The film The Trojan Women does not depict war as most films do, a grueling brawl on the war front between two forces, leaving men and widowed women in its blood-filled wake. This film goes beyond that typical portrayal of war to focus on the aspects of war that viewers are not used to seeing, the effects of war on the homeland. This film primarily centers on the impacts of war that those still at home must endure, left behind by their loved ones who trade life and limb for the safety of their country and family. The widows in this film must cope with multiple torments of war; losing a loved one to battle, leaving their old life behind, and battling the mental hardship that accompanies these tragic events. The film does not place the emphasis …show more content…
of war on the bravery and glory of the soldiers fighting for their people, yet it calls into question the intent of war. The women in this film are mourning; a sight meant to show viewers the true violence of war and thus to become a message speaking out against war and the evil that it inflicts. Hecuba, wife of the slain King of Troy (Priam), mourns the ferocity and brutality of the bloodshed that is the conclusion of the ten-year war between the Greeks and Trojans. Women are herded as if they are livestock while their husbands are slain as they sleep by Greek soldiers. Devastated by the state of ruin that Troy is in Hecuba awakes the next morning to find that she is now a widow living homeless in a condition she does not know. This is often the price that women must pay during times of war, losing a loved one to the bloodshed that was waged to protect them. The agony and distress that comes from losing a loved one is another evil brought about by the conquest of war, it is a discomfort that no Trojan woman can escape. The women of Troy must also endure another wicked truth of war, leaving their old lives behind.
The soldiers of Greece force these newly widowed wives to be their concubines or slaves, treating the women as if they are a symbol of victory. A soldier riding to Helen’s pen where she is imprisoned can be heard saying “we need her for the victory parade!” These barbaric soldiers have drawn lots to decide which Trojan woman that they will take as their own. This is yet another vile cost of war, treating women as slaves and parading them in show of their victorious efforts in battle. This practice belittles the Trojan women, viewing them as objects for the Greeks to do with as they please. The Trojan women have lost their freedom, such freedom that their husbands and sons gave their lives to …show more content…
protect. The physical discomfort that war inflicts is more obvious than the mental suffering that war causes, simply because it can be seen and empathized by others. However, sometimes the mental damage that war causes can hurt more than the physical aspects. Andromache can hardly bear the mental hardship of giving her son Astyanax to the Greeks to be killed. As she kisses her young boy goodbye Andromache weeps for she can do nothing to save her beloved son. After releasing Astyanax’s hand Andromache collapses in sorrow. The mental and emotional distress of releasing her only child to be murdered rips at Andromache from the inside. This grief of leaving her son forever is similar to the mental torment that soldiers must deal with when going off to war, leaving their loved ones vulnerable. Hecuba must also endure the anguish of releasing her children to the Greeks, never to see them again. Hecuba’s weeps for her children and intensely scolds the Greeks for the traditions they practice. The focus of this film is to personify the many hardships of war that viewers are not accustomed to seeing.
The Trojan survivors deal with the sorrows that are behind-the-scenes, not the blood soaked soil of the battlefront. As the widows of Troy awake to find their beloved city in ruins they are sorrowful, not only for the men who have given their lives, but also the lives that they will leave behind upon starting anew. The mourning and sorrow that fill the hearts of the women will be felt by those souls laid to rest in their graves who have given their life for Troy. The suffering survivors in this film lament war with burning passion, they do not wish any man or woman to witness the struggles they have
survived.
Homer’s Iliad has been a European myth for many millennia , the long poetic narrative written in the 8th century B.C. recounts a fearsome war fought over a beautiful woman. The reliability of Homers Iliad as a true historical document has been challenged for hundreds of years and only through archaeological studies can the truth be deciphered. The Iliad was written five centuries after the war, where the stories had been passed down through the oral tradition, therefore the type of society reflected within the poems resemble much more the time of Homer . The fact and fiction of the Iliad has been uncovered through archaeology. Archaeologist found a site in which they thought to have been ‘Troy’ destroyed by the powerful country of Mycenae in the late Bronze Age. They found large amount of material culture from where they could reconstruct the society, this included pottery, engravings, murals and clay tablets. A reason for the Trojan War has always inspired great controversy. The Trojan War according to Homer was fought over the abduction of a beautiful women but this theory appears improbable. Other causes which could have sparked a war is Troy’s geographical positioning. This made it extremely opulent, where other countries of the Aegean would trade there goods and use its harbour. The Mycenaean’s being an extremely imperial, violent and militaristic country would have seen Troy as a great opportunity to gain territory and wealth, on this motive the war took place.
