The Love Of Helen And Helen In Homer Vs. Homer

Around 850 BC, there was a major discovery when Homer was introduced. Through his poetry, he relinquishes two stories called the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer narrated a cultural norm where women were idolized and held great power over men in some ways, but were still found as property in their eyes. Homer acquaints us with two characters in each parable. From the Iliad, we receive a character of great beauty who is married to King Menelaus of (place) named Helen. The readers also learn of a diligent ad passionate wife of Odysseus named Penelope. After assessing both parables, one can learn that Penelope should be far more admired than Helen.

Penelope may not have possessed the outer beauty that Helen innately exhibited, but she was a very

The daughter of Zeus was also described as a “Beauty, terrible beauty! A deathless goddess -so she strikes our eyes” (Homer 133) which made it easy to attract many men’s attention. Most readers come to the consensus that Helen was the cause of the Trojan War making her the antagonist in this story. Originally, she was married to King Menelaus but found love with Paris, the Prince of Troy. Helen was very selfish. She did not think of others in this story or how they would react. Many Trojan families lost good men and gained tremendous sorrow behind her actions that she started to question after she has made it to Troy. Helen loved Paris, but once she arrived at Troy, she started to miss her previous husband. As her regrets began to grow, Troy ended up ultimately falling behind this great tragedy. Within her actions, there was only thought of her love for

Even though they lived in different places they were still treated as property to most men. While the suitors defaced Penelope’s property, they waited for her to choose a man to court. Whoever won Penelope over, would be able to take Odysseus’ throne. She was the pawn for them to take over the kingdom. With Helen She seemed to be a trophy to be won. The men thought that whoever “shall be victorious and prove to be the better man” would get to take “the woman and all she has to bear them to his own home” (Homer 137) to show they were the victor. This shows that she was nothing more than a prize for the winner of the battle. Both women believed strongly in themselves. Penelope showed her strength through her smarts and loyalty not to let the men sway her against what she believed. Even though Helen had her regrets, she owned up to her decision costing many people their lives and loved ones. Helen and Penelope also had men who cared for them. Odysseus proved his love for Penelope by telling Calypso that even though his wife was not as beautiful as she was he still longed to go home to Penelope and his son. He spent 10 years doing his best to be reunited with his family despite the obstacles that Poseidon set forth for him to face. For Helen. Menelaus showed great strength to fight the war to become the victor to win his wife. His will to fight for her was one of the qualities she greatly admired about him. When