Provide a characterisation of Deianeira and Heracles in Sophocles' Women of Trachis

Women of Trachis, also
known as The Trachiniae and The Trachinian Maidens, is
one of the lesser-known of the seven plays written bythat have survived in their
entirety.

Women of Trachis is notable because it's named
for the Trachinian women who form thefor the play. This is a departure from the traditional
Chorus of men found in most ancient Greek tragic plays. Keep in mind that all of the women
characters in ancient Greek plays, including the Chorus in Women of
Trachis, were acted by men who wore masks representing the female characters they
were portraying.

Deianeira is the wife of the Greek hero Heracles (known as
the Roman demigod Hercules), son of the god Zeus and the mortal woman Alcmene. Deianeira is
portrayed in Women of Trachis as a fearful, unhappy, insecure woman.
Nevertheless, she loves Heracles unconditionally, and chooses not to blame him for the many
military quests that take him away from his home, and she forgives him for his many
lovers.

Heracles was said to possess extraordinary strength, as well as
remarkable courage and sexual prowess. He's portrayed in the play as angry, boastful, and
recklessly violent. He has no remorse for killing his herald, Lichas, or for the murder of his
lover Ioles brother, Iphitus.

Deianeira is a sympathetic character, even with
all of her faults. Heracles appears as a heroic but wholly unsympathetic character.

At the opening of Women of Trachis, Heracles has concluded a
successful siege of Oechalia, and he sends a number of captured women back to Trachis. Among
them is Iole, who Heracles sends to live at his own home with Deianeira, who is unaware at the
time that Iole is Heracles's concubine.

Deianeira discovers Iole's identity
and that Heracles is in love with her, and in order to win back her husband's love, Deianeira
sends him a robe dyed with what she believes is a magic love potion made from the blood of the
centaur Nessus.

The love potion turns out to be deadly poison that causes
Heracles excruciating pain when he first wears the robe. In his pain, he threatens to kills
Deianeira, and is taken back to Trachis.

When Deianeira learns what has
happened to Heracles, even though it was through no fault of her own, she kills herself in
shame.

At the end of the play, Heracles is no longer able to bear the pain.
He begs to be killed, and is taken away to be burned alive to relieve him of his
suffering.