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Women's roles in different societies
Roles of women in past societies
Literary criticism of the death in the iliad
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Recommended: Women's roles in different societies
Another important role that women play in ancient and modern societies is being a caretaker. Women of the time were somewhat forced into this role because they were not given the right to hold a job, so their primary purpose in society was to get married and have children. The three examples for caretakers in the Greek culture are wife, mother, and servant. Andromache, the wife of Prince Hector of Troy, exemplifies a caretaker in The Iliad. When Hector prepares to fight Achilles, she worries for his safety and pleads with him to not participate in the battle, because she had experienced Achilles valor firsthand when he killed her family (“The Norton Anthology of Western Literature” 212). She tells Hector how important he is to her and begs him not to abandon their son, Astyanax, and make her a widow. She truly fears for his life and desires his wellbeing as any good wife should. …show more content…
Though she is an immortal, she is a loving mother nontheless. Though Achilles is a fully grown man at the time of The Iliad, he still looks to his mother for comfort after Briseis was taken from him and after Patroclus is murdered (“The Norton Anthology of Western Literature” 198, 251). This tells readers how important Achilles’s mother must be to him that he, a strong man, would still seek his mother’s guidance. Later in the plot, Thetis takes advantage of a favor owed to her by asking Hephaestus, the renowned immortal smith, to forge new armor for Achilles after he loses his own to Hector. In making her request, she makes known her love for her son and her fear of losing him to his dreadful fate (“The Norton Anthology of Western Literature” 253-254). There substantial proof of Thetis’s unrelenting care for her son, Achilles, in Homer’s
In the introduction of the Essential Illiad given by Sheila Murnaghan, Achilles is labeled as “the greatest of the Greek heroes”. In classic mythology a hero is a person of great strength and courage celebrated for bold exploits and is often the offspring of a mortal and a god. Achilles was the greatest fighter among the Greeks or Trojans and feared no man in battle. He was also the offspring of a mortal and a god so by classic mythology definition, Achilles was indeed a hero. A hero is defined by the present day Websters Dictionary as: “one who inspires through manners and actions; an individual who leads through personal example and accomplishments requiring bravery, skill, determination, and other admirable qualities.” Achilles, in no manner, fits this definition. By contemporary standards, he is instead a pathetic villain. Aside from being a kidnapper, rapist and murderer, Achilles proves to be emotionally weak, selfish, and malicious. Many times throughout the Illiad, Achilles is also referred to as “godlike”. The gods of Greek mythology were subject to the same emotions and character flaws as humans, and though privileged to some foresight, the gods had similar mental capacities as humans. What really set the gods apart were their powers (controlling the elements, changing their appearance, etc.), great strength, and immortality. Because of his great strength and apparent invincibility, it is easy to see why Achilles would...
was the accepted way of life in the Bronze Age, which is when Achilles lived.
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
In the beginning of Achilles’ life, the Greek goddess, Themis, prophesized that he would either die young and famous in battle or live a long nonexistent life without battle. His mother, Thetis, took this as a death omen and placed Achilles in the magical waters of the Styx River. She did this to help him be immortal but did not account for the area that she held, his ankle, to be left vulnerable (Claybourne). This beginning to his life leads him to believe that he was better than anyone else because the gods protected him. It is him believing that he is superior that leads to his fatal flaw of being egotistical.
The question "was Achilles' anger justified" brings up issues that seem to have little or no relevance to the war. In time of war I would expect the leaders to prioritize the groups interest for the sake of unity and cooperation rather than being entrenched in achieving their own personal goals. But my expectations are those of a modern day literature student, I'm inclined to think that the Greeks who first read this epic valued different things than myself. Another relevant question might be "were Achilles' actions justified". Anger can be easily justified, but the actions that anger might lead you to take are not as easily justified. Again I am not an ancient Greek and my opinions are irrelevant unless I open my mind to different viewpoints. Therefore I am striving to look into this issue through ancient Greek eyes where the principle of sacrificing ones own interests was apparently not valued, but maintaining ones honor, on the other hand, was greatly valued. In the following paragraphs I will attempt to answer these two aforementioned questions.
The Greeks placed great importance on personal honor. Why is this? Is it because to them man I nothing without honor. Or is it that the honor is more important than the man? "Honor to the Greeks is something that is won by a man's prowess, his ability to fight and be victorious on the battle field"(Schein 62). This is just one example of how honor is obtained. A second method of gaining honor is to be a great orator, one must posses the ability to speak in the assembly and express his ideas eloquently, and persuasively to the gathered body. A third way of achieving personal honor is to demonstrate athletic ability.
Greek and Roman women lived in a world where strict gender roles were given; where each person was judged in terms of compliance with gender-specific standards of conduct. Generally, men were placed above women in terms of independence, control and overall freedom. Whereas men lived in the world at large, active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides' essay.
