Revenge: Hecuba’s Justice

Revenge: Hecuba’s Justice

Hecuba has suffered many losses during the Trojan War including the destruction of her community as a whole. As Hecuba faces misfortune time and time again, a rage has grown inside of her that she has tamed for a while now. Although the Trojan War has ended, tragedy follows Hecuba to her post-war state. Hecuba continues to suffer with the sacrifice of her daughter Polyxena as a prize for the late Achilles. However, it isn’t until she discovers that her son Polydorus has been murdered by her friend Polymestor, that rage finally consumes Hecuba. An enraged Hecuba goes on to perform what she believes is a just punishment for Polymestor. Hecuba murdering Polymestor’s sons and blinding him puts her idea of justice into question. Due to a lack of community, there is no higher authority to enforce a just punishment for Hecuba, which leads her to seek justice on her own, however, the rage that consumes Hecuba prevents her from delivering a fair punishment to Polymestor but rather a vengeful one.  

“True, I am a slave without strength… Keeping the law of custom [law] depends on you. If it’s transgressed and if no punishment is dealt to those who murder friends… then no justice –none– exists for humankind” (pg. 57, 839-848.) Hecuba is certain that Polymestor has broken a law of hospitality by murdering her son and that the just thing to do is to punish him. Hecuba appears to believe in this notion of retributive justice in which the people who do bad things should be penalized. Usually, retributive justice is administered through a third party arbiter within a community. However, Hecuba says, “Who comes to help me? What kin, what country? My husband gone. Gone… my sons…Where find a god, a force, a defender?” (pg. 32-33, 171-176.) Hecuba doesn’t have a community much less an arbiter to hear her case and grant her justice because all of Troy was destroyed; therefore, her only way to obtain justice is either from the Gods or a human authority. During the play, the Gods appear to be absent, for when Hecuba pleas, “Divine might of heaven, push this away from my own child, I beg you” (pg. 30, 103-104), her daughter Polyxena is still sacrificed for Achilles. Due to the lack of divine authority, Hecuba attempts to appeal for justice from Agamemnon but fails. Agamemnon says, “The army thinks that man its ally, the dead one its enemy…eager to give you aid…slow to let the Greeks assign me any blame” (pg. 59, 908-913.) The Greeks are currently stuck in the land of Thrace and if Agamemnon were to plot against Polymestor, the King of Thrace, then the Greeks would be in danger. As the Commander in Chief, Agamemnon has the responsibility to keep his community safe therefore he cannot help Hecuba. Since Hecuba has no one else to plea for justice, she finds herself in a situation in which she takes it upon herself to do justice. However, considering the rage that consumes Hecuba, she is not in a position to determine what a just punishment is. What Hecuba thinks a just punishment is might not be just in the eyes of the law. Due to a lack of community, Hecuba won’t have any authority to let her know what is just which sets her on a path with a thwarted view of justice.

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