Feminine Ideal
Nancy Romero
English 205
18 October 2013
To be or not to be with the Feminine Ideal, that is the question
The role of women has always been a touchy issue, but should a woman submit into the strong hands of men? In the stories I have chosen, women are not only objects in the life of these men but speechless by voice, venerated by society and zero individual strength falling into the. One woman in particular by the name of Antigone in the play Antigone by Sophocles although a fictional character, portrayed the up most example of a woman in charge to do what is morally correct regardless of what the “stronger hand” may say against it. We begin with the most famous play know worldwide, The Iliad. The whole point of this story was a battle between the Achaeans and the Trojans for the recovery of Helen, the wife of Menelaus. Throughout the whole play, Helen has but one line in where she wishes she were dead or at least wedded to a better man. She says “I wish that on the day my mother bore me a windstorm had swept me away to a mountain or into the waves of the restless sea, swept me away before all this could happen. But since the gods have ordained these evils, why couldn’t I be the wife of a better man, one sensitive at least to repeated reproaches?” (The Iliad, Book 6). Can you picture yourself in her shoes? One can only imagine why it was that Helen decided to leave with Paris in the first place. Her husband must have mistreated her and over looked her opinions for her to feel that way. Even though she was a queen, you would think she would receive the upmost treatment and have her thoughts and opinions paid heed to but what if Helen was simply your common royal harlot and betrayed her husband secretly? What if to him she was his precious jewel after all being named the most beautiful woman in Greece? Even precious jewels can be over looked as simply adorned objects. Now, a question is brought up, who fits the criteria of the feminine ideal? This woman
English 205
18 October 2013
To be or not to be with the Feminine Ideal, that is the question
The role of women has always been a touchy issue, but should a woman submit into the strong hands of men? In the stories I have chosen, women are not only objects in the life of these men but speechless by voice, venerated by society and zero individual strength falling into the. One woman in particular by the name of Antigone in the play Antigone by Sophocles although a fictional character, portrayed the up most example of a woman in charge to do what is morally correct regardless of what the “stronger hand” may say against it. We begin with the most famous play know worldwide, The Iliad. The whole point of this story was a battle between the Achaeans and the Trojans for the recovery of Helen, the wife of Menelaus. Throughout the whole play, Helen has but one line in where she wishes she were dead or at least wedded to a better man. She says “I wish that on the day my mother bore me a windstorm had swept me away to a mountain or into the waves of the restless sea, swept me away before all this could happen. But since the gods have ordained these evils, why couldn’t I be the wife of a better man, one sensitive at least to repeated reproaches?” (The Iliad, Book 6). Can you picture yourself in her shoes? One can only imagine why it was that Helen decided to leave with Paris in the first place. Her husband must have mistreated her and over looked her opinions for her to feel that way. Even though she was a queen, you would think she would receive the upmost treatment and have her thoughts and opinions paid heed to but what if Helen was simply your common royal harlot and betrayed her husband secretly? What if to him she was his precious jewel after all being named the most beautiful woman in Greece? Even precious jewels can be over looked as simply adorned objects. Now, a question is brought up, who fits the criteria of the feminine ideal? This woman