Blog Post 2/11/18

In Book 3, we see Helen join Priam and the high standing men.  This is the first instance in the Iliad where a mortal female is in the presence of men and at that, Trojan elders.  While Helen and Priam converse, it is nice to see that we get a glimpse of Helen’s personality and how she converses with men.  The Trojan elders are amazed at her beauty and express it in a way that almost sound contradictory. [Book 3, pg 104, line 158] “Terrible is the likeliness of her face to immortal goddesses.”  With the use of terrible to explain how these men feel about her beauty in relation to goddesses, it kind of shows that they are shocked that a mortal can exemplify beauty that closely mirrors immortal goddesses.  That part stood out to me.  Another scene in this book stood out when Priam asked Helen about the Greek heros, as if he didn’t already know about all the heros.  He seemed like he was trying to get close to her and gain some alone time.  When Helen answers Priam’s question regarding one of the Greek warriors, she shows us how low, and maybe insecure, she feels about herself. [Book 3, pg 105, lines 178-180] “That man is Atreus’ son Agamemnon, widely powerful, and at the same time a good king and a strong spearfighter, once my kinsman, slut that I am. Did this ever happen?”  At this point, I couldn’t believe Helen called herself a slut so directly to a Trojan elder. This made me want to know what Helen was thinking and gave insight on her personality.  Why did she call herself a slut? Was it because she knew that’s how people already felt about her? Or perhaps she was playing the victim and showing her vulnerability.  It might also be that she’s technically the reason for the war in the first place and perhaps she’s admitting it’s her fault.  Since the war between the Trojans and Greeks was initiated when Helen was taken, it was interesting reading about the individual that everyone was fighting over.