Goddess Liberation
While some of the female characters in Homer's The Illiad are powerful goddesses, others are merely helpless mortal women. Hera is one of the most powerful forces in the poem. She holds more power over Zeus, and the other characters, than many of the male gods. "You'll set me curry-worrying with Hera and make her scold me again! She is always at me as it is before them all...You just go away again now, and don't let Hera see" (Homer 20). Even though Zeus is king, at times even he is reluctant to cross his wife. Athena is another powerful goddess with a strong will. Throughout the poem, she is ready and willing to accompany Hera while she helps the Achaians during
The Illiad is an excellent example of both how women can be powerful and important or be passive and needless, depending on both their attitude and their place in society. As opposed to Hera, who rarely does anything against her will, Helen is forced to be the wife of a man she doesn't love because he captured her while attacking a city. Homer never explains much about Chryseis, but she is the cause of many problems for the Achaian army. Helen is a female mortal who seems as though she could be the exact opposite of Athena or Hera. Helen seems like nothing more than a stepping stone on which to move the story forward, when in actualality, she is the reason that Menelaos and Paris are fighting the battle. "How I wish I had died before I followed your son here, and left my bridal chamber and my family, my beloved daughter and all my young friends! But that was not to be; and so I pine away in sorrow" (Homer 42). Ares is an angry, seemingly strong male god, but Athena has no qualms about going against him to protect the Greek soilders. 'Verily thou has heard my prayer, and done me honour and smitten hard the Achaian people: grant me now again this boon, even now save the Danaans from this dires pestilence!' So he prayed, and Phoibos Apollo heard his prayer. " (Homer, The Illiad, 19)The return of Chryesis to her father results in the saving of the Greeks, yet the character is barely mentioned beyond this point. "He gave her into her father's arms, and he received his daughter with joy. Some of the other characters in The Illiad are mortal women who, though underdeveloped characters, are vital to the poem's progression. "Hera and Athena returned home, Hera the friend of Argos and Athena, an ever present help in time of trouble, as soon as they had put an end to the murderous exploits of Ares the enemy of mankind" (Homer 74).
Common topics in this essay:
Argos Athena,
Menelaos Paris,
Homer's Illiad,
Hera Homer,
Homer Illiad,
Hera Helen,
Hera Athena,
Phoibos Apollo,
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mortal women,
heard prayer,
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Acceptance Essays
