I Would Have Survived! (Hafiye)

(NOTE: Trailblazing English is used in this monologue.)

Character:  Hafiye, a pragmatic young Trojan spear maiden

Setting:  On the ramparts of Ancient Troy

Background:  After Troy’s defeat, the Trojan Wennen fear being carried off to Greece in bondage. Only Nicodice, a philosophical young wenn of mixed Trojan and Greek blood, had the opportunity to escape this fate by accepting the marriage proposal of Philotimos, a young Greek soldier. However, she refused him, choosing to share the destiny of her Trojan countrywenns. Pragmatic Hafiye now tells rival Nicodice exactly what she thinks of her altruism.

HAFIYE

Slavery without chains is the best any of us can hope for! 
All living things are slaves of the desire to survive. 
You think humin beings are different
because we have minds that can reason?
What better things can our minds achieve
if we don’t first preserve our bodies? 
Can this civilization you envision be attained
if just people allow themselves to be annihilated?  
It’s the absurdity of being humin that we must sometimes
perform evil to preserve what is good! 

You say you’d rather not live if you must watch others suffer? 
A noble thought, Nicodice, but impractical. —
Someone is always suffering! 
I want to live as long as possible
and with as little pain as possible.
Does my honesty offend you?
I’ll tell you something else.
Do you know why I hate you so? —
It’s because I’ve always admired you,
and you had no right to throw your life away like this!

What difference does it make
if you were born and raised in Troy?!
What matter if your mother was Trojan? —
Your father was Greek! —
So why not accept a Greek soldier’s proposal?
You should have escaped with Philotimos. 
You should have betrayed your country
without a second thought. — I would have! 
Yes, Nicodice, I could have watched my countrywenns
moan and wail in slavery and have turned a deaf ear
so long as it was not I who suffered! 
I could have lied. 
I could have said, ‘I love you!’ to a Greek whom I despised
so long as he came to my bed with gentleness.

I am not noble as you are, Nicodice,
but I would have survived! 
I would have done anything to avoid what Danisma¹ endured! 

1. A dear friend of Hecuba who took her own life after being violated by the Greek soldier, Bulamachos, while retrieving water for her sick granddaughter at the Scamander.

© Justy Fairfield 2008, 2021

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