In the city, with Andromache, Hektor is calm, and responsible - a good father, noble son, caring husband - but here in the dust and grit of the battlefield, he is a beast, a creature born of blood rage and wrath, striking down those in his path and exulting in it, though he knows it is wrong; for it is not a thing he shares, not with anyone.
Sometimes Paris believes he is frightened of everything in the world - the battle raging endlessly below, the disappointment in Priam’s eyes, the bellowing rage of the Greeks, come for his blood - but mostly, as he lies in the darkness beside his great prize, he fears losing Helen most of all, and clutches her all the harder, until she shifts in his grasp, his fingers leaving marks in their wake.
“You will save a city in peril, and guide it to the greatest glory the world has known,” Cassandra tells Aeneas, but he merely laughs, and says, “I’m no great hero such as that, my friend,” and leaves before she can tell him no, you are the only one among us who is.
Let Life Stretch Out Before Me and Break Me [Hektor, Paris, Cassandra & Aeneas]
Sometimes Paris believes he is frightened of everything in the world - the battle raging endlessly below, the disappointment in Priam’s eyes, the bellowing rage of the Greeks, come for his blood - but mostly, as he lies in the darkness beside his great prize, he fears losing Helen most of all, and clutches her all the harder, until she shifts in his grasp, his fingers leaving marks in their wake.
“You will save a city in peril, and guide it to the greatest glory the world has known,” Cassandra tells Aeneas, but he merely laughs, and says, “I’m no great hero such as that, my friend,” and leaves before she can tell him no, you are the only one among us who is.