In Warriors’ Wives, Emma Bridges has written a book that that very few could execute with equivalent skill. Her study is a welcome supplement to the rich comparative work on the experience of ancient and modern combat soldiers (certainly important, but undoubtedly male-centered). Warriors’ Wives is immensely readable, unencumbered by excessive footnotes or jargon, rife with poignant analysis and observations on the ancient texts. It will make a fitting companion to other books that examine the vicissitudes of ancient warfare in consideration of modern military contexts comparison to Shay’s Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America are unavoidable here. In a brilliant choice of organizational structure, Bridges examines the entire process of a deployment, from the sendoff to the often-ugly aftereffects of a soldier’s return, which may often include disruptions in the stability of family life.
The introduction begins with a valuable literature review that reveals the (uncommon) scholarly vacuum in which the author is working; previous work on related themes is sparse and many cited works are quite recent. In light of this gap, the author repeatedly calls for further publications, hopefully inspired by her own work. Bridges clearly sets out her goal: to give us the perspective of the soldier’s wife and prevent the sidelining which has traditionally “render[ed] invisible the women who bear a large proportion of the burden of war” (4). While acknowledging the notable differences between ancient and modern military situations and contexts, she nonetheless argues that there are striking diachronic similarities in the “emotional and practical aspects” of being married to a military spouse (7). Her feminist approach utilizes sources like military handbooks, poetry, short stories, autobiographical works, and social media (mostly from Anglophone contexts related to military conflict from Vietnam to the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan) to uncover the perspectives of modern military wives; she juxtaposes these with glimpses of the experience of military wives during the Trojan war in Homeric epic and Athenian tragedy. Bridges acknowledges the gender bias inherent in these aristocratic sources, but (rightly) justifies their use due to their detailed depictions of military scenarios; the familiarity of experience they evoke; and, more generally, their representation of ancient societal ethos and expectation. She relies heavily on modern sociological and psychological studies to describe and analyze the experiences of military wives, while demonstrating that these experiences go back to antiquity.
The first chapter focuses on the theme of the “Farewell,” an exploration of the range of emotions experienced by warriors’ wives in the predeployment period. In her analysis of the parting scene between Hector and Andromache in the Iliad (6.390-493), Bridges finds many elements that feature prominently in depictions of wives’ experiences in ancient and modern contexts: denial, anger, fear for their children’s futures, and the possibility of their own violation and/or widowhood. Penelope and Odysseus’ interactions before the warrior’s departure, recalled in the Odyssey years later, provide more insight into the “practical” aspects of the parting between husband and wife. Here, Bridges argues (p. 34), there is a temporary reversal of conventional gender roles, as Odysseus encourages Penelope to care for the household (as the husband would normally do) in his absence (Odyssey 18.266-268). In the advice that Penelope should marry a suitor should her husband not return from war, Bridges finds similarities to modern “just in case” letters, where military personnel leave instructions for their wives should they meet an untoward fate in war.
The second chapter focuses on the theme of “Sacrifice,” using the literal sacrifice of Iphigenia in the Athenian tragic tradition to delve into the “greedy institutions” of family life and the military and emphasizing the conflicting loyalties they generate in soldiers and their spouses. Through the character of Clytemnestra, Bridges highlights the tendency of the wives of military men to become silenced or “lost” as their husband’s attention is consumed by military matters, noting that the soldier’s sense of patriotism and duty is often projected onto his wife in implicit and explicit ways. She finds that ancient and modern military wives often experience feelings of anger, resentment, and disappointment when they find themselves at the losing end of this competition for their husband’s loyalty.
The “waiting wife” is the subject of the third chapter. As Bridges argues, our most famous example, Homer’s Penelope, demonstrates the psychological impact on the military wife who experiences “ambiguous loss,” haunted by the uncertain fate of her husband, wracked with worry, and desperate for news from the front lines. Meanwhile, in her husband’s absence, the “waiting wife” is expected to undertake practical roles traditionally assigned to the husband, in addition to her regular burdens. All the while, she must conceal her grief, remain hidden from view, and develop strategies (like weaving—and unweaving—a shroud, in the case of Penelope) to “keep busy” while anxiously awaiting news from the front lines.
Together with Penelope, Clytemnestra features again in chapter four, as Bridges examines the issue of spousal (in)fidelity in the absence of the military husband. Clytemnestra “acts as the most powerful counter-example to the faithfulness of the waiting Penelope” (115). In Aeschylus, Clytemnestra’s relationship with Agamemnon is strained not only because of the sacrifice of their daughter, but also because, in his affair with Cassandra, Agamemnon himself becomes an example of the unfaithful soldier. In Sophocles and Euripides, however, Clytemnestra’s infidelity and her murder of her husband are indefensible, and she is typified as the unfaithful military wife in contrast with the loyal Penelope. Bridges also suggests that Penelope’s steadfast loyalty to Odysseus and his promiscuity throughout his ten-year nostos reflect the double standard that still pervades military relationships today.
Chapter five focuses on the reunion of military husband and wife following deployment. Emotional confusion, recognition, and eventual re-establishment of communication—all depicted in Homer’s account of the reunion of Odysseus and Penelope—are typical, argues Bridges, of the “relational uncertainty” that occurs among many reunited military couples. Not only is there often a change in physical appearance (as with Odysseus’ disguise as a beggar), but there may well also be a psychological change in the deployed husband that undercuts the previous familiarity between the partners. In fact, Bridges’ examination of the “reopening of communication through both…conversation and physical connection” (153) reveals that both spouses endure hardships when one is deployed. Key to renewed communication between these couples in ancient literature, she shows, are the offering of clean clothes, a bath, and a welcoming marital bed. But the successful reunion of Penelope and Odysseus is only an ideal; Bridges gives examples of other, thwarted, reunions in which these traditional restorative elements are subverted: that of Andromache and Hector by his death in battle, and that of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon by his death at his wife’s hands.
The final chapter focuses on the brutality that women face in wartime situations, which include sexual violence, loss of status, loss of children, displacement, and servitude. Examples abound here, and Bridges draws on Euripides’ Hecuba, The Trojan Women, and Andromache as rich sources of information about the powerlessness of women captured because of war. Bridges compares the tragic outcomes of war for ancient women with the impact on modern women of the Rwandan genocide. In a final, thought-provoking section of the chapter, Bridges examines Sophocles’ Ajax, using the concubine Tecmessa as a lens through which to view the experiences of “modern-day spouses of traumatized soldiers who return from the front line psychologically damaged by what they have undergone there” (191).
Bridges writes from a deeply personal perspective (her husband served in the Royal Air Force for 17 years). Her familiarity both with the Classics and with military life allows her to embark on a truly ambitious project, one accessible to a variety of audiences: her textual examples and analyses are meant to resonate even with the uninitiated reader, and they succeed admirably in this goal, with seamless connections between the ancient and modern sources. Consistent themes in the book are the tension between family and military life; the societal definition of the “ideal” military wife; the reinforcement of traditional gender roles; the silencing of the wives’ experience; and the persistence of patriarchal ideals across time. Like Shay, Bridges has succeeded in giving even the most seasoned Classicist new reasons to appreciate the true timelessness and complexity of the human experience as captured by epic poets and tragedians; she does so by bringing the female experience to the forefront in a powerful and compelling way. Warriors’ Wives is beautifully edited, with few mistakes. It is a compelling and moving study that would be valuable reading in any course on the military experience, ancient or modern.