ahencyclopedia:

ANDROMACHE:

ANDROMACHE is a Greek tragedy written by Euripides (c. 484- 407 BCE), one of only 19 plays (out of 92) to survive. The play is actually in two parts, and like Sophocles’ Women of Trachis, it has no central character. The first part of the play deals with the plight of Andromache. Now the slave of Neoptolemus, the former wife of the Trojan prince Hector, she is threatened by Hermione, the young wife of her master. Together with her father, King Menelaus of Sparta, she threatens to kill Andromache and her young son.

Luckily, she and her son are saved by King Peleus, father of Achilles and grandfather of Neoptolemus. The second part is concerned with Hermione - the daughter of Menelaus and Helen - who fears the return of her husband from Delphi. He will most certainly kill her when he hears of her plan. Miraculously, Orestes, son of Agamemnon, arrives and saves the day with plans to kill her husband. The play ends with King Peleus, although grieving for his dead grandson, promised immortality by the goddess Thetis.

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