I was googling about 'Eye of Cassandra' when I chanced upon texts related to Hector and Andromache and the Trojan War.
I have read about the Trojan War. I know through that reference about Helen and all of that. Beyond the story of the crafty horse, I had also seen the movie. Incidentally, I believed the movie version of the story, especially about what happened to Andromache and remaining royals.
In the movie, it is shown that the remaining royals are leaving through some secret door. There have been deaths far too painful and many, but these people are shown escaping. Later, there is the scene of Achilles being shot an arrow in his foot.
I vividly remember Hector holding his infant son in one of the movie scenes, after his return from Greece.
And just like that, reading about Cassandra led me to the story of Andromache's son from Hector, Astyanax.
After the war, Astyanax was hurled down the walls of the Fort. I felt my heart jolt, jump and lump up in my throat. What? What a painful death for an infant whose crime was to be the Crown Prince's son!
Then there was a picture:
I cannot get over it. That picture has been in my mind for a couple of days now.
I have been reading and reading. There are many versions of the story, but number of them depict the killing of the infant either as a measure to stop his revenge against his father's death or because a seer wanted favourable winds for the Greek fleet.
Does this ever happen to you? Is there a story or some mythological character who has ever brought on this kind of reaction for you?
Image Courtesy: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Astianax.jpg (Image not used for commercial reasons, and no copyright claimed by the blog author.)
I think that is a literary device that is used for its striking qualities - everyone is horrified by the needless death of a child. But in mythology (or other literature), it goes to show the absolute ruthlessness of the character.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, we still read the books and watch the movies. Why? I don't know - probably to reassure ourselves that things could be worse? So, what do you do then, when the unthinkable happens, and it can't be worse?
I always get too caught up in the characters of books I'm reading, whether fiction or non-fiction. I don't really understand why I feel so much for them, but I do. I've sometimes been known to get too involved in their story, to the point of crying in the shower over it. This, however, usually happens when I'm feeling depressed anyway. So, I do understand. It's difficult to think of the horrendous things that have happened in history and not be affected by them.
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