The play “The Women of Troy” by Euripides illustrates has the

unnatural world of the Gods affects all of society and warns of the
dangers of displeasing the gods through the aftermath of the Trojan War.
Euripides illustrates the impact of the war as well as the vengeance of
the gods who seek revenge on those that show disrespect as well as the
innocent.
Throughout the play, the author ultimately shows us the effects of
Athena’s resentment when her temple was desecrated which make her
seeks revenge with Poseidon making the Greek returning home as “a
disaster”. Since the Greek soldier, Ajax, raped Cassandra in her temple.
Thus, her anger is revealed and she declares “I want their voyage home
to be complete disaster” when she sees this as an act of great disrespect
to her, especially as she helped Ajax’s side win the war. This event
expresses Cassandra’s rape is significant for several reasons, it
demonstrates the brutal gender based violence that enabled by the
Greek’s victory and its leads to Athena’s rejection of the Greek army
which she feels has disrespect her. She comes to Poseidon with a
proposal to punish the Greek army who she hope “Will learn their
lesson, and in future, respect/My temples and fear the power of the
Gods.” Expressing her desire to make the Greeks’ journey home long
and intensely treacherous as she wants “a disaster”. She hopes to teach
them to fear and respect her “sacred places, and respect all gods
beside” demonstrating that the gods’ allegiance to each other in this
moment as well as their shared belief that mortals who act recklessly
need to be taught a lesson.
Furthermore, despite the danger of displeasing the Gods, there are those
who still blasphemously insult them. The play successfully frames the
idea that the person who deviate them the god’s demands be punished as
Agamemnon will suffer this punishment since he takes Cassandra as his
wife, although she is “Apollo’s nun” like a consecrated virgin. Thus,
this is against the wishes of the gods to touch her. Finally, it leads to the
punishment of Agamemnon due to his arrogance, Besides, Euripides
expresses a clear abhorrence at Agamemnon when commits this sin as
“He wants her because she is sacred/He’s shot through his lust”
leading to the anger and outrage of the Gods. The tragedy of Cassandra
is that she will become Agamemnon’s concubine and “She’s for him/In
a darkness/In his bed” although she “was promised as lifelong
virginity, by Zeus’ golden haired son”. Agamemnon’s sacrilegious
actions result in not only his punishment, but as the prophecy claims, it
leads to the destruction of “The Horse of Atreus” which aligns with the
beliefs of the times. All his family will be punished. Eventually,
Euripides accentuates the fact that the even the greatest devotion to the
deities is worthless and the gods play a significant role in the miseries
and tragedies of humans.
Secondly, the unreliability of the deities which is also emphasized and
critiqued through the uncertainty as well as unpredictability of human
fates. Some character in the play disrespectful attack the immortals
without being punished by them. This can be evidenced by Helen, who
blames the goddess Aphrodite for “the destructive power of love” she
use to persuade Menelaus to spare her life. She convinced Menelaus by
accusing the goddess, means she were not punished by the gods and
continuously returns to Greece. This provokes the resentment of the
audience as Helen disregard the traditional value of absolute respect for
the immortals embraced by the Greek. Thus, this encourages Euripides’
current to question the existence of the gods as “What good were you to
us? Betrayers!”. The rhetorical question employed in her expletive
serves to underscore the worthlessness in believing in the gods,
challenging the values and purpose of worshipping gods for their
protections. Finally, the author shows successfully that human’s fate is
fickle, out of the hands of even the invincible gods through Hecuba’s
despair or other Trojan women in the play. Being “throne in the
dust/An old women, dragged as a slave/drown in ocean of misery”
Hecuba realizes all the sacrifices as well as the prayers are “invisible” to
the gods, highlighting the futility of relying on the gods as well as the
afraid in human lives of “invincible gods”.
Ultimately, in Women of Troy, Euripides explores how women, who
were subjected to the immense cruelty, were left alone in time of need
by the gods. The queen of epitomizes the fate that awaits any women
who suffers the misfortune of being her despair as “crown of pain” or at
her husband being “hacked from alter steps”. A well as Euripides
questions the power of the divinity as characterized by a wretched
Poseidon at the beginning of the play surveying the destroyed city with
his loss, “a smoking ruin, devastated by the power of the Greek war
machine”. In this moment, the gods’ allegiance to each other, and their
shared belief that mortals who act irresponsibly need to be taught a
lesson, overrides any allegiances they had to Greek or Trojan forces.