In the Iliad, we see several different female mortal characters. For instance, Hektor’s wife Andromache majorly contrasts from Menelaos’ wife Helen and compares nicely to Hektor’s mother or King Priam’s wife Hekabe. The way these three females differentiate from one another is depicted through several events throughout the poem which provides the reader with a basic profile entailing specific traits from personality to morals. Similarly, all these women are of belonging to Troy. They are in relation to Hektor, King Priam, also to Paris as the poem progresses. Although belonging to Troy, Andromache is significantly similar and different from Helen and Hekabe. Andromache is see as the perfect female and wife in the Iliad. She is loving and …show more content…
Helen is very different than that of Andromache. Helen was stolen from her husband Menelaos by Hektor’s Brother Paris. This is the event that takes responsibility for sparking the Trojan War. Although Helen was abducted by Paris when Menelaos was away from home, many believe it was part lust on Helen’s part as well. We see this when Aphrodite retrieved Paris away from his almost death in the duel with Menelaos. Aphrodite told Helen at this point in the poem that she should show love and compassion towards Paris. Although Helen tells Paris she wishes Menelaos killed him, Paris ignores her disrespectful words and they end up sleeping in the same bed together. Helen seems on the edge regarding Paris in terms of whether she has feelings for him or not. It’s hard to create a concrete conclusion whether Helen staying alongside Paris for as long as she did is due to Paris’ force upon her or her feelings towards him. Andromache is 100% loyal to Hektor as Helen isn’t towards Menelaos or even Paris. It seems she sways her love back and forth depending on the specific moment within the books. There is a major difference in the personality of these two mortal females. I believe Andromache is perceived as a perfect women also due to her responsibilities. She takes care of her son in hopes of the best of her stressful situation unknowing the result of her husband’s life in war. Helen, on the other hand, left her son as she is now …show more content…
In the Iliad we see Andromache’s traits of love, care, and loyalty present within Hekabe. In the epic, Hekabe tries to convince her son Hektor to stay out of battle just as Andromache did in earlier books. Hekabe tells Hektor to retreat to protect himself from facing the great warrior Achilleus. In the Iliad, we see the burial of a body extremely important which is why Hekabe told Hektor that if he doesn’t seek protection in Troy then his body won’t be properly set into death. In this scene, Hekabe adopts Andromache’s traits of ultimate love, care, and loyalty. Obviously Hektor doesn’t listen to his mother due to his duty to fight for his people. Since Hektor died, Priam is seen later trying to recover his body from the Greek camp. Hekabe expresses her fear of her husband undergoing such a courageous journey because she cares dearly for him like Andromache did towards Hektor. She cares so dearly that in fact she offers her husband the libation cup. With this, her husband is enabled to pray for his protection as he approaches the Greek camp by praying to Zeus. This is a scene where we see Hekabe already wanting the protection of her husband as he tries to retrieve Hektor’s body. She takes a step even further in terms of really presenting herself as quite similar of a perfect wife. Through these scenes we obviously see Hekabe’s love towards her son Hektor and husband Priam. Once