Penelope and Ulysses (10 page)

that is not in sympathy with humanity,

a certain type of heart that needs to be stone,

and a certain type of courage

shown in willingness to kill his own daughter

to achieve more lands for his country.

I am such a man.

I have no remorse or regret.

I am of the strongest of men,

the most noble and the most respected of men.

We are the protectors of civilisation and democracy.

ULYSSES: We civilised men

depend on the fear of others.

We implant fear in our own and in our enemy.

They respect and obey us out of fear:

the fear of what we might do to them if they do not obey,

the fear of what we might do their wives and children.

Their respect and obedience is based in fear.

We have the military might.

We have the persuasive arguments and rhetoric.

We have the winner’s history.

We have no opposing voices.

AGAMEMNON: Why, if we did not have men such as these,

we would be overrun by the hordes

of uncivilised barbarians

destroying the order and balance

that we have had handed down

from our forefathers.

The order and balance

that we have worked too hard to maintain.

I want you to accompany me and my army to Troy.

My brother’s wife, Helen, has been abducted

from her home and taken by Paris to Troy.

My brother’s heart is broken by the loss

of his most loved and faithful wife.

Helen was taken without her consent.

A free woman, a faithful and loving wife

was taken by force.

What type of man would I be

if I did not want to storm Troy

and release her from this barbaric captivity?

Today it is Helen;

tomorrow it may be our wives that these barbarians

can come, rape, and abduct from us.

ULYSSES: And you will storm Troy! What have you done to prevent this bloodshed?

AGAMEMNON: How could we ever be called free men,

defenders of reason and democracy,

if we cannot bring freedom

to the oppressed and imprisoned?

What type of men are we if we cannot free one of our women?

And since you already speak as a wise man,

a philosopher, then you clearly understand

that I have no other choice.

I have tried political negotiating with them,

but it has not worked. They are barbarians.

The Trojans have left me with no other choice

than to go and bring Helen back

to her husband and people.

I have sent messages to King Priam

asking for the release of Helen

but the messengers have not returned.

It is obvious that these poor wretches

have been killed for taking a message

of Reason and Concern

to the barbarian king.

We have no other choice.

We are going to Troy to bring back Helen.

Think how terrible it would be for her,

for she is a woman of virtue and faithfulness

to her husband, my brother.

Think how vile her life must be

among those barbarians

that look upon her as their whore,

and Paris, who forced and forces himself upon her.

It is too violent to think about.

Woman is meant to be protected,

not brutalised and dehumanised

through submission and rape.

We are civilised men.

Women are important in my life and kingdom.

They all have a purpose,

and I will not allow such a brutal crime

as to steal one of our women.

What type of men would we be

if we allowed others to steal

what belongs to us?

What type of message would we

be sending to others?

ULYSSES: My messengers have told me

that Helen fell in love with Paris,

for they say that he is young and handsome,

has a young and strong body

and is a Prince in his own right,

with influence and knowledge.

They say he is educated.

If that is the case, there is no kidnapping

or a victim to be rescued,

is there?

AGAMEMNON: My poor brother Menelaus is heartbroken.

He cannot eat or drink.

He wants his faithful and beloved wife back.

It is important to get Helen back

for he has become a laughing stock.

Among our men, he is known as “a cuckold.”

It is important to our honour

that we be given the satisfaction

of revenge and retribution for this crime.

ULYSSES: Since when has it been a crime to love?

Since when has it been criminal

for a wife to fall out of love

with her older husband

and lust for a younger and wealthier man?

Helen lusted for Paris’s body and wealth

and from what I hear,

he could have had any woman in either kingdom,

without abducting or forcing himself upon her.

Let me get this right:

Are you saying to me that this war on Troy

is a war for justice and the liberation of Helen?

Are you saying that this war must happen

so that we can correct this evil?

Are you saying that Paris has brought

destruction to your home

and that so many thousands of men

on both sides need to be involved in this war

so that you and your brother do not lose your honour?

But that is not the truth, is it?

That is the emotional lie that you have given

as truth to the ordinary man,

the emotional truth that an enemy has taken one

of our women, and therefore no woman is safe.

The emotional truth that we as “civilised” men

must and need to bring justice to this injustice.

Or is the truth that Troy is a wonderful and rich land

to conquer?

Or do we need to conquer

so that we burn the truth?

And in these fires from hell

we will sacrifice many, many men

from both our army and the army of Troy.

AGAMEMNON: I thought I could appeal

to your sense of liberating a victim,

liberating one of our women,

to your sense of honour and duty

as an educated and civilised man.

I do not need to defend myself.

I do not need to explain myself to you.

It is my family and country

that has been violated.

I do not need to give you or any man

explanations, reasons, or excuses,

for I have might on my side.

And with might

I can shape, transform, or alter the truth.

ULYSSES: You have not changed, Agamemnon.

You have twisted and turned the facts

to fit your ambitions and agenda,

to accumulate more lands.

