Helen Of Troy: The Manipulated Beauty

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Quinterrace Blackmon Mrs. Johnnie Hargrove English 203 31 October 2011 Helen of Troy: The Manipulated Beauty Throughout the history of Greece and Rome there were important historical women who played roles in their society. The Greek poet Homer and Roman poet Virgil created alluring epic poems, both involving the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Troy. Helen is the face that launched a thousand ships. At the time of the Trojan War she was the most beautiful woman in the world. There is some question as to whether she is the most beautiful woman of all time. Her beauty is very important because it inspired the Trojan War that killed untold thousands of souls. Furthermore her story is the centerpiece of the Greek myth. The exploits of the heroes and heroines of the Trojan War form the substance of the Greek stories that Greek religion was based upon for hundreds of years later. Many men were brought in boats over the great gulf of the sea to Troy for the sake of fair-haired Helen. Helen of Troy is quite possibly one of the most inspired characters of all time, including modern and ancient literature. She has become a symbol of man's erotic desires and of all of the varied moods of womanhood. She had such a dynamic appeal about her that made her fit into the Iliad and Aeneid poems. Although Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, she was manipulated and deemed secondary to her male counterparts. Helen can be looked at as a woman who had no say so in how she wanted to run her life and was manipulated throughout the years. In the Iliad the Greek Goddess Aphrodite played the key role in controlling Helen. Helen was taken from her husband Meneleus and could not return. Aphrodite being the goddess of love was the one who took Helen from him, and forced her to stay with Paris of Troy, which sparked the Trojan War. There was no way Helen could defy

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