Myths Case
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The contemporary women believe in the concept of equality of the sexes and they argue for the complete independence in all walks of life. They have realized that the system of Patriarchy has its clutches in several discourses among which Culture is a prominent one. In this regard, myths can be read as a substructure of Patriarchy which propagates the concept of the domination of the male. A deeper reading will reveal that myths, irrespective of their cultural origin, have (mis)represented women as meek, week and dependent- the dichotomous counterparts of the arrogant, strong, independent men. It reminds us the need of reading them from a different perspective that facilitates the liberative agenda of female emancipation.
So, our attempt in this paper is to re-read the misrepresented female characters Helen, Penelope and Jocasta in the Greek myths and try to regain their identity and dignity which was tamed/ hidden by the Patriarchal system.
Its the male dominated society which propagated that physical beauty is an essential element in the female and yet, on the other hand they blamed this concept of beauty. They also believed that beauty was the cause of the destruction in the society. This is visible in Homers Illiad. Christopher Marlow comments on the character of Helen, stating that “Helen is the face that launched a thousand ships” and resulted in brutal the Trojan War leading thousands to be killed, orphaned and widowed. Homer used the name itself as a tool to depict her as a devil or cruel, whereas in Greek, the name Helen means Burn within. She got this name as a result of myth and not at birth. Through Helen, Homer tries to say that, women are always the cause for wickedness. He places more emphasis on the beauty of Helen which seduced Paris and made him elope with her. It clearly speaks of the typical Patriarchal society wherein women are blamed for every evil act. It is always important to remember that destruction cant be possible only from one side. While living in Patriarchal system we have completely forgotten that Paris holds the same amount of responsibility or guilt for the cause of Trojan War. While reading the character of Paris, we come to know that he was a kind of playboy who utilized women just for the sake of pleasure. He never loved Helen, but she was rather just used as a tool to fulfill his animal instinct and sexual urges. Here, the question arises as to, Can we blame Helen for receiving and maintaining the beautiful body which seduced a number of men including Paris? In our opinion Paris is more responsible than Helen as had hidden he hidden motives and their elopement was based on that, while Helen followed Paris purely for the sake of true love.