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vaginapagina2002-03-08 02:01 pm
hissyfit.livejournal.com) wrote in vaginapagina2002-03-08 02:01 pm
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i finished my Iliad paper. it's not the best i've ever written, but it's fairly decent. i examined the relationship between hera and zeus in a feminist perspective.
What is Zeus' attitude towards Hera in the Iliad?
The Iliad isn't a marvel of feminist writing by any means; however, Zeus' attitude toward Hera (who happens to be both his wife AND sister) is often very negative. He's generally at least ambivalent toward her, and sometimes downright nasty. When he's not ignoring her completely, he's most usually admonishing her or using her in some way. There is display of him devaluing her simply because she is a woman, either threatening her with violence or actually being violent to her, and cheating on her throughout the entire book.
Zeus taunts Hera and Athena in Book 4 by saying that, even though they have two strong defenders in Hera and Athena, the Greeks are receiving no help because the goddesses are sitting at Olympus drinking nectar with him. When Hera becomes angered by Zeus' taunts, Zeus then replies "I don't understand you, woman." (66) He decides that he doesn't want the war between the Trojans and Greeks to come between Hera and himself, so he offers to let her win but also warns her to never try in the future to curb his anger. She replies with "even if I begrudged you their destruction, what could I do against your superior strength?" Hera's reply in this case reaffirms her own low opinion of herself. (67) Another example of Zeus displaying his power in order to ideologically subjugate Hera is found on page 156 of Book 8. Hera and Athena were upset when Iris the messenger told them that they could no longer oppose Zeus. Zeus mocks their anger and frustration in front of all the other gods and goddesses:
It all comes down to this: these two hands are more powerful than all the gods on Olympus combined… Once you had been struck by my thunderbolt you would never had made it back to Olympus… Your wrath is nothing to me, not even if you go to the deepest foundations of Earth and Sea… not even then will I care that you are angry, because there is nothing more shameless than you.
Book 1, lines 578 through 603, illustrate Zeus' contempt for Hera as a person, as well as one of his many threats of violence toward her:
Zeus: Hera, don't hope to know all my secret thoughts. It would
strain your mind even though you are my wife. What is
proper to hear, no one… will hear before you. But what I
wish to conceive apart from the other gods, don't pry into
that…
Hera: oh my. The awesome son of Cronus has spoken. Pry? You
know that I never pry. And you always cheerfully
volunteer- whatever information you please…
Zeus: you witch! Your intuitions are always right. But what does
it get you? Nothing, except that I like you less than ever.
And so you're worse off. If it's as you think it is, it's my
business, not yours. So sit down and shut up and do as I
say. You see these hands? All the gods on Olympus won't be able to help you if I ever lay them on you…
Narrator: Hera lost her nerve when she heard this. She sad down
in silence, fear cramping her heart…
Zeus says blatantly that Hera is a second-class citizen, and she accepts it. Though she uses a sarcastic tone, she rescinds her sassy challenge to Zeus as soon as he starts to threaten her. Zeus offers threats several more times throughout the text, including (but not limited to): "…you may be the first to profit from your plot-when I whip the living daylights out of you. Or don't you remember when I strung you up...? All the gods on Olympus protested, but none could come to your rescue. If anyone tried I'd send him sailing off our balcony-there wouldn't be much left when he hit the ground." (281-2)
Zeus also boasts of his infidelity directly to Hera. He lists the mortal women with whom he has slept (Danae, Semele, Alcmene, Demeter, and Leto) some of whose names he doesn't even give ("Ixon's wife" and "the daughter of far-famed Phoenix") and instead uses the name of the men to whom they are subjects. (274-5) He also lists the children that were produced from those liaisons (Peirthous, Perseus, Minos, Rhadamanthus, Heracles, and Dionysus) so that Hera wouldn't forget that the men fighting below were direct descendants of her unfaithful husband. He even has the nerve to do so right before he sleeps with Hera, though he compares her favourably to them and she is actually flattered. She is, however, using sex to sway the battle between the Greeks and Trojans in her favour, so she isn't completely taken advantage of. In this case, one might even say that Hera is taking advantage of Zeus.
