Iphigenia, Helen, and the Rhetoric of the Body in Euripides's Iphigenia at Aulis

The threat to violently abduct Iphigenia and by the hair, no less, if she does not approach her sacrifice willingly is unique to Euripides's Iphigenia at Aulis. I argue that this specific type of violence contributes to Iphigenia's decision to capitulate and reflects a wider Euripidean interest in Iphigenia as a character whose body becomes the tool by which she redefines her own tragic narrative, preparing the audience to think of her, rather than Helen, as a body worth fighting for.