The victim Helena
The victim Helena is a radio play by Wolfgang Hildesheimer from 1955, which he converted into a stage play in 1959. Another new version followed in 1961.
content
The work describes parts of the Troy material from Helena's point of view. The 31-year-old lives unsatisfied in her marriage to the Spartan king Menelaus. She sees her fellow man as a whole rather critical, including her all too perfect daughter Hermione. When Menelaus asks her to let himself be kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris so that he has a reason to go to war against Troy, Helena explains to him that there is no winner in a war. She has hopes for Paris and wants to take refuge with him on an idyllic island in order to raise him to be a lovable man and to prevent the war. Both flee. On board the ship, Paris explains to Helena that his naivety was only a mock innocence and that he is bringing her to Troy because he too wants to provoke war. Helena resigned.
The second part of the work shows Helena back home in Sparta after the end of the war. She is understood neither by Menelaus nor by her daughter Hermione. Helena moves between self-styling as a victim, opposition to war and human contempt.
background
Hildesheimer's position in dealing with the Troy material is clearly influenced by his experience with Hitler's Germany and World War II. Through Helena he criticizes any warmongering . In “The Victim Helena” he shows less the femme fatale than the disappointed social critic who suffers from the roles of her fellow men and their moral phrases. All the people in the piece want to functionalize the others. Helena, too, initially tries to instrumentalize Paris, even if she is in love with the handsome young man. However, Helena is far more honest than the other characters in the play, who do not admit their masks.
It is typical for modern adaptations of the Troy material that the gods play no role.