Andromache

In contrast to the inappropriate relationship of Paris and Helen, Hector and Andromache fit the Greek ideal of a happy and productive marriage, which heightens the tragedy of their shared misfortune.

Hector's fears of her life as a captive woman are realized as her family is entirely stripped from her by the violence of war, as she fulfills the fate of conquered women in ancient warfare (6.450–465).

In accordance with traditional customs of mourning, Andromache responds with an immediate and impulsive outburst of grief (goos) that begins the ritual lamentation.

Although Andromache adheres to the formal practice of female lamentation in Homeric epic,[15] the raw emotion of her discovery yields a miserable beginning to a new era in her life without her husband and, ultimately, without a home.

The final stage of the mourning process occurs in Iliad 24 in the formal, communal grieving (thrēnos) upon the return of Hector's body (24.703–804).

[16] In Iliad 22, Andromache is portrayed as the perfect wife, weaving a cloak for her husband in the innermost chambers of the house and preparing a bath in anticipation of his return from battle (22.440–6).

Here she is carrying out an action Hector had ordered her to perform during their conversation in Iliad 6 (6.490–92), and this obedience is another display of womanly virtue in Homer's eyes.

Although her behavior may seem nontraditional, hard times disrupt the separate spheres of men and women, requiring a shared civic response to the defence of the city as a whole.

Hector takes his son from the maid, yet returns him to his wife, a small action that provides great insight into the importance Homer placed on her care-taking duties as mother (6.466–483).

Andromache is the subject of a tragedy by French classical playwright Jean Racine (1639–1699), entitled Andromaque, and a minor character in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida.

Andromache is the subject of a 1932 opera by German composer Herbert Windt and also a lyric scena for soprano and orchestra by Samuel Barber.

[20] Andromache is one of the main characters of the 2023 fictional retelling of Troy, Horses of Fire by A.D. Rhine (pseudonym of Ashlee Cowles and Danielle Stinson).