Euripides' Helens: Doubleness and Multiplicity in Helen and Orestes

Abstract: This article uses the framework of the multiverse to analyze the interplay between the iterations of Helen in Euripides' Helen and Orestes . It demonstrates that Euripides' Atreidai plays ( Electra, IT, Helen, Orestes, IA ) exhibit key characteristics of multiverse narratives, thus justifying this approach. Then, analyzing Helen and Orestes as plots within this "multiverse," it argues that Helen in Orestes is an additional eidolon that eventually merges the "real" heroine of Helen and her phantom. Through the flexibility of a multiverse-like narrative, Euripides resolves lingering questions and embodies Helen's multiplicity in a manner that a linear narrative could not.