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Chapter 6: The Trojan Women
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in A Thousand Ships, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Legitimizing Women’s Experiences
Sexism
Fate and Human Agency
Hubris, Violence, and War
Storytelling and Narrative Control
Summary
Analysis
The Amazon warrior, Penthesilea, recalls how her sister, Hippolyta, died. The sisters were so close, Penthesilea felt she died with Hippolyta, shot by an arrow. She remembers learning to use weapons from a young age during their shared childhood in the mountains. The sisters played a game in which Penthesilea would shoot an arrow, and Hippolyta would run to catch it before it landed. The last time they played, Hippolyta failed and was killed. The guilt leads Penthesilea into battle, hoping that someone will kill her and end her pain. Believing the Greek Achilles is the only warrior skilled enough to kill her, she and the other Amazons journey to Troy.
Penthesilea’s relationship with her sister, Hippolyta, showcases how familial bonds and closeness can make some women feel deeply connected to one another. For Penthesilea, this connection is so strong that she feels part of herself died with Hippolyta and cannot bear to go on living in her absence. It is possible to claim hubris played a role in Hippolyta’s death, since overconfidence led her to misjudge her ability to catch her sister’s arrow, which killed her instead.
Active
Themes
Penthesilea’s loyal women are resolved to die alongside her in battle. Hearing of the Amazonian convoy, King Priam sends scouts to win their support. Penthesilea vows to fight Achilles to the death on the Trojans’ behalf, though she doesn’t much care if she lives or dies. She knows Priam is desperate and in pain following the death of his son and greatest warrior, Hector. Hector mistakenly killed a soldier, Patroclus, who was wearing Achilles’s armor. When Achilles found out, he slaughtered Hector and dragged his corpse around Troy. Now, nearing Troy, Penthesilea and her women ready themselves for battle. Penthesilea wears a leopard pelt as proof of her superior speed.
In contrast to the male Greek and Trojan soldiers, who fight for the right to possess one woman, Penthesilea’s Amazonian warriors go to battle out of love and compassion for her pain. Penthesilea seems to understand both Priam’s grief over losing Hector and Achilles’s sorrow for his friend, Patroclus. Again, while grief drives these men to further violence, Penthesilea instead seeks peace and reunion with her sister. In dressing herself for battle, Penthesilea accepts and acknowledges the fate that she has chosen.
Active
Themes
Penthesilea is proud to battle alongside her fellow Amazons on behalf of “women and children they had never met.” The Trojan army appears weary to her, having lost most of their great warriors over the last 10 years. Among the Greek army, Penthesilea spots Achilles, who carries no shield. She rides toward him, though it is unclear whether she intends to kill or die. The Amazons kill some of Achilles’s men, surprising Achilles. Assuming Penthesilea is their king, Achilles races forward and stabs her in the neck before realizing she is a woman. Though she is not the first woman he’s killed, Achilles feels ashamed, as if he has killed his own reflection. Penthesilea thanks him as she dies.
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Themes
