figure
Paris
also: Парис
The mythological Trojan prince renowned for his beauty, whose judgment of the three goddesses precipitated the Trojan War; invoked here purely as a byword for youthful male good looks.
Reading notes
- Papasha §25 Paris
The mythological Trojan prince renowned for his beauty, whose judgment of the three goddesses set off the Trojan War; Mamasha's friend flatters her son by comparing his looks to Paris's.
- To S. A. Andreyevsky, 25 December 1891. Moscow. §3 gods, poets, and very beautiful, spoiled women
Chekhov opens with a mock-psychological aside comparing Andreyevsky's touchy demand for his critical opinion to a divine or poetic temperament, then glosses it with the myth of the Judgment of Paris: "the three goddesses needed the opinion of a simple shepherd" -- i.e., Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite required the mortal Paris to judge their beauty, just as the poet Andreyevsky, godlike in his irritability, has stooped to require Chekhov's ordinary critical judgment. See the companion allusions entry for the mythological reference itself.