Abstract This paper briefly looks at the female protagonists in "The Iliad" and "The Aeneid" and compares how they are perceived as woman and as individuals. It shows how, in Homer's epic, women such as Briseis and Chryseis are shown to be little more than trophies of war for the male heroes Achilles and Agamemnon. It also discusses how, like Homer's Helen, Dido "The Aeneid" is a tool of the gods, manipulated cruelly and coldly into loving Aeneas.
From the Paper "The reader feels far more deeply for Dido than for Helen, because Virgil has given her character a more fully tragic nature and destiny than Homer has given Helen. Both women are the victims of the gods, but Dido's struggle for love and her sense of the contradiction between love and war are heartbreaking, while Helen's struggle is less tragic and less involving. Dido is far more compelling than Helen because Virgil has imbued her with qualities of character which can only come from her great suffering."
Abstract The paper seeks to show that, although "The Iliad" is clearly the product of a patriarchal, misogynistic society, Homer is far too aware of humanity to be as sexist as Hesiod, for example. It explains that Homer's portrayal of Helen shows his understanding and empathy, while his carefully constructed relationship of Patroclus and Achilles reveals certain feminine characteristics in the great male heroes.
From the Paper "Homer's acute awareness of human nature has often been praised by critics, and is one of the reasons the Iliad has survived and is still read today. It enables him to create fascinating characters, and allows him to deal with both male and female personalities equally. Arthur compliments the Homeric poems for having a "less rigid" dichotomy between men and women , especially in comparison with the more overtly misogynistic work of Hesiod, for example. It is this that makes for the fascinating characterisation of Helen in the poem, which is the product of centuries of mythology and development of her story. So important is her character that she even has the final speech. The female gods are also notable examples of women in the Iliad, for even though they are divine, as females, they still reflect the Homeric gender roles."
Abstract This essay argues that the treatment of women in Homer is not uniform, that there is a whole plethora of important features which distinguishes one woman from another, and which therefore makes it impossible to come up with one general description of the Homeric women.
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Thesis Statement
Abstract
The Treatment of Women in the Epic Poems of Homer
From the Paper "Slaves and slave-women did manage to sometimes occupy places of high honour in their master's households; a perfect example of that is Eurykleia, Telemachos' nurse, and friend to Penelope and Odysseus. She is placed with high trust by Telemachos as she is the only one informed by him of his intended search for his father. Still, though, the division between wife and slave is evident, and there can be "no doubt of her servile condition and absolute dependence" (Perry, 69) when Penelope, despite the fact that Eurykleia reared her up and is her favorite companion, tells her to "get thee down and back to the women's chambers, for if any of the maids of my house had brought me such tidings, and awakened me from sleep, straightaway would I have sent her back right rudely, but old age shall stand thee in good steed." (Odyssey, Book 23, lines 20-24). This shows not as much the treatment of women per se, as it was a conversation between one woman and another, but it does show that certain common characteristics between people, namely women, are at odds with other defining and descriptive things of the people, namely social status."
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that menis, translated as wrath or rage, is one of the very first words of the Iliad, exemplifying its place as a fundamental theme in the poem as a whole. The writer points out that Achilles' menis, or wrath, can be separated into three phases. It is first provoked when King Agamemnon insults his honor by stripping him of his prize- the servant girl Briseis, to which he becomes violently and self-indulgently furious. The writer discusses that Achilles then renews the inconceivable fervor of his wrath when Hector kills his best friend Patroclus, to which Achilles vows revenge until his menis is finally tamed by grief and compassion as he meets with king Priam to negotiate the exchange of slain Hector. The writer maintains that Achilles' movement and evolution through each of these phases is a representation of the journey of each of us, as he faces moments of unavoidable pain and suffering, while at the mercy of the inscrutable forces, and tries to understand the essence of his own inscrutable nature- both human and divine.
From the Paper "Achilles' movement and evolution through each of these phases is a representation of the journey of each of us, as he faces moments of unavoidable pain and suffering while at the mercy of the inscrutable forces and trying to understand the essence of his own inscrutable nature- both human and divine. Through witnessing this progression- or perhaps deterioration- of Achilles' menis, in response to his seemingly unjustified suffering caused by unseen, enigmatic forces, it becomes clear that while one cannot control some of the larger aspects of their fate, they can control their reaction to that fate, which in essence, does give them the power to control that fate. This dichotomy is made possible by the simple fact that every person will have both tragedy and triumph in their life, or perhaps it is better said that they have the possibility for every instance of their life to become a tragedy or a triumph, according to their reaction to it- like a book who's last sentence changes the meaning of everything that came before."
