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How do characters in Homer's Iliad, Oedipus the King, and Euripides' Medea handle their struggles differently?
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Each of the tragedians depicted their female characters in a distinctive way, but there are many similarities between these works. In each play, it is the women who suffer the most. They also possess an uncanny ability to manipulate events around them. The women in Medea, Euripides and Oedipus Rex were all victims of circumstance and were unable to control the outcome of their lives. However, this does not mean that they were simply helpless victims; on the contrary, they sometimes found themselves at the helm of events which ultimately lead them to their ultimate downfall. In both plays we see that when men are involved in a conflict, their wives become powerless bystanders who often bear witness to incredibly violent acts.Among the monumental struggles that Homer, Sophocles, and Euripides depict in these classical Greek works, the efforts of the women emerge in complementary and contradictory ways. Issues of loyalty and betrayal structure the female characters’s interactions with men and other women. The women’s roles as wives and mothers during times of conflict and open warfare are notable. However, the ways that women participate in restoring civil society to normality after war are also significant.
There are strong parallels between Jocasta in Oedipus Rex and the Medea, the title character of Medea . Their main correlation is found through their decisions as mothers. Their most crucial decisions are taken in conjunction with their attitudes toward their children. Jocasta decided to abandon her child in infancy out of her desire to protect her husband and the kingdom. Additionally, she hoped to spare herself the horror of having sex with her son....
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Although Oedipus is the tragic hero of the play, it is Jocasta, not her son, who dies at the end. Medea kills her own children, and then flies off to bury them. Medea tried to protect her children. But in the end she decides they should die rather than live with Jason. Both women kill, or try to kill, their children to avoid an ignominious end for them.
The Iliad is set long after the abduction (or escape) of Helen by Paris. She remains integral to the plot because Agamemnon and Paris's competition over her started the war in the first place. The war takes its toll on her relationship with Paris, so regrets weigh on her. In Helen’s attitude toward political unity, she may be compared to Jocasta. Hecuba, although a queen of Troy, is featured primarily as a mother. Over the course of the epic, she loses her sons and one daughter, and lives to see another enslaved.
The goddesses of The Iliad are frequently more important than the
mortal women. The conflict between Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera was an
instigating factor in the war. Athena’s counsel to the Greeks spares Agamemnon
and helps turn the tide. Aphrodite, on the other side, protects Helen and saves
Paris.
It's hard to make a comparison in the form of characters in the Iliad versus Medea and Oedipus the King for reasons already outlined by the other answers. Medea and Oedipus are both from Greek tragedies, but they are quite different in how they deal with their anguish: for one thing, Medea inflicts violence on others while Oedipus inflicts violence upon himself at the emotional crux of each of their respective stories.
When it comes to Medea and the Iliad, the wronged queen Medea is more like the warrior Achilles, obsessed with glory and honor. Both characters cannot handle even the least slight done to them. Achilles is a character driven by rage and pride, willing to maim and kill over blows to his ego. He never learns to forgive or act with integrity. While Medea is justly angry for being thrown aside by her husband, her violent methods are morally outrageous and inflicted upon her own children of all people.
Oedipus is more reflective and concerned with justice than either Achilles or Medea, putting him more in line with a character like Hector from Iliad. Both are family men, and both are motivated by the love of country and the desire to protect it. Hector is in fact so honorable that he is beloved by the god Apollo, who protects his body from dishonor after he dies. However, Hector dies a warrior's death, while Oedipus, realizing the truth of his marriage, blinds himself and then goes into exile, which is in itself an attempt at doing the honorable thing since he is the one causing the curse on Thebes. Hector dies in glory while Oedipus must live with his shame.
As there are several hundred characters covered in this question, it is not possible to simultaneously be accurate and cover the topic completely. The one accurate generalization one could make is that different characters faced different challenges in a variety of ways. Even within a single work by Homer, a single character can devise many different strategies for different situations.
Within the Odyssey, for example, Odysseus is generally characterized by the epithet "polytropos" (clever in many ways). He often uses his intelligence to come up with clever ways to wriggle out of difficult situations, such as being trapped by Polyphemus. On the other hand, some of his solutions are grounded in physical strength and skill, such as the archery contest at the end of the epic, and others in willpower and self-discipline. At times, he relies on the aid of Athena and thus his piety.
The Iliad is the story of a war, and many characters face challenges using bravery and physical prowess to defeat enemies. The elderly Nestor uses his wisdom and experience to help the Greeks. Hector displays moral as well as physical courage and consults with his wife when faced with major decisions. Achilles is physically strong but impulsive. Odysseus is distinguished by being clever and sneaky, using persuasion and even lies to further his ends.
With Sophocles and Euripides, violence is not portrayed directly on stage, so audiences are shown the decision making process leading to resolutions of dilemmas. For characters such as Oedipus, solutions are often found in a quest for knowledge or understanding of the past. One step that occurs in many plays by Sophocles, who was himself a priest and known as pious, is consulting oracles. Often characters in Euripides are strongly motivated by personal emotions.