Andromache 2

ANDROMACAAndromache, Hector's wife, mother of Astyanax,

is a timeless character. Andromache is a key figure, with noble sentiments and great moral

strength. Andromache is a passionate and incredibly loving wife of her husband, the hero

Hector, attentive mother and worried about her future and that of his son, hanging by a thread

that will be violently severed with her husband's death. But Andromache is also queen,

accustomed to being surrounded by slaves, to luxury and to live as a free woman in her home.

In addition, this magnificent female character is also example of a woman capable of thinking smart and wise at the same time, able to survive in a misogynist society like the Greek. The feelings that do Andromache a prominent character, and which strongly express her being a woman, are despair and loneliness; In fact Andromache is desperate for the loss of his family for Achilles hand and therefore alone, to convince Hector not to go into battle tell him that he was for her father, mother, brother and husband, that does reflect on the condition of this young bride saw and sees drop all the emotions that surround it and who would like to desperately hold with it.

CULTUREIn art:Her shape compares in various paintings. In particular

“I manichini" by Giorgio De Chirico, Italian painter of the 1900s that emerges is one in which the artist through their own mythology, found the inspiration to shape symbolic images and imaginary scenarios. The two figures that seem to embrace and become the sad symbol of lovers doomed to part, victims of a tragedy and troubled by inner restlessness that is often difficult to demonstrate.

What has been written is effectively synthesized in the work "Hector and Andromache": the pair is represented by two dummies, atemporal figures symbolizing the agony of farewell moment groom departing for the war; the scenery is immobile, the simple massive presence of red shades highlight the drama of the moment; the shadows that stretch presage the viewer the inescapable end.

In the theater:In Euripides is amazing the ability to immerse themselves in the

characters, especially female ones. There is only art to characterize them psychologically. The applicants social issues, are those of the relationship between men and women and between wives and concubines. What emerges in this tragedy is the juxtaposition of two antithetical visions of the female universe. In fact the two opposed characters are Andromache that lost everything,from Queen to slave, but maintains the dignity of women and respect for the traditional values of the family that includes humans and their weaknesses and knows how to stand by him and Hermione more feminist , individualistic, egocentric and opportunist who seeks to destroy the rival wanting to kill the thing most dear: his son defended by his mother.

Who is right?Euripides rewards Andromache . The beauty of these

tragedies written 2500 years ago is the relevance and modernity of the contents, even today we see the juxtaposition of two female expressions in our time. The woman devoted to her family, the so-called housewife and career woman.

In literature:In Virgil, Andromache once more takes the role of a

desperate woman, but has another connotation, in fact, seems to live in the middle between past and present, it can not seem to get over the wall that would leave lead his new life as a queen of Chaonia, shifting the emphasis from the figure of the deceased husband Ettore continued to live in her and the harrowing image of her son Astyanax being killed by Pyrrhus on Scaean doors. This female character there also appears as a pious woman, who makes libations to the dead , witness the ancient customs that strives unconsciously, and that Virgil uses to sing the Roman customs.

In Baudelaire, French writer of the 1800s, Andromache preserves the sentiments already expressed in Virgil and becomes a symbol of those who lost what is most dear had in the world, such as the family. The poet, in fact, uses this character to externalize his feelings on seeing the places he frequented as a boy completely altered by the new urbanism, and at how the appearance of a city changes more easily than the feelings of a man. But using the character of Andromache, Baudelaire emphasizes the continued relevance and ability that this figure has to maintain over time its basic connotations, which over the centuries are enriched with new and interesting things, capable of arousing strong emotions in the reader.

Andromache is perhaps one of the first great figures of painful bride. And he knows just as well the fatal risk facing husband- until he sees dying horribly for Achilles hand in a last decisive battle under the walls of the city. After the conquest, then, Andromache become the symbol of the woman separated from his loved ones, humiliated, taken from her home to his roots, reduced to the fate of any spoils of war brutally score among the winners. The poet Baudelaire screaming her name strongest and highestthan the other poets, in a wonderful poem "Le Cygne". We could say that, moving to Paris-the capital city of the century- Baudelaire is the true creator of the urban poetry, poetry of the big city. Now, Baudelaire writes Le Cygne in the days when the center of Paris is upset by the big demolition of many old popular neighborhoods to make way for the new centralized system of large boulevards- spectacular and depending on the needs of traffic and public order. "The old Paris is gone" ... But in this background shocked the figure of Andromache in exile electrocution the image of the poet. "Andromaque, je pense à vous!". "I think of you,Andromache" so begins The Cygne- while the poet has before his eyes a poor swan escaped from his cage, and intent to seek a water course worthy of his magnificent body. Here there is a first identification of Andromache in exile, along the shore of unknown rivers, and the swan, destroyed animal by fate.

Andromaque, je pense à vous! Ce petit fleuve,    Pauvre et triste miroir où jadis resplendit                  

         L'immense majesté de vos douleurs de veuve,       Ce Simoïs menteur qui par vos pleurs grandit,

Andromaca, penso a voi! Quel piccolo fiumepovero e triste specchio in cui un tempo risplendetteL'immensa maestà dei vostri dolori di vedova,quel Simoenta bugiardo che s'ingrossava attraverso

le vostre lacrime

PENELOPE AND ANDROMACHEAndromache represents in part what was the female figure in Greece

even if, in the relationship between Hector and Andromache, emerges a conception of sexual relations different from the normal between the hero and his woman: a more human relationship, certainly unusual. But the place of Andromache is still his home, his job is just domestic, and it is regrettable that she thinks about things risevate men like war. But she is not less submissive than Penelope is submissive to his son in the absence of Ulysses; In fact, the strict respect of the division of roles and obedience together with chastity and fidelity are the virtues that you expect from a woman victim of an ideology relentlessly misogynistic. Weak, unable to lasting feelings, being the marriage her place of destination and of existence, its interests and her affections only live according to this: this is the woman.

TODAY…However Andromache represents a first step towards

modern female figure. The more time passes, the more we see the woman take possession of power who once would never have dreamed of having. The slave woman and submissive man no longer exists. She took and takes more and more conscious of herself and her capabilities; rejects a life that until a few years ago she accepted naturally. The figure of the housewife, who all devoted to her family, who lived for the family is disappearing, her place is taken by a new woman who has many interests in addition to domestic ones.

Precisely in Andromache suggests this: she is in fact also involved in the political life of his city so much that she took part in the defense of Troy against the Greeks, coming to kill one. In this way Andromache begins to dissolve the figure of Homeric woman, seen only as an instrument of reproduction and the family group preservation, on the contrary it outlines the nearest woman conception to our way of thinking, is no longer the devoted women exclusively domestic work, but becomes an emancipated woman taking a self-employed career.

Being a woman is so fascinating. It is an adventure that takes such courage, a challenge that is not boring ever …

Oriana Fallaci

Anna Chiara, Eleonora, Gaia, Carmen