Lessons from The Trojan Women

Ilias Lappas

In my previous articles I promised to take you through the Cyclops, Laestrygonians and Sirens. However, I feel that there are still lessons to be learned in Troy, before Odysseus embarks on his remarkable trip to the island of Ithaca, so for this article, we’ll be staying in the famous besieged city.

In August, I attended a performance of the tragedy The Trojan Women in the ancient theater of Epidaurus. The Trojan Women is the third tragedy of a trilogy dealing with the Trojan War. It focuses on the fates of the women of Troy after their city has been sacked and their husbands killed, while their remaining families are being enslaved. What follows shows how much they have suffered, as the Greeks continue to compound their grief.

The main character of The Trojan Women is the dethroned Queen Hecuba of Troy, who has to endure her daughter Kassandra and her daughter in law Andromache becoming the concubines of the conquering Greek generals, though the most horrible news for the royal family is the execution of her grandson Astyanax.

Relying on her glorious past as a queen, Hecuba exerts a lot of strength and resilience in her attempts to inspire the resolve of the women of Troy. I still remember her first words in the play, addressing the women: “Up. Stand up.” To me, the tragedy was a perfect illustration of how different people react in a different way during volatile and sensitive situations and how those reactions relate to the past experience of each individual. Wise and resilient personalities like Hecuba accept failure as an integral part of life; they keep their faith and they are aware of the fact that life is fluid.

Embracing and learning from failure

Many of us avoid the prospect of failure. In fact, we are so focused on not failing that we don’t aim for success, settling instead for a life of mediocrity. But the only way to truly know who we are as leaders is learning from failure. Failures are defining. Our failures explain our personal limitations and all the weird things we do. They also help explain our insecurities and our blind spots. By learning from failure, we become aware of who we are.

I cannot list my failures and shortcomings here…mainly due to the limited space! but I truly encourage everyone to go through the process of learning from failure, it is always worth the effort. Bearing in mind the stoic personality of Queen Hecuba, you should try to reflect on your past experiences to address the issues of how you react to major failures and the consequent impact on your life, how you position yourself in a collapsing environment during periods of crisis and uncertainty and how your past memories and experiences affect your judgment in those fluid periods.

Hecuba’s words in the play alert and motive because they are words associated with our history, our values and our idiosyncrasies; words that are easily forgotten, especially when circumstances serve to eliminate the faith of the people who surround us in difficult periods of crisis and uncertainty. When everything is collapsing around us, it is always the sound voice of Hecuba inside our soul that has to remain alive.