Since the war began women were led to believe that they were the ones who had to be the patriotic sacrifice until the men came home from war. The film reveals how the government used the media to alternately urge women to give up such elements of their feminin...
...nd bloodshed. Women gave a reason to go to war, a reason to come back from the war, and oddly, a reason to want to return to the war. The men were in a fraternity of life, and with no women around for so long they began to rely on themselves, and no longer had the needs that were provided them by women. They wanted to play in the jungle with their friends, only this time with no guns. They missed the life that they spent together eating rations and swapping stories. When they went home they were veterans, like the old men of the World Wars. If they stayed, they were still heroes, warriors, and victims. They still loved deeply the women at home, because they had no reason to fight or bicker, or possibly realize that the women they assumed would be waiting for them had changed in that time. The men were torn between love of women, and the love of brotherhood.
The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger once said “Perjor est bello timor ipse belli”, which translates to: “the dread of war is worse than war itself”. With this quote, Seneca identifies that war has both its physical and mental tolls on its participants. The psychological and emotional scars of war do much more damage to a solider than the actual physical battles. Tim O’ Brien repeats this idea many years later in his novel “The Things They Carried”, by describing how emotional burdens outweigh the physical loads that those in war must endure. What keeps them alive is the hope that they may one day return home to their loved ones. Yet, the weight of these intangible “items” such as “grief, terror, love, longing” overshadow the physical load they must endure since they are not easily cast away.
For the Greeks, Homer's Odyssey was much more than just an entertaining tale of gods, monsters, and men, it served as cultural paradigm from which every important role and relationship could be defined. This book, much more so than its counter part The Iliad, gives an eclectic view of the Achean's peacetime civilization. Through Odyssey, we gain an understanding of what is proper or improper in relationships between father and son, god and mortal, servant and master, guest and host, and--importantly--man and woman. Women play a vital role in the movement of this narrative. Unlike in The Iliad, where they are chiefly prizes to be won, bereft of identity, the women of Odyssey are unique in their personality, intentions, and relationship towards men. 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.
Clashing swords, miraculous survivals, pain of loss, and heroic sacrifice are all terrifying yet thrilling moments in a battle. The strong possibility of death and the frailty of human life add into the suspense of battle. Yet the reasons behind the wars, death, and suspense can be overlooked. The stories behind the warriors who have died will not be told again, but the stories of warriors still alive are what give the men strength to continue fighting against impossible odds. Ultimately, the reason of why a man would risk his life in battle is for someone, or something, he loves. Like in Gilgamesh and the Iliad, women help encourage and influence the protagonists to be the heroes and protectors they are meant to be.
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
...t all the Trojan men will be fighting for their beloved Troy, too keep her from tumbling. The Trojans had no choice except to fight. They had to use violence to achieve the goal of the people. They must use all the power in their mights to defend their only home. If they don't they will exhibit a weakness, in which the Greeks will then take for granted. Violence, once again, is a necessity in reaching a common goal of a city that is under attack.
