Heracles—

Although they say he’s loyal and good to me—

Sends me in return for keeping his house all this time.

I know enough not to be angry at him;

He’s caught the same disease often enough before.”

Despite her intentions to respect the outcome of Heracles’ actions, Deianeira clearly struggles to accept Iole, even if she knows that she should not blame her. The anguish of women over men’s sexual infidelity is a topic that receives treatment in both ancient Greek epic (e.g., the Odyssey) and tragedies (most notably Euripides’ Medea). In Women of Trachis, it is the emotional provocation that provokes Deianeira to pursue a remedy to retrieve Heracles’ affection.

“Collect the clotted blood from my wound

With your hands, from where the poisoned arrow struck

(It had been dipped in the Hydra’s blood);

Use this as a charm on the mind of Heracles

So he will never see a woman he loves more than you.”

These are the words Nessus uses to deceive Deianeira. In retrospect, she will realize the illogic of her having trusted him, not only because of the likelihood that he would seek a covert means to hurt Heracles but also because the arrow Heracles used to kill him carried the Hydra’s poison. In her eagerness to secure Heracles’ love, Deianeira does not stop to question Nessus’ motives or the soundness of his promise, a familiar precursor to disaster in ancient Greek hero narratives.

“All I see is, I’ve become the perpetrator of a crime

That’s dreadful. Why in the world would the dying beast

Want to do me a kindness? I caused his death.

There’s no way. Clearly he wanted to kill the man

Who struck him, and for that he stole my wits.

Only now, when it’s too late to do any good,

I’ve figured it out.”

Deianeira’s moment of realization follows from seeing the consequences of her actions and too late to prevent the disastrous outcome. Among the tragedies that have survived, this is a familiar feature. For historical audiences, part of the tension of the performance may have derived from knowing more than the characters and realizing that a tragic outcome has become inevitable.

“But when people stumble unwittingly,

Anger is softer. And that’s what fits your case.”

With these words, the Chorus attempts to comfort Deianeira in her despair at having unwittingly harmed Heracles. They emphasize that though her actions were foolish and contrary to good sense, her intentions were good. It is the tension between the two—intention and outcome—that amplifies the tragedy. Hyllus’ rage at his mother softens when he realizes that she did not mean to hurt Heracles, but by then, again, it is too late.

“Caught in the Centaur’s fog of death,

His sides lathered by force of a clever scheme,

Death-spawned venom,

Clinging to his sides, dragon-spawned

From the bright-scaled serpent—

How could he expect to see the sun come up again

Now that he is surrounded

By the dreadful power of the Hydra?”

The Chorus sings about the unexpected fulfillment of the prophecy that Heracles’ labors would end after 12 years with his death. This would trigger another prophecy to be fulfilled, as will be revealed later in the play: that Heracles would be killed by someone already dead. Heracles could be said to have been killed by two of his own victims, since Nessus passes to Deianeira his poisoned blood, but it was the Hydra who provided the poison, via Heracles’ arrow.

“Unhappy, impatient, she foresaw a great calamity

Arising from the new marriage.

Some of this she caused herself;

Some of it came from the advice of a stranger

Encountered in devastation.

Now she cries out at the destruction;

Now she dissolves in floods of dew, the tender tears.

Fate is on the march. It says,

‘This scheme brings ruin and madness.’”

The Chorus’ song in this passage speaks to the way human decision-making activates the fulfillment of Fate. Once initiated, the course cannot be reversed. Again and again, from a variety of perspectives, characters in the play repeatedly draw attention to the impossibility of anticipating and overturning the plans and intentions of divine forces.

“She has given birth,

This unsanctified bride,

To a fury for this house.”

This is the Chorus’ reaction to learning that Deianeira has killed herself. The “she” they are referring to is Iole (123). The word translated as “fury” here refers to the Erinyes. In Greek mythology, they were personifications of vengeance, goddesses who tormented mortals who violated divine laws, especially kin murder. Though voiceless and a passive recipient of violence in the play, Iole becomes a vessel through which tragedy destroys Heracles’ family, as conveyed through the birthing association.

“It just shows: If you plan ahead two days or more,

You’re a fool. Remember, there’s no tomorrow

Until you’ve made it successfully through today.”

The Chorus’ song here speaks to the futility of mortal plans when set against those of the gods. The Greek word translated here as “fool” is mataios, which can mean “vain” or “frivolous.” Though the statement can seem extreme, it can be read as a caution for mortals about their ability to control events.

“What miserable thanks I get

For such a gift to the gods!

Zeus!

So much harm, so much harm

You’ve done to me,

And no cure for this palpable

Flowering of madness.”

In his excruciating pain, Heracles directly addresses his father, lamenting that his labors have been rewarded with suffering and begging to be released from his agony. As the play repeatedly reminds viewers, though, since his end has not yet come, he cannot know if his death will be a “good” one. Sophocles leaves that ending open for viewers to debate and decide.

“The hot work I have had, those horrible labors,

Tormented my hands and my back,

But nothing like this.

Even the wife of Zeus never assigned me so much pain.

And neither did Eurystheus, for all his hatred.

But that girl, that tricksy-faced daughter of Oeneus,

She got me trapped in this woven net

Of Furies. It’s killing me.”

The “wife of Zeus” here refers to Hera, whose desire to punish Zeus by proxy, by punishing the children he had with mortal women, led to Heracles’ suffering (127). Heracles was obliged to perform his labors under the authority of Eurystheus. Deianeira, under the power of Love, proves even more destructive than the hatred of Hera and Eurystheus.

“In a nutshell: She went wrong trying to do right.”

Hyllus tries to explain to Heracles that Deianeira’s actions were not intentional. She had been trying to recover her husband’s love, not kill him. Hyllus suggests that Deianeira’s intentions not only were not wrong but were also provoked by Heracles’ bringing Iole into his marital home, thus placing at least part of the blame on Heracles.

“I had a prophecy from my father long ago

That I would die at the hand of no one who drew breath,

But someone who had died and gone to make his home in Hades.”

As Heracles begins his instructions to Hyllus, he reveals the prophecy that was alluded to earlier in the play: that he would be killed by someone who had already died. The wording of the prophecy exemplifies the inscrutability of prophecies and of the gods’ plans. Mortals may not be able to imagine how it would be possible for someone to commit murder from beyond death, but this is a lack of mortal vision and understanding.

“Do you know the highest peak of Mt. Oeta, sacred to Zeus?”

In Greek myth narratives, Mt. Oeta is traditionally identified as the site of Heracles’ death and apotheosis. In the moment that his body goes up in flames, Zeus plucks him from the fire and conveys his to Olympus. Scholars are divided as to how to interpret this reference. Sophocles does not explicitly refer to this narrative of deification, but he does provide a thread of allusion whose meaning historical audiences would likely have known.

“I am afraid. Whatever I do is going to be wrong.”

This is Hyllus’ reaction to his father’s requests to burn him on a funeral pyre and then to marry Iole. From Hyllus’ perspective, these requests can be seen as problematic in various ways. By burning his father alive, Hyllus would technically be committing patricide. To marry Iole would be to marry his family’s “worst enemy,” since it was Heracles’ love for her that set of the tragic chain of events (133). If he does not obey his father, though, this also is wrong, according to ancient Greek beliefs. Hence Hyllus’ fear that he cannot do right. Ultimately, he decides to obey the one rule for which he cannot be criticized: obeying his father.