Paris Vs. Helen

The next and less benevolent role is that of the seductress. Two stories about such women referred to in The Odyssey are those of the half-sisters Helen and Klytaimnestra. The entire Trojan War was caused by Helen's unfaithfulness to Menelaos; her affair caused many deaths and Odysseus would not have had to leave home if she had not run away with Paris. The other sister also caused pain and suffering by having an affair and then killing her husband, Agamemnon, with her lover on his homecoming day. The seductress is always looked upon as dangerous and harmful to mankind. The Seirenes symbolize this role; their song seduces and compels anyone listening to linger until death. Kirke tries to seduce Odysseus before she helps him, and the beautiful Kalypso entices him with sex and immortality and will not release him to go home. It is the hero's job to resist the temptation of the seductress or it will lead to his downfall.

      Penelope and Helen are the real human women who can steal men's hearts with their own feminine ways and they never let their man go.  Helen stole the heart of Paris and later married Menelaus-the love that Paris had for Helen began the long Trojan War.  Even with her shaded past, Helen is able to live her life as a proper adjusted middle-class matron.  Penelope and Odysseus were only together for a few years before he was sent off to war and, while he was gone for over twenty years, his love for her lasted.  Penelope is the symbol of marital fidelity, of trust, honor  and devotion.

A Comparison of the Relationship between Paris and Helen and the Relationship between Hector and Andromache

The female characters portrayed in Aeschylus and Sophocles’ works have considerably different personalities and roles, yet those females all have the common weaknesses of being short-sighted and stubborn. They intensify the conflicts within their families while being inconsiderate of the impacts that they may bring to their nations and societies, which leads to consequences that they are incapable of taking responsibilities for. Clytemnestra and Antigone, two major characters in their respective author’s works, possess different motivations for their deeds in the stories. While Clytemnestra is driven by the desire of revenge to murder her husband Agamemnon, Antigone acts against Creon’s will and strives to properly bury her brother. Despite having different motivations and personalities, Clytemnestra and Antigone both commit

Odysseus, dressed as a beggar went to Troy to gather information. While there, Helen saw and recognized Odysseus. To learn if it was truly Odysseus, she bathed him to remove his beggar’s clothes. To have called a guard would be an easy way to arrest Odysseus, but she didn’t. Instead, she learned what would happen while also giving Odysseus information about the Trojan side of the war. If Helen did not like Menelaus and wished the Trojans to win, many situations could have happened to allow Helen to betray Menelaus. Helen sincerely liked Menelaus and her abduction by Paris was not with her consent. In addition, when Helen puts a drug in everyone’s wine to prevent sadness the only reason for this action could be to prevent the pain of past events from resurfacing. The book specifically says, “she cast a medicine of Heartsease, free of gall, to make one forget all sorrows.” This action was done out of care for her husband. Helen seems a loyal wife, but the Helen in Trojan Women, not so

While traditional readers of Homer’s, The Odyssey, view Odysseus as a hero, they often reduce Penelope to Odysseus’s helpless wife, but Penelope is more than just a damsel-in-distress. Penelope proves to be Odysseus’s heroic equal, as through her resilient, witty and strategic actions she ensures Odysseus fighting advantages over the suitors.

While this circumstance may be easy enough to understand, such setting or background in the plot actually entails more history: Even before Paris was born, a prophecy was carried out that the handsome prince would cause the destruction of Troy; thus, King Priam and his queen banished the baby to be raised in the wilderness. Later on, as a shepherd, he encountered the three goddesses, Hera, Pallas Athene, and Aphrodite, and set the motion of what would be the war that extinguished the Trojan line—Paris was to decide who is the most beautiful of the goddesses. Each goddess tried to bribe him with promises of power, riches, fame, and glory, but it was Aphrodite who succeeded in the end as she promised Paris that he can have the most beautiful mortal, Helen. This simple arrangement would then serve as the catalyst of a war that would kill thousands of Trojans and Greeks as soon it is revealed that Paris has stolen Helen and the gods and goddesses of Olympus have each taken sides on the war which would further complicate the lives of the people of Troy and Greece. (Buck Jr. , 11-12)

