Question

During the Trojan War, Odysseus revealed himself to Helen after he stole into Troy

disguised as a beggar to plot the ambush by the wooden horse. Although she swore not to
betray him, there was some ambiguity surrounding the motivation of her actions when
Odysseus and his men returned in the horse. We are told by King Menelaus, who was
with Odysseus inside the Trojan Horse, that Helen walked around the horse three times,
patting it and imitating the voices of the wives of the soldiers inside—trying to provoke
the soldiers to give themselves away. King Menelaus interprets her behaviors, again, as
induced by a god who favored Troy. What are some other possible motives for Helen's
behavior?

Answer 1

Helen of Troy was the indirect cause of the Trojan war when she ran away with Prince Paris of Troy away from her husband King Menelaus of Sparta who was the brother of the great king of Mycenae, Agamemnon.

Odysseus had once been her suitor so when he came with other Greek soldiers to defeat Troy, she swore not to betray him as he was in the Trojan Horse but still acted in the manner in the question.

She most probably did this because she wanted the Greeks to expose themselves by their own hand so that they may be found out and defeated, this way she would have not broken her promise to Odysseus and would not have to go back to Greece.