Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst, Victims or Participants?

Mary Finnigan

Dr. Steven Wexler

English 436- Major Critical Theory

13 July 2010

Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst, Victims or Participants?

The sagas of Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst share many characteristics that can be examined under the microscope of classical literary criticism. Both women were kidnapped against their will, and later vilified by those who chose to view their abductions as free will choices. As Gorgias of Leontini writes in “ Ecominium of Helen”, several reasons can explain the reasons for Helen’s departure to Troy. They are “the will of fortune and the plan of the gods,” or she was “seized by force” or “captured by love”(39). If she was “persuaded by speech [logos]” and her mind was “deluded”[39], she must be held blameless for her actions. Gorgias asserts that Helen was persuaded by the power of speech and is therefore cannot be held accountable for her actions. He holds the persuader responsible for the wrongdoing, not the victim in this case. The victim, Helen was swept away by the rhetoric of convincing speech by Paris . “If it was love that did all these things, she will easily escape blame for the error that is said to have occurred”(40).In the writing of Gorgias, Helen cannot be seen as someone who was complicit in her kidnapping and the ensuing Trojan War that came about as a result.
In the case of Patty Hearst, many of the same classical literary theories apply. Patty Hearst was a 19 year old college student at UC Berkeley in Berkeley, California in 1974 when she was kidnapped and held for ransom by members of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The S.L.A. was a small, radical fringe group that declared war on the United States. While her parents made attempts to pay the ransom, the S.L.A. rejected these attempts, and Patty Hearst was held as a captive for one and one half years before she was captured by the Police. After her capture, she was prosecuted, found guilty, and sent to prison for robbery. Many people believed that she willingly participated in the crimes that were committed. Evidence strongly suggests that she was a victim of the Stockholm Syndrome and was brainwashed by her captors. Her free will, like Helen of Troy’s, was taken from her {by force} and she adapted in order to survive. She even went so far as to change her name to “Tania” in deference to a fallen “comrade” in the S.L.A. (You Tube clip).
The kidnapping of Patty Hearst has all the classic elements of Tragedy as defined by Aristotle in his writing “Poetics” (93). These elements included plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song. Though this tragedy was played out in modern day on television and in print, it still contains all the elements of a Greek Tragedy and the catharsis that is brought about at the conclusion of the play. Both Helen of Troy and Patty Hearst were forced against their will, into situations where they were required to adapt in order to survive. As Gorgias would agree, “Whether she did what she did, invaded by love, persuaded by speech, impelled by force or compelled by divine necessity, she escapes all blame entirely”(41).


‘Works Cited’
1. Leitch, Vincent B. Ed.
The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed.
New York: Norton, 2010. Print.
2."Patty Hearst, 2001 - Notorious Presidential Pardons - TIME." Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com. Web. 13 July 2010. .