Quintessence of the Women in Greek Literature

THE ILIAD

Helen, the Olympian-born, dazzlingly beautiful trophy wife of Sparta's King Menelaus was melancholic in her marriage. Helen yearned for the companionship of the gorgeous young man whom she had seen only in a vision: Paris, the Prince of Troy. As luck would have it, Paris managed to "abduct" Helen and spirit her off to his homeland, where she was welcomed by his father, King Priam, despite the portents of doom from Paris' foresighted sister, Cassandra . 

Helen’s beauty practically incited the Trojan War that killed untold thousands of souls. Furthermore it is the center piece of the Greek myth. Hesiod describes Helen, "...others brought in boats over the great gulf of the sea to Troy for the sake of fair-haired Helen." He also refers to these warriors as "more just and superior, the godly race of men-heroes, who are called demigods..." The exploits of the heroes of the Trojan War form the essence of the Greek stories that Greek religion was based upon for hundreds of years later.

THE ODYSSEY

The call of his oath to reclaim Helen from Troy caused the separation between Odysseus, the architect of the Trojan horse that spelled V-I-C-T-O-R-Y for the Spartans, and Penelope, his wife and Queen of Ithaca. However, as he sailed home after the war, he soon found himself fighting for his life as Poseidon, the god of the seas that harbors a bitter grudge against him, planned to wreak revenge on him at any cost. For those 20 years that his departed husband struggled to free his path towards Ithaca, where was the beautiful Penelope? 

COMPARISON 

A battlefield on which men heroically fight to the death, with the ground littered with bodies, that’s what the two epics of Homer were about. But underneath the gore and carnage of the men's bodies are the twisted and bound bodies of live women on their backs. The above visual is an attempt to distill the apparent role of women in general and Helen and Penelope in particular in Homer's world and the world he depicts in his poems. Rather than individual persons who control their lives and their environment, women in The Iliad and The Odyssey operate as pawns controlled by the men who control the world in which they live.

Helen was made to display her naked body in front of the leering eyes of nobles and commoners alike.

Penelope can only tolerate the rowdy mob of suitors who have overrun her palace and pillaged her land because well, custom dictated her to eventually remarry.

What made them different, if you ask me, is their attitude towards the anguish caused by the men in their life.

   Helen, escaped; Penelope, endured.

Helen left behind all sense of morality, shame, and responsible behavior as she bared heart and soul to Paris. She turned a blind eye to reason and followed her heart albeit she was aware that his husband would come after her and that thousands would lay their lives for this unworthy cause. So, what do you call the one thing that launched a thousand ships….against another? A villain, an antagonist, or the baddie, that’s what she is. Call her whatever you want, but underneath her golden Aphrodite exterior lies a woman not worthy of a crown.

The trait of endurance that marks Odysseus is mirrored in his wife Penelope, who never lost faith in her husband despite the pressure her many suitors place on her to remarry. In the 20 years of Odysseus’s absence, Penelope had done nothing but heavily uphold her honor and hope and wait patiently amidst all odds that her husband’s ship is just on the horizon, his men rowing briskly towards Ithaca. She was the epitome of what a devoted wife should be – submissive, patient and able to love unconditionally – or everything Helen as a spouse was not.

It requires no further explanation for me to conclude that in terms of character, Penelope is worth emulating; to follow the footsteps of Helen, on the other hand, can only bring tears and misfortune to a person.

Sacrifice, defined.

Fertility symbol. Goddess. Nymphomaniac whore. Guiltless victim. Bronze Age princess. Helen is the West's original femme fatale. The most fascinating aspect of her story is her illicit love affair with Paris, the handsome prince of Troy. Aphrodite, the goddess of love, had promised Paris the most beautiful mortal woman in return for awarding Aphrodite the prize of supreme divine beauty. Unable to resist such a tempting bribe, Paris made his fateful judgment. He then traveled from Troy to Greece for his reward. Helen was the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, but she fell victim to the passion instilled in her by Aphrodite. As Virgil famously put it, if in a different context: “Love conquers all.” Helen, “crazed by the Trojan man,” followed Paris to Troy. Hence, the Trojan War and the fall of Troy, antiquity's biggest myth.

Now, if I were the face that launched a thousand ships, would I be a willing accomplice in adultery? Would I choose to run away with a prince Aphrodite herself destined for me or would I see reason and put aside my desire for love to save millions? My answer is this, if God Himself gave his only begotten son to save a sinner like me from death and offer eternal life, who am I to not do as He did? Life is dictated by the choices we make, not the regrets we want to forget. I would rather be known as an unknown, however sad, hero than a self-serving adulteress.  I know it won’t be easy to see my soulmate sail away and do nothing to stop him, but I must. 

But a man who commits adultery lacks judgment; whoever does so destroys himself. (NIV, Proverbs 6:32)

The act of adultery is the biggest scam that we and our flesh will play on ourselves. The short-term pleasures of adultery will tempt us into thinking that it will be the greatest thing to do.

It is not my desire to fall victim to the temptation of choosing love over country. Our love is doomed from the start. Why? The mere fact that Paris and I had exchanged glances with lust is already adultery. 

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery'; but I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman with lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. (NAS, Matthew 5:27-28)

Dangerous beauties for whose sake men rush to ruin themselves and others are naturals for popular storytelling in word and image. Especially gripping in tales of two lovers' irresistible passion for each other is the added complication of adultery, which makes one or both of them leave behind all sense of morality, shame, and responsible behavior.

Helen is a reminder of how subversive and destructive sex can be when you fall in love with the wrong person. Likewise, since human beings have an unconquerable habit of doing exactly that, for close on three millennia, people have been appropriating Helen for their own purposes. Helen would have been complicit in her fate, a dynamic protagonist, a woman with the power to bestow kingdoms and the will to use it but the power she wielded over kingdoms, she used to satisfy only two people: herself and Paris. 

So help me God, I will not do the same.