Discontinuity and Debate in Seneca’s Troas

This article argues that dramatic disjuncture in Act 2 of Seneca’s Troas can be understood to serve a philosophical purpose: the removal of Achilles’ shade–the external, supernatural causation for Polyxena’s sacrifice–opens up the space for Agamemnon and Pyrrhus to engage in an ethical debate. A comparison with Euripides’ Hecuba, an important source for Troas Act 2, lays bare how Seneca uses discontinuity, both dramatic and intertextual, to imbue debate–dialectic–with the power not just to interrogate the mytho-graphic tradition but to cultivate critical thinking: the contemplation of actions in the absence of their explicit justification.