Culpa En Grecia

In the play The Women of Traquis, Heracles is displayed as a character who has a complex nature. On one hand he is pictured as extremely violent, inhuman and egoist. But also as a hero who is devoted to the gods and who faithfully carry out any tasks ordered by them. Sophocles, through all the play doesn’t do anything to make Heracles actions understandable to the audience1; quite the contrary, he, through the character’s intervention , specially Deyanira, makes an effort to highlight his excessive savagery and brutality .

Deyanira, is the character who suffers the most the excesses of the hero. She suffers them in silence and Sophocles uses her to draw the profile of the hero who placed himself above human norms and social conventions- such as paying attention to his wife or taking care of his children2 . It may be argued that Sophocles , at some point, praises him when through Deyinara’s mouth he presents him to the audience as “the best of men”3 due to his brave exploits in benefit of mankind. Truly, he has freed humanity from countless monsters and wrongdoers, nevertheless we shouldn’t keep him in esteem because of that as his actions never came from any selflessly feelings towards men. When he kills monsters or other creatures he does it because he has been ordered to by the gods , or because – and also this is the main theme of this play- he has been driven by his passion.

Heracles spends most of his time away from home, he has no affective relationship with his wife or children , he comes and goes without giving any explanation to his wife whatsoever, in short, he doesn’t care at all, and in any way , about his wife feelings and as a proof of that , without taking into consideration any established social conventions, he orders his slave Licas to take his lover Iole to his family home. It is this cruel action towards Deyinara that will trigger the beginning of his downfall when his wife, in order to get his love back, but also deceived by the centaurus Neso ,sends to him a rope that once worn kills painfully and slowly.

When Heracles ,to fulfil his vanity, puts the rope on and starts feeling the incredible pain caused by the venom of the hydra , without asking or thinking twice, grabs Licas from his leg and smashes him against some rocks nearby. In this episode we have an example of his disproportioned rage, this time directed to his faithful slave who was only delivering the package that Heracle’s wife had sent to him. He also shows such rage and absence of rational thinking towards his own wife when he asks to be taken to Traquis , very presumably in order to kill her, to make her pay for his dead. It is in in this part of the play where the irrational nature of Heracles is more blatant . Licas could have well been part of the plot to kill him along with Deyinara but Heracles doesn’t try to find who or what is behind it, he acts impulsively, without any previous rational thought.

After

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