#if euripides helen has no stans it means i am dead

[hermesmoly]

Something about the raw happiness in Euripides' Helen when Menelaus and Helen are reunited.

Starting off with Menelaus still unconvinced Helen is the real Helen because of the Helen phantom he left in the cave, and you can see Helen being utterly distraught. By Euripides' timeline, Helen had been stuck in Egypt for seventeen years, found out her mom killed herself out of shame because of her, that Menelaus was lost at sea and possibly dead, and that her brothers may or may not share their mother's fate... You can see why she's desperate to have her husband believe her ("I win you back, my husband, only to lose you again!")

AND SHE JUST. ALMOST LOSES MENELAUS, the love of her life AGAIN if it wasn't for the servant who told him the Helen-phantom disappeared...

And then:

The reunion... having a whole duet for it... The way Helen rejoices is to have her arms around her husband's neck,

“See ladies, I have my husband, after so many dawns lighting the sky with fire, I have my arms around his neck!”

and Helen in Menelaus's arms.

"I have longed for this day that lets me fold you in my arms" “And you are in my arms” “No vision could please me more; all pain is cancelled.”

"My hair shivers with joy, it has wings to make it fly! My eyes brim with tears as I discover anew dear husband, the pleasure of holding you close!"

Just the gooey stuff ;)

"I have him, my husband, my husband!" THE EMPHASIS SHE'S HAPPY

"Where we two are concerned, there is no unhappiness that is not shared." The way this fits the traditional / Homer's Menelaus and Helen too