Women in early lit
Women in early lit.Women play different roles in early literature. In The Illiad, Gilgamesh, and Oedipus Rex, their roles determine the different amounts of power they possess and how they use the powers to influence the events that occur.
In The Illiad, the women throughout the story are treated as prizes. Homer expresses this when he writes:
I refused that glittering price for the young girl Chryseis. Indeed, I prefer her by far, the girl herself, I want her mine in my own house! I rank her higher that Clytemnestra, my wedded wife- she’s nothing less in build or breeding, in mind or works of hand. But I am willing to give her back, even so, if that is best or all(1.131-136).
There is no strong bond of love towards Agamemnon’s wife. He is very easily willing to trade in his wife for another woman.
Second, in Gilgamesh, women are viewed as a powerful temptation who is able to easily control any man. The trapper’s father speaks:
Go to Uruk, find Gilgamesh, extol the strength...
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