Forgetting Hesione or a Fatal Blindness: The Game of Right and Wrong in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie
Type de matériel :
32
Beno?t follows mythological tradition when he has Helen as a major cause of the Trojan War. Yet he adds the game of right and wrong to the reasons for the downfall of Troy: Troy is destroyed because Priam cannot stay on the side of right. The fate of Hesione, Priam's sister, plays an essential part in this failure. Indeed Priam is in the right as long as he tries to keep his sister from Telamon: this even justifies Paris' expedition, since it follows Antenor's embassy to get Hesione back. But then Paris abducts Helen instead, whom Priam first saw as a bargaining prize. Unacccountably, however, Priam allows Paris to marry Helen, thus forgetting all about his sister and moving to the side of wrong. Agamemnon uses the deception of a mock embassy to profit from this mistake, which leads to the fall of Troy and the death of Priam.
Réseaux sociaux