Helen of Troy in Greek Mythology PLot CHaracters and Conflict Mythology and Short Story

1. Union College of Laguna
Sta. Cruz, Laguna
English 16
Mythology and Short
Story
“Helen of Troy”
Jane H. Basto
BEED
Mrs. Brenda Darang
Teacher
“Helen of Troy”

3. “Helen of Troy”
Characters
Helen, obviously the title character.
Castor and Pollux, Helen's brothers, which is also
wrong according to mythology.
Agamemnon, Mycenaean king, and the main antagonist in
the movie.
Menelaus, King of Sparta, betrothed to Helen, seen in
the movie as the sympathetic husband and also weak.
Leda, Queen of Sparta and Helen's mother, seen as the
typical headstrong wife.
Tyndareus, father of Menelaus and king of Sparta before
his son took the throne.
Clytemnestra, sister of Helen and wife of Agamemnon,
she also kills Agamemnon in the final scene which is
wrong and this doesn't happen until he sails home where
he is then killed by his wife. He also never raped
Helen, though it shows this in the movie.
Priam, King of Troy
Hecuba, Queen of Troy
Cassandra, Princess of Troy and also priestess of
Apollo.
Paris, youngest son of Priam and also the lost son. His
love affair with Helen sparked the Trojan War.
Hector, Prince of Troy, he is shown inaccurately in
this movie from what the Illiad portrays him to be.
Achilles, he is shown as an enforcer of Agamemnon and a
brute, neither of which he was in the Illiad. In
mythology, Achilles never liked Agamemnon and the
Mycenaean king nearly lost the Trojan War because of
Achilles' feud with him.

4. Settings: Greek World (Sparta & Troy)

5. “Helen of Troy”
Plot
The Greeks are plotting to invade Troy to
steal the treasures of the Trojans. Meanwhile
Prince Paris is assigned by his wise father and
King of Troy to travel to Sparta and shows the
peaceful intentions of his people. Along his
journey, he falls into the sea during a storm
and is rescued on the shore by the Queen of
Sparta, Helen. When he recovers, he believes
that she is a slave and they fall in love with
each other. When he arrives at the Spartan
palace, he is arrested by King Menelaus but
Helen helps him to escape. They travel together
to Troy and give the excuse the Greeks need to
start the war and put Troy under siege for
years. The Greeks are unsuccessful in their
intents, until they listen to the cunning
Ulysses. The Greeks then withdraw their one
thousand ships from the Trojan waters and offer
a wooden Horse of Troy as a gift to the winners.

6. “Helen of Troy”
Conflict in the story
The tensions build between Agamemnon and
Achilles. As Agamemnon takes tribute from his
fellow kinds for his "victory", Achilles' is
disdainful, and, Agamemnon takes the young
priestess Briseis from Achilles he curses
Agamemnon: Achilles is not owned by Agamemnon
but is his own man, and he and his men remain
out of the next battle.
The massed armies meet before the gates of
Troy. Agamemnon demands the return of Helen to
his brother and submission of Troy to the Greek
empire. Rebuffed by Hector, Paris offers to
fight Menelaus in single combat. But Paris,
foolish romantic boy who stole Helen away is not
the man his brother is. Defeated, he crawls back
to his brother's feet. Paris kills Menelaus.
Without the Myrmidons and Achilles tactical
genius, the Greeks are beaten badly: fighting

7. beneath the walls of Troy, they fall in their
thousands to massed Trojan archers, with all the
advantages of height and distance. Odysseus
advises Agamemnon- fall back: you won't have an
army if you don't fall back.