Tags
Andromache, Clytemnestra, Euripides, Helen, Homer, penelope, Trojan Women
Upon reading the epics for the first time, from beginning to end, I concluded that the stories were indefinitely male dominant, no surprise there. This conclusion was not a surprise, considering women were not seen as heroic nor as important figures in ancient times. Basic judgments drawn from reading various ancient narratives led me to engage in my own journey: a journey of finding out who the women surrounding the Trojan War were in these stories. Research includes a brief history of each female figure and their actions and behaviors as portrayed in the narratives and/or the audience. The Iliad, the Odyssey, Agaememnon, and The Trojan Women are the primary sources of reference. Other contributions and references of the women surrounding the Trojan War are derived from various articles, encyclopedia entries, and passages found in scholarly works. For efficiency, each female figure will be listed in a categorized alphabetical form.
Andromache is a Trojan princess, the daughter of King Thebe of Cilicia. She is wife of the Trojan hero Hector and bore him one child, a son, named Astyanax. (Daly 11). Andromache is well known for her virtue and fidelity, noted by her continual offerings to Hector at his cenotaph long after his death (Roman & Roman 60). Andromache’s story after the Trojan War is told in the play by Euripides titled Andromache. Her story of loss is captured in Homer’s the Iliad, Book VI. From her account in Book VI, it becomes apparent that she has lost all who matter in her life due to the Trojan War, she cries out “When I lose you, Hector,/There will be nothing left, no one to turn to,/Only pain. My father and mother are dead./Achilles killed my father [….]/ I had seven brothers once in that great house./All seven went down in a single day,/Cut down by Achilles” (Iliad VI, 33-5). In Euripides The Trojan Women, Andromache suffers much misery and hopes to die (Euripides 636-40). Also occurring in The Trojan Women, are the horrific grief and situations the women experienced, as victims, after the Trojan War, namely Astyanax’s execution. Andromache cries out to Astyanax “[….] you will leave your wrteched mother and die a your enemies’ hands” (Euripides 741-2). Ironically, after Hector’s demise and that of Troy’s, Andromache is taken as a spoil of war (like all other women) by Neoptolemus, son of Achilles (Roman & Roman 60).
Though not part of the Trojan War directly, Clytemnestra was the wife of the famous Greek commander Agamemnon. Clytemnestra was the daughter of Leda and Tyndareus making her sister to Helen, Castor and Pollox (Roman & Roman 118). Clytemnestra bore three children from Agamemnon: two daughters, Electra and Ighigenia, and one son, Orestes. Monica and Luke Roman state “In earlier sources Clytemnestra and Agaememnon’s daughters are named Chrysomethis, Laodice and Iphianassa” (119). Clytemnestra is said to have been married once before to Tantalus, who was killed by Agamemnon which led to their ill-fated marriage (Roman & Roman 119). While Agaememnon is off fighting the Trojan war, Clytemnestra takes up a lover named Aegisthus, who aids Clytemnestra in the killing of Agaememnon. Upon Agamemnon’s return from the war, Clytemnestra is determined to avenge Iphigenia’s death by her own father, whom had sacrificed her to the goddess Artemis to gain a favorable wind on the way to capture Troy (Roman & Roman 119). Kathleen N. Daly states that Clytemnestra appears as a tragic figure in the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides (36). Although she may be portrayed in a tragic sense, the Aeschylean account of Clytemnestra views her as playing a more masculine role who dominates and is control (Roman & Roman 119). Clytemnestra exudes power in her actions. She takes up a lover in the House of Atreus and thoroughly plans and successfully executes her husbands murder. However, following the murder of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra suffers many unfortunate experiences and is ultimately killed as shown in Sophocles’ Electra, by her son Orestes with the aid of her daughter Electra (“Electra”).
Often said to be the most beautiful woman in the world was Helen. She was often called Helen of Troy, but actually originated from Sparta, As noted earlier, she is sister to Clytemnestra and of the Dioscuri or Castor and Pollux (Daly 65). Myth states that Zeus came to Leda in form of a swan and thus Helen was born of an egg (Daly 65). Helen was wife to Menelaus, king of Troy, brother to Agamemnon. As many know, her “abduction” by Paris, Trojan prince and brother of Hector, was the leading cause of the Trojan War (Daly 65). In the Iliad, she is characterized as feeling like a burden and guilty towards Hector when she says, “You bear such a burden/For my wanton ways” (Homer VI, 373-4). Helen is the last woman to speak in Book XXIV of the Iliad, in which she laments over Hector’s demise, but mostly of her future, for she knows that she will be hated by many (Homer 817-830). Furthermore, in The Trojan Women, Helen is shown in a rather vain light, wearing lovely attire, while all of the other spoils of the war (women) are in ragged clothing (Euripides 63). Helen gives a fine speech in the play, directed towards Menelaus, in which she tries to convince him of her innocence and of being “forced” to marry Paris (Euripides 915-64).
Penelope, daughter of Icarius and wife of the hero Odysseus and mother to son Telemachus. (Daly 113). As told in the Odyssey by Homer, while Odysseus is away Penelope patiently awaits his return and staying faithful to him. She cunningly delays the choice of who she will pick by claiming she must weave a shroud for her father in law, but to the suitors, she is unweaving the shroud, prolonging its completion (Homer Book XIX, 154-165). Due to her portrayal in the Odyssey, Penelope is said to have been the most faithful and perfect wife of all surrounding the Trojan War.