The Ancient Greeks admired their heroes and tried to learn from both their achievements and their mistakes. They believed that most great leaders and warriors followed a predictable behavior cycle, which often ended tragically. In Homer’s epic poem, The Iliad, Achilles is a great warrior who traces the stages of the behavior cycle twice, from arete to hubris to ate and then to nemesis. Achilles is a highly skilled warrior and a great leader who becomes a narcissist and an arrogant person, which leads to selfish and childish behavior resulting in the death of his best friend. Following Patroclus’ death, Achilles repeats the behavior cycle by regaining his courage and motivation, and goes back to battle against Hector. The pride he feels in killing Hector and his overpowering hatred for him, leads Achilles to another bad decision: disrespecting the body of his enemy. This foolish choice leads directly to Achilles death. Although The Iliad is mainly known as a story about the Trojan War, it is understood as a story about Achilles and his struggle to be a hero.
In Song of Achilles the only gods that are really interacting with the humans are Thetis, Chiron and Apollo. One thing that today’s audience has in common with Homer’s is the belief that god or gods play a big part in our lives. Miller defers from the original material by making Thetis a more prominent and different character than we see in The Iliad. “She leaned closer still, looming over me. Her mouth was a gash of read, like the torn-open stomach of a sacrifice, bloody and oracular. Behind it her teeth shone sharp and white as bone” (pg.54). In The Iliad Thetis is seen as a beautiful immortal goddess and loving mother, but in Miller’s version she is cruel and distant and that makes Achilles seem more like a victim. Thetis also reminds us of an overbearing mother who disapproves of her son’s choices and relationships.
The thoughts of Hector’s and child being taken away made Hector to act logically during the war as he was not only fighting for himself but others. After the fall of Troy, Andromache and her son Astyanax are thrown to plummet of death from the city walls. She was later captured by Achilles, who made her a slave and at the same time a concubine. She bore him three children and ended living in Pergamum with them till she died in old age. Women in that society were not respected by their husband popularity or fame or even the important part she had played in saving the society.
In fact there is evidence in the 1st century BC of Priene, a woman named Phyle became the first woman in office as a crown bearer, who also paid for a cistern to store water, and water pipes for the city( “A Woman in politics: Phyle, Wife of Thessalos”, page 227). In addition there was evidence of a female philosopher named Hipparchia from the city of Maroneia, a female doctor and midwife named Phanostrate, from Athens in the 4th century BC, and a harpist named Polygnota from Delphi in 86 B.C. ( “A Woman Philosopher: The Life of Hipparchia” page 227; “ A Professional Women: Phanostrate, Midwife and Doctor”, page 227; “ A Professional Woman: The Theban Harpist Polygnota, Daughter of Socrates”, page 228). In addition there have been discovered letters dated back from 90-120 AD, which were actually birthday invitations from an officer 's wife named Claudia Severa to her friends and sister . With these sources, one can’t conclude that females had no other roles in the ancient world. Although a majority of women were forced into the life bearing kids and just caring for the household, because that was the ideal role that was given to them and there was no other role to look up to, not all females were restricted that life. Females like Phyle and Phanostrate were both married and in addition was a doctor, or politician. Also, the
In her plea, Andromache attempts to grasp the future that awaits her with Hector leaving to war, but also heading towards death. She mentions “‘the destiny that weighs me down’” as a part of her calculated move in appealing to Hector’s emotional state (Iliad 6.485). Using the phrase “weighs me down” demonstrates the extent to which she is affected by Hector’s decision to go to war; it is not only a burden emotionally but physically as well. The threat of Hector dying and leaving her is incomprehensible and structures her argument as she later discusses “‘Achilles butchered them all,’” thus recognizing the threat of Achilles and his affect on Hector’s fate (Iliad 6.502). Fate depends upon the gods, propelling the story—it is what fate does to the characters and the passage that define it. The syntax of Andromache’s argument uses a lengthy argument with specific concise phrases drawing out an emotional response from Hector. Despite the calculated structure of her argument, Andromache is unable to recognize and respond to Hector’s words and implications. As a result, she does not comprehend the consequences for her
Achilles is introduced into The Iliad getting into a debacle with the leader of the Greek army, Agamemnon, during the last year of the Trojan War. Achilles starts a quarrel with Agamemnon because he has demanded possession of Achilles’ woman, Briseis, in consolation for having to give up his woman, Chryseis, so that the gods will end their plague upon the Greek soldiers. Achilles does all he can to get his loved one back, but he knows that nothing will waver Agamemnon’s decision. This is when Achil...
The epic hero Achilles was the son of Thetis, a goddess and daughter of the sea god Nereus, and thus is descended from the gods. His godly heritage brought him prowess and favor in battle. Thetis directly beseeches Zeus on behalf of Achilles for favor and glory in both his fight with Agamemnon the Trojans (1.505). Achilles receives the favor of the gods and regained his honor. Achilles is again looked favorably upon by his mother and the gods when she intervened for him when he needed new armor to fight Hector because Achilles’ armor was captured from Patroklos. She traveled to Hephaistos and begged him to make a shield and armor for Achilles so that he could defeat Hector in battle (18.457). With the armor secured from the gods, Achilles was able to avenge his dear friend Patrokols.
Possibly the only reason Thetis was in the movie was because she was the main reason Achilles decided to fight in the war against the Trojans. In both the book and the movie, it was Thetis who told Achilles that if he fought in the war, he would die young, but his name would live on for thousands of years. This seemed to be the theme throughout the movie and the book.