The butterfly effect is ever-present in Greek mythology and particularly in the story of Helen. In Greek legend the god Zeus disguises himself as a swan and seduces and rapes a woman named Leda. The product of this rape is Helen, known as the most beautiful woman in the world. She grows up in Sparta, Greece and becomes the wife of King Menelaus. She is then known as Helen of Sparta. Then, the Trojan prince Paris falls in love with her. He abducts her from Sparta and names her Helen of Troy. This starts a war between Greece and Troy. One small, gentle, and beautiful woman becomes the cause of the most epic battles and long-lasting war. The legendary Trojan War lasts for ten bloody and miserable years. There is an abstract schema that has been …show more content…
Instead of being presented with what Greece hates about Helen, we are presented with why Greece is "unmoved" by her. Again, stillness or lack of movement is ever-present in this poem. Although the Grecians acknowledge that she is the daughter of Zeus, "god's daughter, born of love," they still despise her. The mood in this last stanza changes as Helen is described with positive attributes such as "cool feet" and "slenderest knees" instead of the pale "white" and "wan". Still, her “beauty of cool feet” does not affect the Grecians nor do they care for her "slenderest knees". In other words, even with her beauty, Helen can only be despised and hated. Furthermore, in these final lines of the poem, the speaker says that Greece could only love Helen if she were dead. This portrays the intense hatred that is felt by the Greeks towards Helen. Specifically, "all Greece" wants to see her beautiful body cremated into ashes. Therefore, Helen can only have the love and respect of her countrymen by dying, being cremated, and getting laid to rest among "funereal cypresses". Again, the strong emotion is clear in this stanza. The Greeks see Helen and they feel hateful, reviled, and