Editing Helen of Troy (section)

==== Helen of Troy in Christopher Marlowe's ''Doctor Faustus'' ====
Helen appears in various versions of the [[Faust]] myth, including [[Christopher Marlowe]]'s 1604 play ''[[The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus]]'', in which Faustus famously marvels, "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" upon seeing a demon impersonating Helen.<ref name="Maguire2009">{{cite book|last1=Maguire|first1=Laurie|title=Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood|date=2009|publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.|location=Chichester, England|isbn=978-1-4051-2634-2|pages=160–163|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ccjIPayRmvMC&q=Was+this+the+face+that+launched+a+thousand+ships+and+burnt+the+topless+towers+of+Ilium&pg=PA160}}</ref> The line, which is frequently quoted out of context,<ref name="Maguire2009" /><ref name="Blondell2013" /> is a paraphrase of a statement from Lucian's ''Dialogues of the Dead''.<ref name="Casson">{{cite book|last=Casson|first=Lionel|title=Selected Satires of Lucian, Edited and Translated by Lionel Casson|date=1962|publisher=W. W. Norton and Company|location=New York City, New York}}</ref><ref name="Maguire2009" /> It is debated whether the phrase conveys astonishment at Helen's beauty,<ref name="Maguire2009" /> or disappointment that she is not more beautiful.<ref name="Maguire2009" /> Helen appears in Marlowe's play as a voiceless image conjured by [[Mephistopheles]]. Helen first appears displayed to scholars as a vision to admire. Her second appearance is when Faustus calls for her in despair.<ref name=":2" /> Not speaking herself, Faustus shows she is an object of desire and destruction. She walks about to parade her beauty silently, tempting Faustus.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Marlowe |first=Christopher |title=Doctor Faustus: a two-text edition (A-text, 1604; B-text, 1616) contexts and sources criticism |last2=Kastan |first2=David Scott |date=2005 |publisher=Norton |isbn=978-0-393-97754-7 |edition=4. Aufl |location=New York}}</ref> In connection to the myth of Helen of Troy, Helen is often blamed with causing the Trojan War; Marlowe's portrayal of Helen may function as a test of Faustus’ damnation. It is undetermined if the Helen in ''Doctor Faustus'' is the real Helen or merely a disguised entity that mimicks her beauty, blurring the lines of blame for Faustus' temptation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Craik |first=T. W. |date=1969 |title=Faustus' Damnation Reconsidered |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41917045 |journal=Renaissance Drama |volume=2 |pages=189–196 |issn=0486-3739}}</ref> Marlowe's portrayal of Helen blurs the line between a beautiful, angel-like figure and an evil, dangerously tempting figure, allowing her to be ambiguous in regard to her role in Faustus' damned fate.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rose |first1=Mary Beth |title=“A Waste of Shame: The Heroics of Marriage in English Renaissance Tragedy.” The Expense of Spirit: Love and Sexuality in English Renaissance Drama |journal=Cornell University Press |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7591/j.ctt207g7fw.7}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grimmett |first1=Roxanne |title=‘By Heaven andHell’: Re-evaluating Representations of Women and the Angel/Whore Dichotomy in Renaissance Revenge Tragedy |journal=Journal of International Women's Studies |volume=6 |issue=3 |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/48829105.pdf}}</ref>

The German poet and polymath [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]] re-envisioned the meeting of [[Faust]] and Helen.  In ''[[Faust: The Second Part of the Tragedy]]'', the union of Helen and Faust becomes a complex allegory of the meeting of the classical-ideal and modern worlds.

In 1803, when French zoologist [[François Marie Daudin]] was to name a new species of beautifully colored snake, the [[trinket snake]] (''Coelognathus helena''), he chose the [[Specific name (zoology)|specific name]] ''helena'' in reference to Helen of Troy.<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Helena", p. 120).</ref>

[[File:Helen of Troy.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Helen of Troy (painting)|Helen of Troy]]'' by [[Evelyn De Morgan]] (1898, London); Helen admiringly displays a lock of her hair, as she gazes into a mirror decorated with the nude Aphrodite.]]

In 1864, Paris saw the premiere of the [[operetta]] ''[[La belle Hélène]]'' by [[Jacques Offenbach]].

Helen of Troy is a minor character in the [[opera]] ''[[Mefistofele]]'' by [[Arrigo Boito]], which received its premiere in Milan in 1868.

In 1881, [[Oscar Wilde]] published a poem entitled "The New Helen",<ref name="Blondell2013" /> in which he declared his friend [[Lillie Langtry]] to be the [[reincarnation]] of Helen of Troy.<ref name="Blondell2013" /> Wilde portrays this new Helen as the antithesis of the Virgin Mary,<ref name="Blondell2013" /> but endows her with the characteristics of [[Jesus Christ]] himself.<ref name="Blondell2013" /> The Irish poet [[William Butler Yeats]] compared Helen to his muse, [[Maude Gonne]], in his 1916 poem "No Second Troy".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/147/36.html |title=36. No Second Troy. Yeats, W. B. 1916. Responsibilities and Other Poems |publisher=Bartleby.com |access-date=2014-03-13}}</ref> The anthology ''[[The Dark Tower (Lewis novel)|The Dark Tower]]'' by [[C. S. Lewis]] includes a fragment entitled "After Ten Years". In Egypt after the Trojan War, Menelaus is allowed to choose between the real, disappointing Helen and an ideal Helen conjured by Egyptian magicians.

The English [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Pre-Raphaelite]] painter [[Evelyn De Morgan]] portrayed a sexually assertive Helen in her 1898 painting ''Helen of Troy''.<ref name="Blondell2013" /> [[Salvador Dalí]] was obsessed with Helen of Troy from childhood<ref name="Blondell2013" /> and saw his wife [[Gala Dalí]] and the surrealist character [[Gradiva]] as the embodiments of Helen.<ref name="Blondell2013" /> He dedicates his autobiography ''Diary of a Genius'' to "my genius Gala Gradiva, Helen of Troy, Saint Helen, Gala Galatea Placida."<ref name="Blondell2013" />

Minor planet [[101 Helena]] discovered by [[James Craig Watson]] in 1868, is named after Helen of Troy.