Women's Influential Role in Homer's The Iliad

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The women characters in Homer’s epic poem The Iliad are usually seen as minor characters with very little significance. The mortal characters are portrayed simply as property belonging to their male counterparts, and the immortal goddess figures are persuaded to leave the interactions with the conflict to the male figure. However, each of the conflicts and male exhibitions of power was focused around a female character in some way. The major conflicts between Agamemnon and Achilles, Menalaus and Paris, and Chryses quarrel with Agamemnon are all centered on a female character. Even though women had no real power in ancient Grecian society the women characters in Homer’s epic, both mortal and immortal, do have the power to greatly influence the …show more content…

She cries her regrets about joining Paris and wishes that she would have died instead of making the decision to follow him. Tatiana Tsakitopoulou -Summers questions the sincerity of Helen’s cries in her article “Helen of Troy: At the Crossroads Between Ancient Patriarchy and Modem Feminism” and suggests that her remorse is nothing more than a power move.
At the site of a beautiful woman who tearfully acknowledges her past errors, no man can remain angry and dismiss her… Therefore, the set-up of the whole scene along with the tremendous advantage Helen gains in the end by ascertaining Priam 's patronage suggests that her words are part of a carefully orchestrated plan to manipulate the Trojan elders, who are most instrumental in determining her fate. (Tsakitopoulou 38-39)
Summers proposes that Helen strategically gained Priam’s support during the duel in order to protect her own wellbeing. This theory suggests that Helen is fully aware of the power that she contains, and unlike Chryseis and Briseis who are unable to verbally display their power, Helen is able to actively use hers to her

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