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SophoclesWomen of Trachis
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BetaLines 497-820Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Lines 497-662 Summary
The Chorus sings of Aphrodite’s power and asks which “trained fighters” entered the contest to marry Deianeira (112). Achelous came first, then Heracles challenged him; Aphrodite served as referee. They fought violently to win Deianeira.
Deianeira enters carrying a box and confides to the Chorus her sorrow at being asked to share her marriage with a younger woman and her plan for relief. Many years ago, a centaur called Nessus sexually assaulted her, and Heracles shot him with a poisoned arrow. As he lay dying, Nessus told her to collect the blood from his wound to use as a love potion should Heracles ever stray, but she must protect it from the sun and heat.
The box Deianeira holds contains a robe rubbed with Nessus’ blood that she plans to send to Heracles. She asks the Chorus if they agree with her plan, and they reply that they trust her judgment. They agree to keep the plan secret, and Deianeira passes the box to Lichias to deliver to Heracles.
The Chorus instructs all to listen as they sing a song for Heracles, who has been rewarded with trophies for his excellence. Deianeira had wept for him, fearing he was dead, but Ares has freed her from pain. They pray that he will return safely home.
Lines 663-820 Summary
Deianeira enters, fearing that she “may have done something terrible” (116). The wool she used to smear Nessus’ blood on Heracles’ robe disintegrated of its own accord after being exposed to the sun. She realizes Nessus would not have wanted to help her, and the blood he told her to collect had been poisoned by Heracles’ arrow. If he dies, Deianeira vows to die with him. The Chorus urges her to keep hope alive.
Hyllus enters filled with hatred and reproach for his mother; he assumes she purposefully tried to kill his father. He witnessed Heracles, while preparing a sacrifice for his father, Zeus, put on the robe with joy, but as the fire for the sacrifice grew, the robe began to stick to him, filling him with agony. Blaming Lichias, Heracles killed him, and everyone was dismayed by this terrible omen. Heracles writhed trying to escape the pain and railed “on against his marriage” to Deianeira (120). He asked his son to bring him back to Trachis, which he has done. Hyllus wishes Deianeira to be punished by the Furies. She quietly exits the stage without defending herself.
Lines 497-820 Analysis
In the middle section of the play, Deianeira puts her plan into effect, subsequently destroying both herself and Heracles.
The Chorus sings about Heracles’ battle for Deianeira, establishing one way love can function as warfare. The description of her in the Chorus’ song presents her as a passive victim, much like Iole. Achelous and Heracles fight over her “violently” (112), and she will be given to the victor. She is not presented with options or asked for a preference, though she herself expresses relief that Heracles challenged Achelous. During the events of Women of Trachis, Deianeira essentially becomes the combatant by attempting to wage war against Love by afflicting Heracles with a love potion, as suggested by the reference to Ares “set[ting] her free from these days of pain” (116).
An audience familiar with the myth will know that the arrow Heracles used to kill Nessus carries the Hydra’s deadly poison. Once it pierces Nessus, his blood becomes infected with this poison; it is this poisoned, frothing blood that he convinces Deianeira can be used as a love potion. She does not question his motives or ask, in the moment, why Nessus would want to help the woman he assaulted and whose husband killed him. Her eagerness to achieve her own ends causes delusion (and Delusion) to overtake her, a familiar pitfall of heroes in Greek myth narratives.
Deianeira does not need to see the effects on Heracles to realize that she has made a mistake, as the wool she used to smear the blood on the cloak disintegrates when exposed to the sun. The realization of her plan reaches the play’s audience through Deianeira, intensifying the sense of foreboding. Since Heracles will die, and Deianeira stated at the play’s opening that she would not like to be left behind without him, her death looms along with his. Her refusal to defend herself against Hyllus’ assumption that her intention was to kill Heracles reinforces the inevitability of this outcome. The homecoming that had been so eagerly anticipated has reversed into tragedy.
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