We know that women in Ancient Greece were not treated very well, even royalty, and they were for the most part ushered away to spend most of their time in isolation with other women, why then does Homer have the women in the
Iliad be outspoken and around the men?
I would think that a lot of the outspokenness directly reflects a preference of death for slavery and dishonor. Women know that their fate is to be taken as slaves and concubines. Conversely, when you are truly religious and have faith in your gods, you have no reason to fear death. In fact, such a death resulting from standing up for your believes would most likely result in a better afterlife than many others. Plus, after a war that has lasted 9 years, most women would have lost important members of their families in battle at this point. There is a very personal rage to be vented.
ReplyDeleteI like your blog! Great color :) I was thinking about the role of women and the outspokenness in the movie vs. the book. I feel that the only women in the story The Iliad that were very outspoken were the goddesses, especially Hera who is constantly waging a verbal battle with Zeus. Helen seems to speak her mind but also be very respectful of the family that has taken her in; she is kind to Hector and kind to Priam. In the movie Troy, Briseis is very outspoken. She speaks her mind very freely to all the Acheans especially Achilles. The assumption I gained from watching the movie was that her outspokenness is what lures Achilles to love her. The one connection that I can see to Briseis speaking out so much is that she is also in the movie portrayed as a priestess, and possibly like the goddesses in the book, those that seek to devote their lives to the gods also portray their characteristics.
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