Virgil portrays the main female characters of the Aeneid as stubborn, selfish individuals who manipulate those around them to accomplish their goals. As seen throughout the first six books of the poem, Juno acts against Aeneas because he is destined to found Rome and destroy Carthage— a city dear to her heart. Juno also disrupts the order in the mortal world because she is still hurt about the time when Paris, a Trojan male, does not recognize her as the most gorgeous woman on earth. Virgil also portrays Venus as obstructive and self-centered because her goal is to ensure that somebody from her lineage founds Rome so that she can receive worship for such accomplishment. Due to this behavior, one can argue that the women of the

The Greeks recited hymns of antiquity to portray their gods as the forces that drove nature and the fortunes that befell men and immortals alike. Peculiar of these hymns was that ascribed unto golden Aphrodite—the laughter-loving goddess of sweet desire. Unlike the hymns to other gods, the might and significance of Aphrodite is portrayed through words of praise and shame. Throughout Greek mythology, the misdeeds of gods and heroes alike all played to serve the will of wise Zeus. One can therefore deduce that the Greeks recited the shame of Aphrodite to praise her act as her divine contribution to the birth and rise of the Trojan Hero Aeneas.

In The Iliad, Paris is seen as unhonorable and unmanly. He runs from his problems and even Helen, who was gifted to him by Aphrodite, is ashamed to be seen with him. He is afraid of death, and would much rather be enjoying Helen than fighting alongside his people. Helen is repulsed by his unmanliness and self-centered behavior and tells Aphrodite such.

By taking the wife of Menelaus, he had dishonored him. While his brother is described as a great warrior, Paris is a described by Homer as a pretty boy that has success with women due to his charm. However, none of those traits seem to matter because he shies away from battle and he is mainly the object of disdain. In chapter 3, Paris didn’t have the courage to fight Menelaos for his own wrong doing. In chapter 6, as Hector arrives back to the city to make a sacrifice he sees Paris whom is not involved in the fighting. Another character that is depicted as dishonorable is seen in Book 2. Agamemnon decides to test the desire and courage of his soldiers by suggesting a retreat. The results were definitely counter to what Agamemnon intended, his troops quickly prepared their ships to depart. Odysseus quickly rallies the troops and reminds them of Calchas prophecy. However, one soldier Thersites whom is described as deformed and ugly (perhaps a metaphor because of his dishonor) argues that the war isn’t worth fighting. Odysseus quickly scolds Thersites and infers that Thersites has no honor because he does not wish to continue to fight. Odysseus then goes on to hit Thersites with a scepter and the Achaeans agree to fight again.

Paris has never had an ounce of good sense / And never will. He’ll pay for it someday. / But come inside and sit down on this chair, / Dear brother-in-law. You bear such a burden / For my wanton ways and Paris’ witlessness. / Zeus has placed this evil fate on us so that / In time to come poets will sing of us.” (Iliad 6.367-76)

Euripides and Sophocles wrote powerful tragedies that remain influential to this day. The vast majority of work recovered from this time is by male authorship. What remains about women of this time is written through the lens of male authors’ perspective and beliefs about the role of women in Greek culture. The works of these two playwrights frequently characterize women as unstable and dangerous. Agave, Antigone, and Medea are all undoubtedly the driving force behind the tragic action in these plays. It is their choices that lead to the pain and death of the people around them. Through an examination of the evidence from three separate works, Antigone, The Bacchae, and The Medea, the role of women in ancient Greek tragedy becomes clear. The actions of Agave, Antigone, and Medea repeatedly prove their characters instability and danger.

Its main characters are women each with differently complex personnalities. Hecabe was the queen of Troja, her situation makes her a tragic character and atracts pity. On the other hand, her daughter the princess Cassandra is dedicated to the gods; she bears the curse of having the ability if foresight yet never being trusted, thrown onto her by the god Apollo. Finaly Hecabe's daughter-in-law Andromache, proud and noble. The protagonists being so different, they each will have a different approach to the play's events. Furthermore Menelaus, one of the play's two male characters, is considered weak in contrast with the strong female personnalities present. The trojan women also question the god's power and men dependence on them. The gods in the play are depicted as flawed, therefore assimilated with simple

you” (3.138). It is not only that Helen is not to have any choice in the