You have corrupted the truth

and turned night into day

and day into night

by telling others

that this war is to liberate,

this war is to stop this injustice,

this war we must have.

AGAMEMNON: I have the honour of my house and country

to uphold. This war

will make things right again.

will bring justice and retribution

to the innocent and the guilty.

These Trojan barbarians will never again

bring harm or threat to the world of civilised man.

I will not wait for this crime

to dissolve or to be forgotten.

I will not forgive or forget.

Troy will burn!

I will not wait for Paris to come with his armies

and take my home and country from me.

I believe we are in danger

of invasion from these barbarians,

and our world of reason and civilisation

will flicker and die out, if we do not act,

if we do not invade them before they invade us.

The element of surprise will work for us:

we will net and kill them while they sleep.

We must protect our people and our world,

and therefore I will need all my good advisors

to assist me with this invasion.

ULYSSES: You do know what you are doing.

How could you not know?

For you have planned and convinced

the army and the population

that this war that we must have

is for a noble reason,

for justice,

for the fear of being invaded by Troy,

and for the promotion and spread of civilisation.

You have convinced the army

that this war is noble and is blessed by the gods.

I mean, look at you, you love your country so much

that no sacrifice is too small or too great for you:

to even put your blade through your daughter’s heart

to justify your actions to your gods,

to convince the army,

to make them believe in your greatness

and love for your country.

That you would even sacrifice

your own daughter for this cause!

The
cause
of justice and the spread of our civilisation!

This war is not about Helen.

She is no one of importance to you, or your brother.

She may have hurt your brother’s vanity

by leaving with a beautiful young man,

but this war is not about Helen.

She is only the scapegoat for something bigger,

sinister and darker.

You are not going to war

for our country and the spread of our civilisation,

You are going to war for the pillage of Troy

and her riches.

This is about genocide,

for no one will live in Troy again

once we start the fires of war.

You never disappoint me, Agamemnon.

Just when I thought you could go no further into the abyss,

you come back from the deepest darkness

with the teeth and nails of all the creatures from that darkness.

AGAMEMNON: Thank you for your admiration, Ulysses.

I also have learned much from you

but you do not disappoint me.

You do understand the thoughts behind my actions.

You do understand the ways of men like me.

You understand them because you are of them.

You are not this meek and melancholy philosopher or poet

but rather a shrewd and cunning man

who has advised me on many night slaughters.

Now listen and understand me.

I will allow you to speak your thoughts

in the privacy of this room,

just to show to you what a democratic

and compassionate man I am

towards you.

This will be the only time

you will voice your thoughts

and when you have finished

telling me what you have practised

in manipulation, agendas and going to war,

you will accompany me to Troy.

ULYSSES: I am not able to do that, Agamemnon.

I am not your fox or bloodhound.

My thoughts are scattered and lost.

Listen to the way I have spoken to you.

In the past I was the one planning all this,

and now I am lost in my mind.

I seem to have lost my senses,

lost my abilities to navigate in life and war.

I would be useless and a weight to you.

AGAMEMNON: I suggest you remember your place, Ulysses,

and I suggest you remember my power

and do not make me forget

that we have been united in brotherhood

through the blood of many,

for I value you as my advisor.

ULYSSES: Agamemnon, you weave the truth

and the lie in the same thread.

Then you twist and wrap it

around the throat of the unsuspecting,

like an unwanted umbilical cord.

And you pull and pull

until you get submission or death.

In my madness

I can see Iphigenia’s death,

the death of your daughter.

Is it true that her last words to you were

“Father, have you no heart?”

“Did you not wrap her around and around

in her gowns so that she could not move?

Did you not seal her mouth

so that we would not hear her pleas and curses?”
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I am sure we would have heard her pleas in Ithaca.

We would have heard her

had you not sealed her mouth

and then proceeded to seal her eyes and her life.

AGAMEMNON: This is the law, and the law is the law.

I am bound by the laws of my country.

This has been a yoke of necessity—

to have no personal life

because my people, my country

come before my needs as a man.

Do not moralise to me!

How many men can sacrifice their own child

to prove their love for their country?

Can you? I suspect you could.

You did not spare other men’s children in war.

ULYSSES: There is also another law,

and that is “blood will have blood.”
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AGAMEMNON: There you go again, moralising to me.

Is this the madness you are suffering from?

Iphigenia, my poor daughter.

If only she knew how much

she has blessed with her blood

this war of honour and justice.

I ask you once again

to remember your place and position,

for I will not suffer this weakness in you.

I will not suffer your moralising to me.

I love and loved my daughter.

This was the most painful duty I had to conduct.

I had to offer part of me as an offering

so that the army could see that I was and am

a man of honour and self-sacrifice.

I am so bound in the laws of our land,

the laws of our gods,

the laws of our civilised code and way of life,

that I would and could

cut into the heart of my daughter.

Is there any greater loss to a father

than to offer his child as a sacrifice

to save his country?