Women of the Iliad :: Homer Women Iliad

Women of the IliadIn the Iliad we saw women as items of exchange and as markers of lieu for the men who feature them (Chryseis andBriseis, whom Agame mnon and Achilles reason out over in Book I). We saw them in their normal social roles as mothers and wives(Hecuba, Andromache in Book VI). We saw stereotypical characterizations of them as quicksilver(a) (Helen in Book VI), seductive,and deceitful (Hera in Book XIV). We see them as an obstacle that the male hero has to overcome or resist to fulfill his luxuriousdestiny (Andromaches entreaties to Hector in Book VI).In all, the few times women show up in what is basically a story told in the male sphere, the story is nothing that subverts or callsinto question the structure of the society that is being portrayed... or is there?To the extent that the Iliad has a moral lesson to impart to its readers, part of it would take a leak to be that the behavior of Agamemnon and Achilles in the first book (and beyond) is excessive. Both men a re so fixated on their own images as heroic warriorsthat they end up bringing woe upon themselves and the rest of the Greeks. Part of that behavior is the way they treat the women not as human beings but as emblems of their own status and martial prowess. Look carefully at what Agamemnon says to theprophet who declared that he had to give back Chryseis (Page 62) Now once more you make divination to the Dana ans, argue forth your reason why he who strikes from afar afflicts them, because I for the sake of the girl Chryseis would not take the shining ransom and indeed I deficiency greatly to have her in my own house since I like her be tter than Klytaimestra my own married woman, for in truth she is no way inferiorTo those who already knew the stories of the Trojan War heroes (which all of the original Greek audience of the epic would),these words would be ominous ones. They would know that Agamemnon had angered hi s wife Klytaim estra (Clytemnestra),