The story in one page
Following the brutal sack of Troy, Queen Hecuba and the remaining women of the city wait in the ruins to be distributed among the Greek victors. Talthybius, the Greek herald, arrives to deliver news of their grim assignments and to snatch away the young son of Andromache for execution. As the women process their loss and the impending voyage into slavery, the city itself is set ablaze. Hecuba witnesses the final disintegration of her world, ultimately concluding that the gods have abandoned them to a silent, hollow fate while the Greek fleet waits to carry them away.
Who's who
- Hecuba
The widowed Queen of Troy, now a slave to Odysseus.
- Talthybius
A Greek herald tasked with conveying news of the executions.
- Andromache
Hector's widow, forced to give up her child to death.
- Poseidon
A god who observes the wreckage of the city he once loved.
- Helen
The cause of the conflict, reviled by the captive women.
What it's really about
- Divine indifference
- The gods remain silent as Troy burns.
- The machinery of war
- People are treated as spoils of conquest.
Why it's memorable
- Hecuba trying to bandage a dead child with white linen
- The systematic assignment of royal women to Greek masters
The ending, explained
Spoilers — show the ending
Hecuba finally confronts the silence of the heavens before she is herded toward the waiting Greek ships.
For your book club
- The play is less a war story than an accounting of the aftermath.
- There is no heroism in the Greek victory, only efficient cruelty.