Dear Editor,
A recent letter in the Guyana Chronicle of 2007-03-08, congratulating the Women’s Army Corps on their 40th Anniversary, advised them to be “Our Helens of Troy”.
Helen of Troy was the indirect cause of the Trojan War, which lasted ten years, resulting in the sacking of the city, slaughter of the men and the women taken into captivity. Traditionally, Helen was said to be the most of beautiful woman in Greece; she was the daughter of Zeus, and the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta.
Helen was not a caring or loving wife, during her husband’s absence, she began an affair with Paris, who was a guest in her home; she subsequently fled with him to Troy.
After Paris’s death, during the Trojan War, she married his brother Deiphobus, whom she betrayed to Menelaus, after the city was captured.
She returned to Sparta, and it is said lived happily with Menelaus until their deaths.
Another legend said that she was driven out of her home by her stepsons; she fled to Rhodes, where queen Polyxo had her hanged in revenge for the loss of her husband Tlepolemus, during the Trojan War.
Helen is a bad example of womanhood, and should not be given any accolades.
Madame King be local, do some research, and you will discover that Guyana has an abundance of talented, beautiful and faithful women, that can be used as examples.
Yours faithfully,
C.S. Vaughn, MSM
