Cassandra (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Christa Wolf
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: c.1200 in the novel
- Setting: Mycenae, Troy, Athens, and Crete
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction, Social realism, Historical fiction, Essays, Alternate history, War fiction
- Subjects: History, Mythology or myths, Sexism, Violence, Feminism, Women’s issues, War, Kings, queens, or royalty, Kidnapping, Heroes or heroism, Prophecy or prophets, Greek or Roman times, Utopias, Greece or Greek people, Trojan War
- Locales: Athens, Greece, Greece, ancient, Crete, Troy, ancient, Mycenae, ancient
Characters Discussed
Cassandra, the story’s narrator, a princess of Troy in Anatolia, a seer, and a priestess of the god Apollo. According to myth, Apollo granted her the gift of prophecy so that she would agree to sleep with him; when she refused, he left her with the gift but added that no one would believe her prophecies. Captured by Mycenaean Greeks under King Agamemnon, Cassandra meditates about her life in the now-ruined citadel of Troy as well as about the terrible future her captors face. Cassandra proudly recalls having been the beloved favorite of King Priam of...
[The entire page is 912 words long]
