The Worst Example of Suffereing

I spoke a little bit about the comparable suffering that could be caused by death and life in regards to "The Trojan Women" in my last blog, but I now think that different characters should be looked at. In some many ways I feel, and others may not agree, that Cassandra suffers the most in The Trojan Women.

Although Cassandra did not experience the death of a child, she did endure much suffering. As a young woman Cassandra was given the gift of prophesy, but later a curse was added to it. She has the ability to see what the future will hold, but nobody will believe her visions. Cassandra foresaw the demise of Troy, and even warned her people about the Trojan Horse, but no one believed what she said. Would that not cause unbearable suffering? She saw her country men die not once, but twice. She had to live with the knowledge that her father and siblings would die terrible deaths and that she could do nothing to change their fates. There have been a number of television shows in which a character has the ability to see the future, but in virtually every case that character has the ability to alter the future as well. Cassandra is left completely helpless and is forced to watch as her visions play out in real life. To add to her sufferings, Cassandra has nobody to share her grief with. When Hecuba, along with every other woman left in Troy, learns of the death of her children and husband, there are many people there to share their grief with. Hecuba is not alone in her suffering, but when Cassandra foretells what will happen she is. There is no shoulder for her to cry on, and sharing her visions makes things worse because she is seen as crazy.

After Troy is burned Cassandra is given to her enemy as a concubine. She, who is pure and has not yet given herself to any man, is expected to sleep with the very man who brought death to those she loved. Hecuba moans and moans about how she is going to have to live the life of a slave, but her situation isn't nearly as bad as Cassandra's. Yes, she will no longer be garbed in the jewels and rich clothing of a queen, but she will not be a man's sex slave either. Hecuba will not have to lay with the man who killed her family members, nor will she most likely be given a very strenuous job at all. Don't get me wrong, she suffers terribly, but not so much as Cassandra. What could be worse than Cassandra's fate?