Was Helen abducted or whether it was a willful act of her own?

Question

Number of books and dictionaries define that “Helen was abducted by Paris and he took her to Troy.” But myth tells us that they were in love with each other immensely and it was she who provoked Paris to take her to his empire. Then how come her elopement is defined as “Abduction”?

Answer 1

this could actually be traced back to the story of the greek gods.

It was said that there was a great feast and the goddess
of mischief was not invited. in her anger, she threw an apple
at the window of the feast with a message written " to the fairest
of the goddesses". The 3 goddesses: hera, aphrodite and mars,
were fighting for the apple because they're all beautiful.
zues, the god chieftain, could not decide since herea was his wife
and the 2 were his daughters. So he told them to ask Paris,
the prince of troy to decide who's the fairest...
each of the goddess bribed paris to award them the apple.
but aphrodite told him that if he gives the apple to her, she will
give paris the most beautiful mortal as his wife. and so he gave
the apple to aphrodite.
now, here's the conflict...the most beautiful woman, helen, was
at that time already married. but a promise is a promise, so
aphrodite gave helen to paris....
in short she was really abducted...

Answer 2

She was in love with Paris and she left willingly. But, the Greeks defined it as an abduction because it gave them an excuse to attack Troy, a rich city. For the other Greek allies, the war wasn't fought for Helen, it was over the treasures of a rich city, her disappearance just started the whole thing.

Also, Helen's husband called it an abduction to save face.

Answer 3

She did not go willingly in the usual sense of the word. Do they forget to include the story of the golden apple when teaching kids about the Trojan War now? Anyway, the upshot is that Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world if Paris declared her worthy of Eris's golden apple. He did, and Aphrodite delivered the goods by causing Helen to fall in love with Paris.

So she didn't exactly go willingly, since Aphrodite *made* her fall in love with Paris.

Answer 4

the elopement is defined as an abduction for one simple reason... Winners write the history not losers. Greece won the war hence Helen was abducted, if Troy had won it would have remained an elopement.

Answer 5

Really it's known only by Helen and Paris. If they were in love, they would've been in secret, therefore it's not likely that anyone else would've witnessed thier affair.

Answer 6

They were in love and she went willingly. The Greeks labeled it 'abduction' to save face and as additional justification for the ensuing war.

Answer 7

back then, wives were treated like the property of their husbands, therefore Helen was "stolen" by Paris.

Answer 8

no she wanted to be with paris and she loved him not her husband therefore she went willingly

Answer 9

depends i believe she went willingly and troy was a real city

Answer 10

Perhaps to give a layer of deniability.

She could have gone back, if she wanted to.