An example of a woman that was forced into being a mother was Hector’s wife, Andromache. Andromache took care of their son, Astyanax. She also did her best to get Hector out the war. She says, “You, Hector…Pity me please! Please take your stand on the rampart here, / before you orphan your son and make your wife a widow. / Draw up your armies up where the wild fig tree stands/ there, where the city lies most open to assault, / the walls lower, easily overrun.”(210) She lets fate take its road. In the end her efforts are not enough to save him.

Another woman in the poem who played the mother role was Queen Hecuba. She loves her sons Hector and Paris. No mother would want anything to happen to her child. When tragedy is anticipated, Queen Hecuba and her noblewomen do everything in their power. She prays to the temple of Athena and says, “Now shatter the sp

ear of Diomedes! That wild man-/ Hurl him headlong down before the Scaean Gates!”(204) The women of Troy will do anything to help their men. They sound as though they could not function without them.

If I could be a character in The Iliad, I would wish to be more like the controlling women or a mother figure. The trophy wives can not do anything for themselves. All the trophy wives do is sit around and wait to see what will happen next. I personally cannot just sit around. I must be in around the action and suspense. The controlling women have the power to end war. Ending the war would save a lot of people and life would be much simpler for the people of Troy. The mother figures in the story also show their force by voicing their opinions of what they feel the men should do. I have also been a mother figure before. Mother figures are attentive and care about what happens to everyone.

Hera is another woman who also dislikes the Trojans. Hera is conniving and often goes behind Zeus’ back to get her way. Hera along with Athena asks her husband Zeus if they can intervene in the war to help the Achaeans. They are allowed to and she goes to get the Achaeans. Hera talks to the rest of the Achaean troops to give them encouragement to fight the Trojans by “lashing the nerve and fighting-fury in each man.”(190)

Aphrodite is also a kin to Athena and Hera. She is the goddess of love ad supports the Trojans throughout the battle. Though she tries to change the battle somewhat, her efforts are

Some topics in this essay:
Helen Helen, Scaean Gates”204, Athena Hera, Astyanax Hector, Simone Weil, Queen Hecuba, Achaeans Hera, Hera Athena, Hector Paris, Helen Troy, trophy wife, dislikes trojans, iliad women, mother figure, queen hecuba, poem force, women power, controlling women, trophy wives, fight trojans,