A Close Reading: Andromache's Grief for her Husband's Death Anonymous College

In Homer’s Iliad, Andromache expresses her feelings of abandonment and grief after her husband, Hektor, tragically dies in the Trojan War. In Book 22, the narrator uses word choice in order to display Andromache’s feelings of abandonment, while also displaying how death has broken Hektor and Andromache’s unity. Book 22 also reveals the dissonance between Andromache's intellectual wisdom and Hektor's perception of her role as a woman.

In line 477, Andromache seals her and Hektor’s love by mentioning their fate. She says “Hektor, I grieve for you. You and I were born to a single destiny(22.477-478).” By speaking for both her and her husband, Andromache demands her presence as Hektor’s wife to be acknowledged and respected. By using the phrase “you and I,” Andromache reinforces the significance of their marriage and unity. In this line, Andromache and Hektor are described as a unit because they were destined to be together. The unity seen in this line juxtaposes Andromache’s tone in the following lines. In lines 481-483, Andromache expresses her feelings of abandonment–an emotion symbolizing the broken unit that was once sealed by destiny. Andromache wishes she was never born, demonstrating how broken she is that Hektor has...