Helen of Troy—the BOLD Legend of LOVE

“Love is not blind. It sees but it doesn’t mind...”

                                                          -Shakespeare-

          The audacious and exhilarating epic credited to Homer has been one of the breathtaking works that has made a great contribution to the Greek Literature. It is all about the Trojan War that has brought a great destruction of the many valiant heroes of the story. The war has been caused by the abduction of Paris, the coward prince of Troy, to the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen. But the true motive of the elopement of Paris with Helen is originated by the quarrel of the three goddesses, Athena, Aphrodite and Hera. They were sent by Zeus to Paris, who has to judge which of these three goddesses is the fairest. Aphrodite has given him the golden apple, which showed the image of Helen, making her the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris, seeing the gorgeous image of Helen, has ultimately fallen in love with her, capturing his heart by her faultless beauty. Aphrodite has also made Helen’s heart to capture the love of Paris.

         

          It seemed that it was already prophesized that Helen and Paris were meant for each other. But as the story went on, an inevitable situation occurred in which Helen has supposed to be the queen of Sparta and she has to marry Menelaus, the brother of the king of Mycenae, King Agamemnon. When Paris came to Troy where he has met Helen naked in front of many people including the high priests and noble kings, it was late. Helen belonged with somebody else already.

         

          As the two, Helen and Paris, went to meet each other, they were ultimately blinded by the love that is too powerful. Soon after, Paris made Helen elope from Sparta and she went with him in Troy undoubtedly. It didn’t matter for Helen that she had already made a commitment with somebody else. What was important for her was that she loved Paris so much that she didn’t care if anyone would suffer or hurt. As a result of the elopement of Paris with Helen, there occurred a great destruction of the kingdom of Troy, killing thousands of lives of the people living there, including the sovereign leaders. In the end of the story, Helen would have no choice but to go back to where she belonged—to King Menelaus of Sparta, though she cannot love him.

          In my own contemplation about how Helen had shown her love towards Paris, everything turned to be erroneous, all because of envy and resentment and because of Helen’s insensitivity towards her environment. There is no wrong about going with Paris to Troy as long as no one would be hurt or ruined. If I were Helen, I would go with Paris to Troy, if I am still not committed a love with someone else, so that I will not make impairment. I don’t like hurting somebody else’s feeling especially if that means so special for him. But, just like the situation of Helen in which she was married forcibly to Menelaus, whom she cannot love at all, I would not be going with Paris anymore though I love him most with all my heart. This is because for the sake of everybody, knowing that my love for Paris would be the root of the war and destruction of all. Yet, I would still pursue on loving him despite of everything. I would be living with Menelaus but my love for Paris will remain. In case, I would be giving an opportunity to express myself, I would honestly tell the truth about how I feel for Menelaus—that I cannot love him. I would tell this to him instead of letting him expect for a long time. Through this serendipity of mine, it would be I, who will suffer for a long time because I don’t want to be the cause of everyone’s devastation...

Matthew 5:27-29 says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But now I tell  you: anyone who looks a woman and wants to possess her is guilty of committing adultery with her in his heart. So if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away! It is much better for you to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell."