Hero? Zero.
Cassandra by Christa Wolf retells the infamous slaying of Agamemnon and his mistress, Cassandra, through her eyes. In the original telling of the tale in the play Agamemnon by Aeschylus, Cassandra is a minor character that is only mentioned briefly, then cast to the side as a crazy and false prophet. However, in Cassandra, she is depicted as a fully fleshed out character with worries, fears, hopes, and desires, a revolutionary standpoint considering who wrote this novel and when it was published.
The Rape of Polyxena by Pio Fedi
Although Cassandra has known her fate throughout the whole novel, her last words are “I cannot love a hero”. To me, these five simple words hold so much meaning and encapsulate Cassandra’s character perfectly. The main “hero” mentioned in the play is Achilles, someone who Cassandra hates with all of her being. He is admired by many for the great warrior he is, but to Cassandra, he is nothing but another man drunk with power who used women as prizes and playthings. In fact, a plan was suggested to trap Achilles in the temple of Apollo, where Paris would strike him in his heel, the weakest area of his body. The catch? Cassandra’s sister, Polyxena, was to be used as bait for Achilles. The rape of Polyxena was the distraction for the ultimate downfall of the great warrior.
Cassandra, having half of a brain and a sensible heart, refused to cooperate in the plan. After all, that was her sister she was putting up for tragedy. But refusing the plan was more than just caring for her sister. Cassandra was tired and disgusted by the endless cycle of which women were stripped of their rights, autonomy, and dignity, only to be passed around from one evil man to another. Women had become trophies, monetary items, holes for sex, baby producers, anything but a human being. The Trojan War only increased these practices, but although the war ended, the objectification of women had not.
If we take a step back and look at the story of Cassandra and the events of that same time, was there even a hero? Achilles was a warrior, but a hero? A hero doesn’t rape and pillage innocent women. Cassandra, our main character; was she a hero? Hardly. Even she recognized that her life and death brought about no change and that she was just another female casualty in war.
If we take a step back and look at the story of Cassandra and the events of that same time, was there even a hero? Achilles was a warrior, but a hero? A hero doesn’t rape and pillage innocent women. Cassandra, our main character; was she a hero? Hardly. Even she recognized that her life and death brought about no change and that she was just another female casualty in war.
Cassandra cannot love a hero because in her time, in her reality, a hero does not exist. The person thought to be the admirable hero is not a hero after all. In fact, Cassandra can hardly love herself, even if she lived. There is nothing she could do to save the countless women who suffered at the hands of “heroes”, and she cannot become the desperately needed hero herself. In a way, Cassandra proves a point. Heroes and happy endings only exist in fairytales.