On the Gorgias Helen

I wonder how well Gorgias' defense of Helen was received at the time of him writing this considering how silly I find it to be now. I'm certainly not one to place blame on Helen when thinking of this story, the story of Helen of Troy, but his defense of "Well if it's the gods' will!" doesn't really hold well. If you kept that idea around then no one's behavior would ever be excusable or inexcusable because they'd all be pawns of the gods.
I'd rather agree with the idea that a good speech may have convinced her of leaving her home. Gorgias mentions the possibility of her running away for love, and how often do we know of stories in which a man or a woman (usually a woman) is persuaded by some well-prepared speech of deep love and admiration? Many argue that this is what happened with Juliet in the case of her and Romeo's tragedy. His speech of complete adoration convinced her to follow through with a series of events that eventually led to both their deaths. As Gorgias puts it, "speech is a powerful master and achieves the most divine feats with the smallest and least evident body" (39). I don't agree with the way that he follows his argument in saying that Helen being compelled by a speech is just about the same as forcing her to follow along. One can be manipulated, but one cannot be outright controlled. Was she manipulated? Possibly, but part of the blame in this argument should then be laid on her for not keeping her senses about her. Many people learn to push against persuasion in their lives, many stories in fact illustrate heroes pushing against persuasion from the gods themselves, so why should Helen get a free pass if someone was particularly convincing? Not that she's the most to blame here, because the other person, her persuader, would be the greater villain here for attempting in the first place.
My point here is simply that I don't think a speech, however great the speech, can be used to blame the speaker for the actions of those persuaded. I think a speech is incredibly strong and is capable of convincing people to do things, but I think it only plays one role in manipulation along with several other factors and I believe those factors should always be taken into consideration.

Gorgias. "Encomium of Helen". ed. Leitch, Vincent B. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton &, 2010. Print.