Elyce Pallett Essay 1
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Elyce Pallett Dr. Schrenker Greek Mythology Essay #1 7 February 2008
The Subtle Strength
- The battle of the sexes has been raging on for ages; the constant
struggle to define one sex’s dominance over the other. We have seen it through
history in our movies, music, and books. We have been taught the ideals of the
feminists, and of the anti-feminist; but do we know this war started? Was it a
product of contemporary thought, or could it be tracked back to the ancient
times? From the literature of Greek mythology I believe that the idea of a male
dominant world had been shaken. Through the stories and actions of the Greek
gods and goddesses we can see that men didn’t always win. Before we are able to
choose who is more powerful we have to ask ourselves, what is power? If power
is body bulk and large muscles, then I would say that Gods are more powerful,
however power is something deeper than physique. Power has many variations.
Power can be the capacity to do something, physical force or strength, control
and influence over other people and their actions, political control, the
authority to act, persuasiveness, and skill. We are able to see the power of
women through the fear they set over men because of their ability to bring life
and the subtleness of their power, and the necessity of Gaia in Zeus’s life.
- Women contain the greatest amount of threat against men. A man’s
greatest fear is being taking over and not having control any longer. In the
beginning Ouranos, Kronos and Zeus all knew of their fate. That they would have
great and wise children or that they would have a child that would take them
over. All were fearful of their children and wanted to get rid of them. Kronos
swallowed his children whole “For he had learned… that it was fated for him,
powerful though he was, to be overthrown by his child…” (Theogony lines 467-
469). The ability to create life is a great power for women; it’s the ability
to create a successor that is grander than their husband. Goddesses are able to
bring the power of life into existence. Without women there would be no men,
there is always a necessity for a man to have a women or life would stop. In
the beginning of creation there were Caos, Gaia, Eros, Tartaros and the Sea
just existing alone. Caos, Gaia, Night, Eris, and Hera all had children without
sexual love. There could be a world full of Goddesses and life would go on,
they didn’t need men to have children. In turn what worth would there be for
men, unless they could create more worth for themselves than reproduction. No
man has been able to bring a life into the world without the help of a woman.
The only God that was able to come close to this was Zeus; however this would
not have been possible if Metis was not already pregnant when he devoured her.
- Women’s power isn’t an obvious one. Women tend to have subtle power,
and they use them with wit and clever. They are often mysterious and have
hidden plans. Hera had a plan to get behind her husband Zeus’s back during the
Trojan War. She first bathed herself in the sweet scent of ambrosia, and then
she went to get the aid of Aphrodite, “Give me the Sex and Desire you use to
subdue immortals and humans. I am off to visit the ends of the earth and Father
Ocean and Mother Tethys… and try to resolve their endless quarrel…” (Iliad 14 lines
197-205), knowing that the truth would not get her what she had wanted. Then
she went to seek the help of Sleep. Weary at first, Sleep refused to
help, “Come on look, I’ll give you one of the young Graces to have and to hold
and be called your wife, Pasithea the object of your desire” (Iliad 14 lines
270-273), but with the bait of a woman Sleep could not refuse. With their help
she was able to carry out her plan. She seduced Zeus to bed then while
distracted put him in a deep sleep, once awaking he realized that he had been
deceived. Hera was cunning in her actions and could even swindle powerful and
all knowing Zeus to get what she wanted.
- The Goddess most dangerous of all would be the Aphrodite. Aphrodite has
the power of seduction, to bring any man down to his knees and abide to her
will. Even the most powerful of God cannot escape the power of Aphrodite.
Through the grace of Aphrodite many a God has expanded their family and shown
their love to their wives. “From that moment on… she has fulfilled the honored
function that includes virginal sweet-talk, lover’s smiles and deceits and all
the gentle pleasures of sex” (Theogony lines 203-207).
- Zeus is the King of Olympos and anyone who defied him was in for his
dreadful wrath. When Prometheus went against Zeus and stole fire and gave it to
the mortals Zeus was furious. To go bring evil into the world Zeus created
Pandora, not a monster, or a man to bring agonizing pain to the mortals, but a
woman. “And they were stunned, immortal gods and mortal men, when they say the
sheer deception, irresistible to men. From her is the race of female women, the
deadly race...” (Theogony lines 591-595). Zeus’s greatest weakness was women.
It is obvious that he would see women as the greatest amount of evil. The only
time you ever saw Zeus sneaking around was when he was cheating on Hera. Zeus
wouldn’t be sneaking around if he didn’t see her as a threat; he was the king
of the gods.
- The Goddess Gaia embodies the power of women, the strength, the
deception, and the power of mind. While having children, her husband Ouranos,
stuffed every single one of them back inside of her, because he didn’t want one
of them to overpower him. Gaia came up with a plan to get back at him and to
show him who is really in charge. She gave a convincing speech to her children
about how to get back at their father. “Listen to me, children, and we might
yet get even with your criminal father for what he has done to us. After all,
he started this whole ugly business” (Theogony lines 165-167). One of her
children Kronos stepped up and accepted the challenge. While Kronos was hidden
inside of Earth his father had come down looking for love from his mother and
his jumped out of his hiding place and castrated his father, and tossed his
severed genitalia behind him. She was able to have power over him by taking
from him what makes him most masculine. Through pain Gaia was able to bring
more life. From the blood of Ouranos she was able to give birth to the Furies,
the Giants and the Meliai. Gaia’s strength is one of persuasion, and cleverness
she didn’t need to use muscles or fury on him.
- Gaia also, had the power of being able to foretell the future and
enlighten people of their fates. Without the help of Gaia Zeus wouldn’t have
been the king that he ended up to be. She saved him from the depths of Kronos’s
stomach by giving Rheia the plan on how to trick her husband. Gaia’s had
indirectly given Zeus his thunder and lightning for which he uses to overcome
all of his great dangers. Since Rheia had given Kronos the stone to eat after
seasons past he threw back up all of his children, among those children were
the Cyclopes. The Cyclopes look to Zeus with gratitude, not the women, even
though he did nothing, and gave him his weaponry. Gaia was the one who told
Zeus that he should release the Hundred Handers from the underground of Earth.
Without the help of the Hundred Handers, Zeus may have never overcome the
Titans and would have not become king. Gaia was the one who suggested that Zeus
be king.
- Women are producers, they are lovers, they are clever, they are strong
and they are wise. Greek mythologist do not have an antifeminists view, women
are not weak, or dainty and they do not put up with the foolishness of men, men
may not often realize the power of the women around them, because we tend to
see that women get revenge rather than acting in the moment. But maybe that is
what women’s real power is, the mystery, not knowing what they are going to do
and how they are going to do it. They may not have the power to act on their
own, but they do have the will to find help.
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