The Fallen Woman of Troy: Hecuba
Trojan Women is a depiction of the hardships women faced under postwar conditions. In this tragedy Hecuba symbolizes the archetype of these postwar conditions. One symbol Hecuba represents under these conditions is the archetype of maternal instinct. Hecuba suffers the most because she lost her country, children and husband. Hecuba's story solidifies a woman's defeat as a parallel to Troy's demise.
Hecuba's awakening speech is one of the highlights from the play. From the opening scene, we see Hecuba lying in the dirt as dawn approaches. Euripides captures Hecuba's frustrations from her awakening speech. Her heartfelt soliloquy opens with,"What else but tears is now my hapless lot/whose country, children, husband all are lost." Her speech embodies the frustration of a queen, mother and woman. Hecuba blames both Helen and the men she seeks dependence from as a cause for her losses.
In Hecuba's perspective, she illustrates Euripides deep hatred about the evils of war. The struggle of power between the sexes demoralized Hecuba in various ways. One way that
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The mother is the backbone of the family. Although a mother’s capabilities embellish with undeniable strength, both internal and external, the destruction of war hinders Hecuba. The division of Hecuba's position as a queen, mother and woman rest out of her control. Despite losing everything, Hecuba attempts to strengthen her family. She realizes that her family is the remaining hope of her reign. Hecuba illustrates to the audience the constant struggle of survival for women. The constant struggle of survival for women is the sacrifice to protect their families. Hecuba sacrifice more than she anticipated. While protecting her family, Hecuba begins to feel helpless. We see her helplessness when her daughter Cassandra comes forth bearing a flaming torch. The helplessness women endures is a negative effect from
In The Bacchae, I believe that Euripides uses the relationship of male and female to explore the alluring concept of feminine empowerment in a patriarchal society and to demonstrate the cost this empowerment subsequently has on ordered civilization. In this paper, I will argue that Euripides uses the conflictual relation between the genders to criticize the role of women in Greek society while also showing the consequences of a total feminine revolt. Through developing this conflict, Euripides is demonstrating how the path to the most successful civilization is through a balance of masculine rationality and feminine emotional freedom. I will prove this by analyzing the positions of Pentheus, the Bacchants, and Dionysus throughout the play. The character Pentheus
Euripdies' The Bacchae is known for its celebration of women's rebellion and patriarchial overthrow, claims which hold truth if not supremely. The Thebans, along with other women, pursue the rituals and culture of Dionysus’s cult which enacts their rebellion against men and the laws of their community. However, this motion to go aginst feminine norms is short lived as they lose power. When Agave comes to her epiphany, Dionysus is the one who is triumphant over Pentheus's death, not Agave or her sisters These women must be punished for their rebellion against both men and community. This female power is weakened and the rebellion muted in order to bring back social order and also to provide the story with a close. Female rebellion actually becomes oppressed through The Bacchae due to its conseqences and leading events of the play. This alludes to the message that women who do not follow traditional roles of femininity are subject to the destruction of an established society.
Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each—through her vices or virtues—helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks. Before we delve into the traits of individual characters, it is important to understand certain assumptions about women that prevailed in the Homeric Age. By modern standards, the Ancient Greeks would be considered a rabidly misogynistic culture. Indeed, the notoriously sour Boetian playwright Hesiod-- who wrote about fifty years before Homer-- proclaimed "Zeus who thunders on high made women to be evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600).
In Homer's composition, The Odyssey, the roles women play are very significant. The best examples of the true nature of women occur when Odysseus encounters Circe and Calypso. These two characters illustrate the thoughts and feelings of how women how a woman feels and how they think. As the quote states, Circe and Calypso illustrate how women really can be crafty, intelligent, sneaky, disloyal, and cruel. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win.
In the Greek society women were treated very differently than they are today. Women in ancient Greece were not allowed to own property, participate in politics, and they were under control of the man in their lives. The goddess Aphrodite did not adhere to these social norms and thus the reason the earthly women must comply with the societal structure that was set before them. Aphrodite did not have a father figure according to Hesiod, and therefore did not have a man in her life to tell her what to do. She was a serial adulteress and has many children with many men other than her husband. She was not the only goddess from the ancient Greek myths to cause doubt in the minds of men. Gaia and the Titan Rhea rise up against their husbands in order to protect their children. Pandora, another woman in the Greek myths, shows that all evil comes from woman. Aphrodite, Gaia, Rhea, and Pandora cause the ancient Greek men to be suspicious of women because of her mischievous and wild behavior.
