The book “Dateline Troy” by Paul Fleischman turns the Trojan War into an occasion for social studies, with the result that his audience may have to sacrifice some of the pleasures of reading in exchange for a fresh approach to history or current events. In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy also known as Helen of Sparta, or simply Helen, was said to have been the most beautiful woman in the world, she was also married to King Menelaus of Sparta. On the tenth day when the Troy visited Sparta to make peace, Helen runs away secretly with Prince Paris of Troy, resulting in the Trojan War. Legend has is that Helen was under Aphrodite spell to fall in love with Prince Paris of Troy which resulted in having the Trojan War.
Helen’s character is balanced by personal guilt and self-preservation which together define her as a woman with her own agency and power to act. In the initial chapters of the Iliad, Helen is wracked by intense guilt and self-loathing that stems from her involvement in the conflict between the Achaians and the Trojans. Her shame is first displayed after she is called sit beside Priam and view the duel between Paris and Menelaus. When Priam asks Helen to identify the leader of the Greek forces, she takes a moment to express her remorse and mentions that she wished she had chosen “bitter death” over departure from her homeland (Iliad 3.173). Helen admits her culpability in this conflict and reveals that the extent of her shame is so great
In this passage they move from describing a particular woman (“she left behind the din…”) to speaking more generally about a group of women (“women sound the sorrows…”). 3a. Which specific woman are they referring to at the beginning of the passage? Helen, wife of Menelaus, the kind of Sparta, who was taken by Paris, Prince of Troy.
Living on the Nebraska prairie in the late 1800’s was a hard life, but even more so if you were a girl from Bohemia who did not speak English. Antonia is the eldest daughter of the Shimerda family and is a bold and spirited young woman who becomes the center of the Jim Burden’s attention. Outlasting childhood poverty, family tragedy, and seduction that leads to betrayal, My Antonia describes how one woman survives the prairie using her strength, courage, and the immigrant spirit of hope for a better life. My Antonia begins on a train where two old friends, a nameless female and Jim Burden, have a conversation about their childhood past.
The Women of The Odyssey posses more than skin deep beauty. They show both good and bad qualities. Homer’s The Odyssey is about the trials and tribulations of Odysseus, a warrior of the Trojan War, on his quest to return home.
Helen was able to run away from Menelaus and go back to Troy with Paris. After a few years of her being said that she was kidnapped, she came back and had to suffer however Menelaus treated her. Helen found her own strength and told the truth of where she had been and how it was her choice to leave Sparta. Helen and Penelope are powerful greek women, but only Penelope is viewed as perfect for staying loyal to her husband. While Penelope was viewed as perfect for her loyalty to Odysseus, Aphrodite was able to sleep with whatever men she wanted to
To begin with, in the Iliad, a woman 's role depends on her beauty and position in the society, making them look more like a “prop”. For instance, Briseis used to be a respected princess and the wife of Mynes. However, her great beauty made herself became a reward between Achilles and other warriors in the Trojan War—she is no longer a dignified queen but a belonging whose role being manipulated by men. Another example is Helen. She was taken away from
The Essential Homer translated and edited by Stanley Lombardo, depicts the story of the famous Trojan war. Helen even though not being a central character in the story her role throughout the epic is important. She is created as a suffering figure who is constantly striving for independence and a sense of belongingness among the many different restraints that she faces. Even with the limited amounts of appearances in the epic each encounter with her character the reader is able to learn more about her personality and the way her character evolves in obtaining autonomy and being part of the society she feels excluded from. Helen is time after time blamed as the women for who the famous Trojan war was fought for.
Does Penelope exhibit any substantial moral agency in Homer’s Odyssey or is she just another pawn in the patriarchal game of getting glory for the guys? I SHALL ARGUE THAT Penelope plays a vital role in the way that the Odyssey plays out. Penelope, unlike other female characters in the classical world, shapes the way that her life unfolds. Through her actions in this epic poem, not only does Penelope create her own destiny, she gets her own glory. Penelope’s key dilemma centered on the instructions given to her by her husband, Odysseus, prior to his journey to fight in the Trojan War.
How I wish you’d died there, killed by that strong warrior who was my husband once’” (Homer, Iliad 3. 480-482), this stirred up conflicts on the ground between the mortals and made Helen and other Trojans dislike Paris even more. Goddesses like Athena were out for revenge in the Iliad because Paris did not see her fit for the golden apple that was to be given to the fairest Goddess, in the Judgement of Paris. So Athena and Hera, who mainly used her marriage to Zeus to do her dirty work, plotted against the Trojans.
The goal of the 415 BCE play, The Trojan Women was to discourage war in the ancient Mediterranean world. The play showed the hardships that came with war in an attempt to end violent conflict. The same can be said about the 1971 film. The cinematized version of the play was released amidst the peak of Vietnam protest and aimed to show, yet again, the consequences of war. The film is one of the more interesting war films because its main characters are not the soldiers, but the people affected by the loss that war brought them.
However, these contrasts between their personal thinking built most of valuable points in Odysseus' epic journey, and making a more intense story. To some extent, these women are not foolish at all because at least they are successful at leading people to believe that waiting is meaningful. The whole story happened during the dark centuries of women in Greece, when their value was limited behind men. However The “Odyssey” gives an opportunity to horror their role, also rejecting all erroneous preconceptions about the woman. Penelope -- a typical woman who represents for an image of a devoted wife, a mother of family and she is also an image of how women was treated at Greece.
It is clear that Helen 's behavior in book 3 is in almost direct correlation to that of Andromache in book 6, in terms of transgressive behavior. To understand this and to analyze any transgressive behavior further, it must first be established that there are very clear and strict gender divisions in the society portrayed in the Iliad. Hector states, "War is man 's business"1 and a women 's business is the "loom and the 2 spindle." ItisthereforemadmorethanobviousbyHectorthatthereshouldbenocrossingof,or ignoring of your responsibility. Transgression therefore, in the context of the Iliad, and gender is the abandonment of your duties and ignoring society 's expectations of you and the people around you.
”(Homer. 202-204) Not only was Penelope giving up on life with the absence of Odysseus, her cries and longing for death express her powerlessness and uselessness in society. Without a loving husband in her life, she was nothing but a grieving, unhappy Greek woman who was capable of nothing but weeping. Her strength is nonexistent and she is literally unable to carry on without her husband. The Odyssey, like The Trojan Women, successfully illustrates the life of a Greek woman in ancient times.
Menelaus exemplifies the qualities of a courageous hero based on his actions in the Trojan War. To begin with, the Trojan War began when Paris abducted Helen, Menelaus’ wife. Menelaus commanded for her back, but the Trojan side had refused to return her (Megas). The Greeks assembled
