Bravery In The Play Iphigenia By Euripides

Bravery is often defined in different terms, but Athena defines it beautifully. In the Iliad, Athena is written as a war goddess, battling together with the Greek heroes. She embodies superiority in close combat, triumph, and magnificence. What it took to be victorious in the bloody battle was found on the body armor that Athena had on when she went into combat: terror, discord, resistance, and assault. Athena, though not someone who is normally portrayed as a goddess of War, is actually an Olympian that is found on the battlefield more often than many of the others. She is written into the front lines of the war more

Lysistrata by Aristophanes is seen to be a comical play used to show the impact of war not only on the ones physically in the war, but the ones mentally involved also. This play was written to help express the feeling the author had about the war occurring during the time the work was written. Lysistrata, the main character, is a strong woman who decides to become as what could be said as being “rebellious”. She does this by refusing to have sexual relations with the men in the city until it was agreed that peace would be declared between the two troops. She calls a meeting with the women in the city and include them in her vindictive ideas to bring the war to an end. This play is sure to bring a smile to the readers face due to the comical events that occur. However, comedy is not the only thing that becomes apparent within the play. Throughout the work of Lysistrata there are three themes that become apparent during this play: peace and harmony, control by gender, and politics.

The Legendary story of Odysseus is an epic depicting the life of a man (Odysseus) and his journey home after the Trojan War. He wants to go home to his wife and his kingdom but runs into trouble along the way. The only way for him to get out of this trouble is to enact one of his many heroic attributes: courage, nobility, a hunger for glory, and confidence.

Being brave requires massive strength of mind, body, and spirit. It is being prepared to face adversity. It allows people to face their greatest enemies without fear. Out of all of the characteristics that Odysseus portrays, bravery stands out above all. There are many cases in which this shows up in The Odyssey by Homer. Specific examples that represent Odysseus's bravery are the battle of Cicones, the events at the cyclops cave, and the events with the lotus eaters.

The ancient Greeks are known for many things, and one of them is their stories. Whether they are told through epic poetry or drama, these tales have lasted throughout the times. However, as the times change, so did the Greek ideals about heroism and society. In this essay I will be using Homer’s Iliad and Aeschylus’ Persians to illustrate the differences in society and how they affect the heroism in the literature of later periods. The Persian people are depicted in ways that makes them appear weaker than the Greeks, but time changed how this was achieved. Due to a change in the values of Greek society, the Persians were portrayed as weak with the same traits that made Achilles appear to be so strong.

An example of courage in the good soldiers is on page 115 lines 34-44.Where they don’t know witch daughter was injured in the bombing and it was’t not us troops who hurt her they didn’t know if they could help her.

Miguel Marte Mr.Barry 5-11-15 Period 3 “A hero of distinguished by their courage or ability to be able to lead others, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child” ( dictionary.reference.com/browse/hero) This is what a hero is and by just reading this you can tell that Odysseus fits in all of these places. Odysseus shows courage and he is able to lead others his crew admired him for his brave deeds if this is not a hero then what is. One moment where Odysseus shows a lot of courage was when Odysseus and his crew were in the cyclops cave

Odysseus, a marvel of a man, is the hero of this epic novel “The Odyssey” written by homer. Odysseus expresses bravery in nearly everything he does even when he’s lost it on the inside. In addition, Odysseus displays intelligence saving his life and his men to aid escaping tricky situations. Similarly, he demonstrates strength while battling in the Trojan War. To say, the character exerts fearlessness, intelligence, and courageousness throughout his voyage.

    In ancient Greece the females were considered to be conniving and deceiving whisperers, and men almost never trusted their wives.  The ideal woman was an obedient and placating wife.  They believed that the female should be strong but still yield to the power of the male in charge, whether it was older brother, father, or husband.  Euripides often used females in uncommon ways; he did not simply show them as complacent animals.  Women in Euripides' plays were used for social commentary.  They were not just simple characters; they could be both agathos and kakos.  The females in the works of Euripides were extremely strong and devious and they were loyal but at the same time

The major principles and beliefs of Ancient Greece are grasped through their stories, those written by intellectual, philosophical men such as Ovid, Euripides, Homer, Sophocles, and many others. Their captivating tales consisted of tragedy, chaos, deaths, love affairs, and heroic deeds; however, they all had one minor flaw: the degrading attributes they gave to women, like that of infidelity and weakness. Their goals were to define men as heroic, value their strength and hard work, emphasize their status, and to imply a patriarchal society. However, blinded by these over-powering attributes, we easily disregard that women, too, in fact, showed signs of heroism and bravery. Their roles were essential, despite their depictions. Just like today, women were the reason for protection, affection, guiding, rationale, and of course, life.

The society in which this play takes place is so foreign from our own that it is difficult to understand the actions of many characters. However, in Greek society many of these actions were much more understandable. The first of these situations was the sacrifice of Iphigeneia by Agamemnon. The king speaks of his grief when he says,

The play is dramatized because of what is at stake, an innocent girl’s life. The major characters contribute to this theme of morality, with Agamemnon showing the disadvantageous of continuing to follow morality as decreed by the gods while Achilles and the Chorus are depicted more positively and in favor of following one’s conscious. Because of this, I would assert that Euripides used Iphigeneia at Aulis as a platform to bring Socrates’ concept of morality originating from one’s own self to the masses. Euripides must have admired Socrates’ assertions on the topic of morality, as this theme is found throughout his play. Consequently, Euripides helped prompt the transition of the concept of morality to that of the inner conscious and not that of the gods and goddesses’

In the play called “Euripides 1, Alcestis and The Medea”, they share a common theme, which is heroism. In the play, the two main characters who are females, show a sign of heroism and honor. In addition, both of their husbands named, Jason and Admetus, show dishonor in the scenes, that are the cause of their misfortune In results, in Greek heroism and honor, comes with great sacrifices, hidden emotion, yet in the 21 century, heroism is looked upon differently.

Homer’s Iliad is undoubtedly focused on its male characters: Achilles, primarily, but also Hector and Agamemnon. Nevertheless, it seems that the most crucial characters in the epic are female. Homer uses the characters of Thetis, Andromache, and Helen as a basis for comparison to the male characters. Homer wants his audience to see and understand the folly of his male characters in choosing war over peace, aggression over kindness, and honor over family. While the behavior of these characters clearly speaks for itself, the contrasting attitudes and behaviors of the female characters proffer an alternative; in comparison, the reader can hardly fail to concur with Homer’s message that war, aggression,

“The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man” - Euripides. In ancient Greece, the position of women and men were held in a patriarchal ideology limited by double standards. By definition, double standards mean: men are allowed to have profound behaviors and actions, while women who did the same actions were punished or looked upon harshly. These sets of principles was applied more severely to women than men especially regarding to a code of morals. Through the injustices by the Greek system, many women were oppressed and the treatment of women were unfair. Euripides, a great tragedian, was aware of these injustices and sought to attempt to bring the matter into light about the difficulties that befall women through his literary work of “Medea”. Medea does not portray the feminist role model, but rather a real women who suffers and have become twisted by their own undergoing pain. Medea completely subverts feminine norms and contradicts the patriarchal society because of her background, psychological mind, and her actions that would position her as a representation of both genders.