The Iliad by Homer and the Women of Troy by Euripides are both Greek works of literature that look at the Trojan War from different perspectives. Book 6 of the Iliad illustrates that the ultimate glory is to fight for the city with no regard to the impact on the family. The Women of Troy focuses on the negatives that war causes, especially towards the soldier’s wives and children. Whereas the Iliad focuses on the battle itself and centers on the warriors, the Women of Troy focuses on the wrath the war brings upon the families left behind. The central theme in both the works is the Trojan War and they both offer perspectives of the duty of a person, the role of predetermined fate, and the role of women.
For the most part, women in today's society hold a position equal to that of a man;
The role of women in Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days is outstandingly subordinate. There are a number of times in Hesiod's text that despises women, being mortal, immortal, or flesh-eating monsters. The overall impression of women from Theogony and Works and Days, leads one to believe that Hesiod is a misogynist.
In Hecuba, the main character, Hecuba, is first seen as an extremely passive character, whose peers push her around. However, after the deaths of her children, her world view changes. Once these murders take place, she becomes an active character, no longer letting the world take advantage of her. In this essay I will analyze how the deaths of Polydorus and Polyxena were what caused Hecuba to no longer be a passive character, but an active character who takes care of her own issues.
...ow Greek civilization was founded by women; they were the ones who gave birth to the heroes. Similarly, The Odyssey is a story created by women. The plot revolves around the actions of women. Athena orchestrates all the events. The seductresses, such as Circe, the sirens, and Calypso, attempt to stop Odysseus from reaching home. The helpmeets, such as Nausicaa, Arete, and Athena, aid Odysseus in his homecoming. The wise and virtuous Penelope is the object of Odysseus’ quest. Unlike Helen who forsakes her husband, Penelope remains faithful. Unlike Clytemnestra who assassinates her husband, Penelope patiently waits for Odysseus. She becomes a model of female patience and of female intelligence. Her craftiness is the only one which can match up to Odysseus’. The Odyssey presents a wide array of women and demonstrates the influence that women have in the life of a hero.
This scene is significantly important as it is the first time the audience is introduced to a new perspective in the Trojan war, Hecuba’s perspective. Hecuba by far has lost the most in the war, and her grief is evident in every word and action she takes. Because of this, characters that were previously perceived to be heroes, like Odysseus, are now considered the villains. This dynamic between a lamenting mother and an uncaring hero is explicitly stated in this scene, making it one of the most important in the play.
Hecuba was the Queen of Troy before the Greeks attacked her kingdom. Her and her family, were living peacefully, but then they were diminished. Her husband died, along with most of her children. Her son, Polydorous was sent to an island far away from Troy to be with a trusted friend. He was brought there to be kept safe until he was able to build Troy back up. Hecuba and her daughter were both slaves for the Greeks. Hecuba had lost all her trust and dignity when she lost Troy and her children. She was beaten and on top of that she witnessed her daughter’s, Polyxena, death. She also had the sight of discovering her son’s dead body. She had lost faith in humanity and trust because their trusted old friend turned back on them for treasure.
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
Women’s lives are represented by the roles they either choose or have imposed on them. This is evident in the play Medea by Euripides through the characters of Medea and the nurse. During the time period which Medea is set women have very limited social power and no political power at all, although a women’s maternal and domestic power was respected in the privacy of the home, “Our lives depend on how his lordship feels”. The limited power these women were given is different to modern society yet roles are still imposed on women to conform and be a dutiful wife.
In Medea, by Euripides, conflicts play a major role in the creation of the play. Some examples of these conflicts are with Medea and Jason, Medea and herself, and Medea and Creon. Medea is shown to be a strong, independent woman who does what she wants as well as doesn’t let anything stand in her way. She shares qualities of a traditional male at the time, and the qualities of a traditional female. Euripides makes this clear in the play by creating conflicts to prove women can be a powerful character and that the play in general challenges the idea of misogyny.