Iphigenia at Aulis

by

Euripides

Helen Character Analysis

Menelaos’s wife and the queen of Sparta. Helen has absconded to Troy with her lover Paris, a young Trojan prince. This leads the humiliated Menelaos to gather up the armies of Greece together with his brother Agamemnon and sail on Troy to exact vengeance. In Greek mythology, Helen, the sister of Clytemnestra and the daughter of the god Zeus and the mortal woman Leda, is widely regarded as the most beautiful woman who has ever lived. Helen is never seen onstage.

Helen Quotes in Iphigenia at Aulis

The Iphigenia at Aulis quotes below are all either spoken by Helen or refer to Helen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War, Sacrifice, Pride, and Glory Theme Icon
).
Iphigeneia at Aulis Quotes

AGAMEMNON: because Menelaos is my brother, they chose
me to be their general.
I wish they had saved the honor for someone else.
And when the whole army had mustered
here at Aulis,
the wind died. Calm. We still cannot sail.
There is only one hope of our going,
according to Kalchas,
the prophet. Iphigeneia, my daughter,
must be sacrificed to Artemis,
the deity of this place.
Then the wind will take us to Troy,
and the city will fall to us.

Related Characters: Agamemnon (speaker), Iphigeneia , Menelaos, The Old Man, Helen, Kalchas, Artemis
Page Number: Lines 111-123
Explanation and Analysis:

CHORUS: I have crossed the narrows
of Euripos, I came sailing and I beached
at Aulis, on the sands. I left
Chalkis, my city, where the spring
of Arethousa wells up and runs flashing
down to the sea. I came
to see for myself this army of the [Greeks,]
the oar-winged ships of the heroes,
the thousand galleys
which blond Menelaos and Agamemnon of the same
great lineage sent,
as our husbands tell us,
to fetch Helen again:
Helen.

Related Characters: Chorus of Chalkidian Women (speaker), Agamemnon , Menelaos, Helen
Page Number: Lines 205-218
Explanation and Analysis:

AGAMEMNON: Girl? Why do I call her a girl?
When it seems that Hades
is about to make her his wife. Oh I
pity her. I can hear her
calling out to me, "Father!
Are you going to kill me? I hope that you
and everyone you love are married like this."
And Orestes will be there too, scarcely
old enough to walk, and he will
scream cries without words,
but my heart will know what they mean.
Oh what ruin Priam's son
Paris has brought me! All this he called down
by winning the love of Helen.

Related Characters: Agamemnon (speaker), Iphigeneia , Menelaos, Helen, Paris, Orestes
Page Number: Lines 600-613
Explanation and Analysis:

AGAMEMNON: It is Greece that compels me
to sacrifice you, whatever I wish.
We are in stronger hands than our own.
Greece must be free
if you and I can make her so. Being Greeks,
we must not be subject to barbarians,
we must not let them carry off our wives.

Related Characters: Agamemnon (speaker), Iphigeneia , Menelaos, Helen, Paris
Page Number: 1706-1712
Explanation and Analysis:
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Helen Quotes in Iphigenia at Aulis

The Iphigenia at Aulis quotes below are all either spoken by Helen or refer to Helen. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
War, Sacrifice, Pride, and Glory Theme Icon
).
Iphigeneia at Aulis Quotes

AGAMEMNON: because Menelaos is my brother, they chose
me to be their general.
I wish they had saved the honor for someone else.
And when the whole army had mustered
here at Aulis,
the wind died. Calm. We still cannot sail.
There is only one hope of our going,
according to Kalchas,
the prophet. Iphigeneia, my daughter,
must be sacrificed to Artemis,
the deity of this place.
Then the wind will take us to Troy,
and the city will fall to us.

Related Characters: Agamemnon (speaker), Iphigeneia , Menelaos, The Old Man, Helen, Kalchas, Artemis
Page Number: Lines 111-123
Explanation and Analysis:

CHORUS: I have crossed the narrows
of Euripos, I came sailing and I beached
at Aulis, on the sands. I left
Chalkis, my city, where the spring
of Arethousa wells up and runs flashing
down to the sea. I came
to see for myself this army of the [Greeks,]
the oar-winged ships of the heroes,
the thousand galleys
which blond Menelaos and Agamemnon of the same
great lineage sent,
as our husbands tell us,
to fetch Helen again:
Helen.

Related Characters: Chorus of Chalkidian Women (speaker), Agamemnon , Menelaos, Helen
Page Number: Lines 205-218
Explanation and Analysis:

AGAMEMNON: Girl? Why do I call her a girl?
When it seems that Hades
is about to make her his wife. Oh I
pity her. I can hear her
calling out to me, "Father!
Are you going to kill me? I hope that you
and everyone you love are married like this."
And Orestes will be there too, scarcely
old enough to walk, and he will
scream cries without words,
but my heart will know what they mean.
Oh what ruin Priam's son
Paris has brought me! All this he called down
by winning the love of Helen.

Related Characters: Agamemnon (speaker), Iphigeneia , Menelaos, Helen, Paris, Orestes
Page Number: Lines 600-613
Explanation and Analysis:

AGAMEMNON: It is Greece that compels me
to sacrifice you, whatever I wish.
We are in stronger hands than our own.
Greece must be free
if you and I can make her so. Being Greeks,
we must not be subject to barbarians,
we must not let them carry off our wives.

Related Characters: Agamemnon (speaker), Iphigeneia , Menelaos, Helen, Paris
Page Number: 1706-1712
Explanation and Analysis: