Men have idealized prominent female figures in society like Marilyn Monroe as the literary and symbolic emblem of sexual beauty; while her beauty brought her overwhelming popularity, it ultimately lead to her destruction. Similarly, Helen of Troy, a mythic symbol of voluptuous desires, has also been subjected to such actions; in fact, since the times of the Odyssey, many people had joined in on elaborating her mythical beauty. Although both poems agree that Helen is the epitome of beauty, Edgar Allen Poe’s poem “To Helen” focuses on the positive effects of beauty—bringing comfort and joy to the man who beholds her—while H.D.’s “Helen” draws readers’ attention to the negative consequences of overwhelming beauty—an object of the Greeks’ detestation. In his poem “To Helen,” Poe reveals Helen’s profound effect on the speaker by presenting her as a woman of inspiring, idealistic beauty. In the first stanza, the speaker’s exhaustion before seeing Helen is revealed by the alliterative “weary, wayworn traveler,” as if he who looks upon Helen has a sickness that only Helen’s beauty can cure...
Edgar Allan Poe’s poems The Raven, And Annabel Lee Contrast in many different ways but i'll be highlighting three of them in this paper.The mood of these poems is sad because their true loves die in very different settings and how they handle the grief is different from one going totally insane to the other man being calm and almost a little light hearted about it.
In the 1930s, who would have perpetrated violent acts against women in the name of sexual gratification yet still hold expectations that women take care of them? By making men in general the placeholder for “you” in the poem, it creates a much stronger and universal statement about the sexual inequality women face. She relates to women who have had “a god for [a] guest” yet it seems ironic because she is criticising the way these women have been treated (10). It could be argued, instead, that it is not that she sees men as gods, but that it is the way they see themselves. Zeus was a god who ruled Olympus and felt entitled to any woman he wanted, immortal or otherwise.
In the first section of Odyssey, mortal women are presented to us as controlled by the stereotypes and expectations of the culture of the day, and it is only within that context that we can consider the examples Homer provides of women to be admired or despised. He provides us with clear contrasts, between Penelope and Eurycleia on the one hand, and Helen and Clytemnaestra on the other.
Although Homer’s The Odyssey is a tale of Odysseus’s heroic quest to return to Ithaca, the women in it play an equal, if not more important role. The saying “behind every great man is an even greater woman” rings true throughout The Odyssey. In Ancient Greek culture, one’s glory is based off of the geras they acquire; for men that glory included women. In Penelope, Odysseus found the perfect match, both intellectually and hospitably; she is clever, cunning and faithful. Penelope, along with other mortal and immortal women such as Athena, challenge the view of women during this time because Homer presented Penelope as a strong woman rather than the submissive character she is expected to be.
When comparing Helen of (Sparta) Troy and Marilyn Monroe they have many parallels and differences. Mutually both of these women had a coarse childhood with many hardships. Both women had a turning point when they did something that caused people to change their opinion of them. Helen and Monroe’s Beauty has luminously inspired artist for decades. When comparing Helen of troy and Marilyn Monroe, one can see many similarities between both historic individuals.
Sexism has occurred throughout history and has impacted women significantly.The Odyssey follows the narrative of a man and looks at love from the perspective of a man. The famed poem was written by an ancient greek man and until recently, has always been translated by a man. For these reasons, The Odyssey provides a great example of how love, women, and marriage have been perceived by society, especially men, in the past. By examining the sexist undertones and the perception of women and love from the men in the epic and comparing those to criticisms made today we can truly understand how far we have come as a society.
In the Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, there are many themes that serve to make a comment about the meanings of the story. The theme of women in the poem serves to make these comments but also establishes a point of view on women in the reader. From this point of view, a perspective is developed into the "best" and "worst" in women. Achievement of this is through the characterization of many women with single notable evil qualities. Similar to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, Eve like the many women in the Odyssey brings about pain and suffering for mankind. Contrary to the depicting of women as roots of evil, the reader sees the other traits of women that are most desirable. The roles of these women are achieved by their portrayal throughout the poem. This in return has a significant affect on how the poem and the message that is conveyed.
This essay explores the role of women in Homer's Odyssey, James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) and Derrick Walcott's Omeros (1990), epics written in very different historical periods. Common to all three epics are women as the transforming figure in a man's life, both in the capacity of a harlot and as wife.
Poe, Edgar Allan, and Arthur Hobson Quinn. Complete Tales and Poems. New ed. : Dorset P., U.S., 1992. Print.
The image that has been produced over time about the Goddess of Desire, the renowned Aphrodite, is one of a longhaired beauty, riding atop a scallop shell to bestow her beauteous wonders upon the mortal earth and Olympus. This is an icon of femininity and perfection, the most stunning of the already statuesque gods and goddesses. Doves and sparrows are her counterparts as is the sweet and playful Cupid in later Roman myths. However, this seemingly flawless picture of delicacy and sensual delights is far from perfect. In fact, when looked at a little more closely, the mien of Aphrodite becomes distorted, her beauty playing out to actually be her curse. In the next pages we will delve into the true nature of the Love Goddess, contemplate the source of her ‘deeds’ and then determine how high a pedestal she actually rests upon.
In the beginning, there was Adam. Adam felt incomplete in the Garden of Eden and needed a companion. Eve was created and Adam had his woman. Edgar Allen Poe experimented with man's eternal necessity and drew his final conclusion near the end of his literary career. With the publication of Eureka, Poe made his final realization that tied every one of his love driven short stories together and triumphantly proclaimed: "I have no desire to live since I have done Eureka. I could accomplish nothing more" (n. pag.). Kenneth Graham puts it best: "For Poe, the most notable glimpse of eternity available to man is in the beauty of woman, always ephemeral, always melancholic" (2760). With this idea in mind, Poe shows the consequences of losing the love of one's life through his short stories and his poetry, and also tries to bring reason to his own troubled life. In the works of Poe, a man without his love becomes a man without the most vital part of his spirit and collapses in a horrifying manner.
The diction of “Annabel Lee” helps create the impression of a fairy tale-like love story. With words such as “maiden” (line 3), “kingdom” (line 8), “beautiful” (line 16), “high-born kinsmen” (line 17), Poe paints a picture of a whimsical, fantastic love story when, in reality, Annabel Lee dies in her girlhood. This is wherein lies the irony: the glamorization of the persona’s love of Annabel Lee
Edgar Allan Poe has a unique writing style that uses several different elements of literary structure. He uses intrigue vocabulary, repetition, and imagery to better capture the reader’s attention and place them in the story. Edgar Allan Poe’s style is dark, and his is mysterious style of writing appeals to emotion and drama. What might be Poe’s greatest fictitious stories are gothic tend to have the same recurring theme of either death, lost love, or both. His choice of word draws the reader in to engage them to understand the author’s message more clearly. Authors who have a vague short lexicon tend to not engage the reader as much.
Homer, Iliad is the narration of the Trojan war. The Trojan war was one of the most important and significant wars of Greek mythology, Homer described how the war was triggered by the abduction of the most beautiful women known as Helen. This paper will argue how the traditional view of this poem is accurate because it indeed was Helens beauty and her selfishness that sparked the Trojan war. Although Helen was not happy about the outcomes of her mistakes. This paper will present how Helen faced many forms of self judgment, how she created many relationships with significant characters, such as Paris, Priam and Aphrodite. Homers portrayal of this significant women was remarkable as we were able to feel her pain and anguish, the readers were
Women were often subjects of intense focus in ancient literary works. In Sarah Pomeroy’s introduction of her text Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves, she writes, “Women pervade nearly every genre of classical literature, yet often the bias of the author distorts the information” (x). It is evident in literature that the social roles of women were more restricted than the roles of men. And since the majority of early literature was written by men, misogyny tends to taint much of it. The female characters are usually given negative traits of deception, temptation, selfishness, and seduction. Women were controlled, contained, and exploited. In early literature, women are seen as objects of possession, forces deadly to men, cunning, passive, shameful, and often less honorable than men. Literature reflects the societal beliefs and attitudes of an era and the consistency of these beliefs and attitudes toward women and the roles women play has endured through the centuries in literature. Women begin at a disadvantage according to these societal definitions. In a world run by competing men, women were viewed as property—prizes of contests, booty of battle and the more power men had over these possessions the more prestigious the man. When reading ancient literature one finds that women are often not only prizes, but they were responsible for luring or seducing men into damnation by using their feminine traits.