She outsmarted him many times. Hera was not a fool.
What is Zeus' attitude towards Hera in the Iliad?
The Iliad isn't a marvel of feminist writing by any means; however, Zeus' attitude toward Hera (who happens to be both his wife AND sister) is often very negative. He's generally at least ambivalent toward her, and sometimes downright nasty. When he's not ignoring her completely, he's most usually admonishing her or using her in some way. There is display of him devaluing her simply because she is a woman, either threatening her with violence or actually being violent to her, and cheating on her throughout the entire book.
Zeus taunts Hera and Athena in Book 4 by saying that, even though they have two strong defenders in Hera and Athena, the Greeks are receiving no help because the goddesses are sitting at Olympus drinking nectar with him. When Hera becomes angered by Zeus' taunts, Zeus then replies "I don't understand you, woman." (66) He decides that he doesn't want the war between the Trojans and Greeks to come between Hera and himself, so he offers to let her win but also warns her to never try in the future to curb his anger. She replies with "even if I begrudged you their destruction, what could I do against your superior strength?" Hera's reply in this case reaffirms her own low opinion of herself. (67) Another example of Zeus displaying his power in order to ideologically subjugate Hera is found on page 156 of Book 8. Hera and Athena were upset when Iris the messenger told them that they could no longer oppose Zeus. Zeus mocks their anger and frustration in front of all the other gods and goddesses:
It all comes down to this: these two hands are more powerful than all the gods on Olympus combined… Once you had been struck by my thunderbolt you would never had made it back to Olympus… Your wrath is nothing to me, not even if you go to the deepest foundations of Earth and Sea… not even then will I care that you are angry, because there is nothing more shameless than you.
Book 1, lines 578 through 603, illustrate Zeus' contempt for Hera as a person, as well as one of his many threats of violence toward her:
Zeus: Hera, don't hope to know all my secret thoughts. It would
strain your mind even though you are my wife. What is
proper to hear, no one… will hear before you. But what I
wish to conceive apart from the other gods, don't pry into
that…
Hera: oh my. The awesome son of Cronus has spoken. Pry? You
know that I never pry. And you always cheerfully
volunteer- whatever information you please…
Zeus: you witch! Your intuitions are always right. But what does
it get you? Nothing, except that I like you less than ever.
And so you're worse off. If it's as you think it is, it's my
business, not yours. So sit down and shut up and do as I
say. You see these hands? All the gods on Olympus won't be able to help you if I ever lay them on you…
Narrator: Hera lost her nerve when she heard this. She sad down
in silence, fear cramping her heart…
Zeus says blatantly that Hera is a second-class citizen, and she accepts it. Though she uses a sarcastic tone, she rescinds her sassy challenge to Zeus as soon as he starts to threaten her. Zeus offers threats several more times throughout the text, including (but not limited to): "…you may be the first to profit from your plot-when I whip the living daylights out of you. Or don't you remember when I strung you up...? All the gods on Olympus protested, but none could come to your rescue. If anyone tried I'd send him sailing off our balcony-there wouldn't be much left when he hit the ground." (281-2)
Zeus also boasts of his infidelity directly to Hera. He lists the mortal women with whom he has slept (Danae, Semele, Alcmene, Demeter, and Leto) some of whose names he doesn't even give ("Ixon's wife" and "the daughter of far-famed Phoenix") and instead uses the name of the men to whom they are subjects. (274-5) He also lists the children that were produced from those liaisons (Peirthous, Perseus, Minos, Rhadamanthus, Heracles, and Dionysus) so that Hera wouldn't forget that the men fighting below were direct descendants of her unfaithful husband. He even has the nerve to do so right before he sleeps with Hera, though he compares her favourably to them and she is actually flattered. She is, however, using sex to sway the battle between the Greeks and Trojans in her favour, so she isn't completely taken advantage of. In this case, one might even say that Hera is taking advantage of Zeus.
She outsmarted him many times. Hera was not a fool.