As Bertrand Russell once said “War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” No one ever truly wins a wart. The horrors of war are devastating; both mentally and physically. The horror is not only ever present during life on the Frontline, it lives on in the survivors guilt. I believe that althought the horror of war is represented in the soldiers, we are all too quick to forget about the feelings of those at home, the friends and families, and the effects the war had on them. The effects of war are prominent throughtout the Novels “Regeneration” and “All quiet on the Western Front” and is also explored deeply in Wilfred Owen’s “Selected War Poetry”. Throughout these works we discover that war was inescapable for these men, they had no choice, and it+++++s events were also inescapable. We discover that the men would rather die defending their country as a hero than live with the flashbacks, the guilt, the both mental and physical scarring. They would rather lose their lives than their limbs. I find these works encompass this question fully, as it covers all angles. Pat Barker never really shows her opinion in the novel, it is more factual, and as it is based upon real events and real people it’s a reliable source of information on the horror of war and it’s effects, without bias. Erich Maria Remarque had first hand experience in the First World War, and he gives us an insight into what life on the frontline was really like. Althought fictional, I believe his suffering would have still haunted him years later, compelli...
The Myth of the Latin Woman: I Just Met a Girl Named Maria, an essay written by Judith Ortiz Cofer, discusses the racial stereotypes Cofer struggles with as a Latin woman who travels across America. Throughout her life, Cofer discusses her interactions with people who falsely misjudge her as a Latin woman. Additionally, Cofer mentions other Hispanic women she has met in her life, who also suffer with racial assumptions. Although several people would disagree with Cofer and claim that she is taking racial remarks too seriously, racial stereotyping is a significant issue that should not be overlooked in our society. People should not base someone’s worth by their outward appearance or their ethnic background.
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.
Greek women, as depicted as in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of man and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was by far more impressive than what men did.
This absence of female war perspectives stems from the cultural principles of war that dictated that women, especially American sweethearts, should have no part in the gruesomeness of war at Vietnam. Women aren’t a part of the story of Vietnam for the same reasons men must be the ones to tell that narrative; Men went to Vietnam, while women stayed in their sphere of domesticity. The incommunicability of war creates a narrative in which “knowledge is attained experientially and thus they exclude women from understanding the war experience” (Farrell). “The Sweetheart of Song Tra Bong is particularly studied because “the absolute incongruity of having a woman enter the male sanctuary of war reinforced the extent to which culture constructs war as an all-male activity (Smith).” However, Mary Anne’s necklace of tongues violently testifies to her earned right to tell war stories. O’Brien integrates what the average person knows about the archetypal, male-centered war story into “the story of a young girl on a whimsical visit [which] opens [typical war stories] to fresh interpretation” (Wesley). In an interview, O’Brien clarifies for his readers that the purpose of Mary Anne Bell was to explain that “what happened to her ... was what happened to all of them.. her circumscribed feminine role as the archetypal American girl-next-door has not allowed her any previous access to the feeling
“Lysistrata” is a tale which is centered around an Athenian woman named Lysistrata and her comrades who have taken control of the Acropolis in Athens. Lysistrata explains to the old men how the women have seized the Acropolis to keep men from using the money to make war and to keep dishonest officials from stealing the money. The opening scene of “Lysistrata” enacts the stereotypical and traditional characterization of women in Greece and also distances Lysistrata from this overused expression, housewife character. The audience is met with a woman, Lysistrata, who is furious with the other women from her country because they have not come to discuss war with her. The basic premise of the play is, Lysistrata coming up with a plan to put an end to the Peloponnesian War which is currently being fought by the men. After rounding up the women, she encourages them to withhold sex until the men agree to stop fighting. The women are difficult to convince, although eventually they agree to the plan. Lysistrata also tells the women if they are beaten, they may give in, since sex which results from violence will not please the men. Finally, all the women join Lysistrata in taking an oath to withhold sex from their mates. As a result of the women refraining from pleasing their husbands until they stop fighting the war, the play revolves around a battle of the sexes. The battle between the women and men is the literal conflict of the play. The war being fought between the men is a figurative used to lure the reader to the actual conflict of the play which is the battle between men and women.
Any soldiers that come back from war can have some difficult times with a lot of things. They can have emotional, physical, and mental problems. Also can have issues with their families when they come back because they are different when they come back. Also war then and now is a lot different in ways. Also comparing and contrasting soldiers and Odysseus and how they're similar and different . Also will explain the Trojan war These subjects are gonna be explained in this paper.