Point of View

The Women of Troy is written from both the first and third person points of view. Some of the third person chapters follow Pyrrhus's perspective, while others follow Calchas's. The remaining chapters are written from Briseis's first person point of view. In the opening two chapters of the novel, the third person narrator remains closest to Pyrrhus's character as he enters the Trojan's gates, wrestles with his reputation, and brutally slays the Trojan king Priam in order to compensate for his insufficiencies. This third person limited vantage point leads the reader to believe that Pyrrhus is the main character of the novel, and that his experiences will dictate the narrative unfolding. However, the author subverts these previously established expectations in Chapter 3 with the appearance of Briseis's distinct first person voice. The author accomplishes another similar disruption in Chapter 10, with the introduction of Calchas's character. In...