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English
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Published:
2024-08-05
Updated:
2024-09-02
Words:
964
Chapters:
5/9
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Women are victims of a cruel fate.

Summary:

I've been fixating on Greek mythology after buying a lot of books about it and I feel really sad for the women of the myths, so I'm dedicating some chapters to them.

Chapter 1: The men start wars, yet Troy hates Helen.

Chapter Text

Poor Helen.

Blamed for a war she did not want.

Blamed for the lives lost.

Blamed for things that she couldn't control.

Who is she?

Helen of Sparta?

Or Helen of Troy?

History remembers her as a traitorous whore,

Artists remember her as beautiful,

Young girls tend to relate to her,

But could she ever have imagined what the future would've brought?

The answer is no.

No mortal could've foreseen a war.

No mortal could've prevented it.

Why must she be blamed for her beauty?

Something so powerful yet so dangerous?

Why must history portray her as a traitor?

Helen wasn't a whore or an enemy.

Helen was a mother.

Helen was a wife.

Helen was someone.

Helen was of Sparta,

Then of Troy.

Helen was a woman.

A strong one at that.

Helen was human.

Victim of a cruel fate.

Her mesmerizing beauty was nothing but a curse.

What did men feel when they looked at her?

Love or lust?

Did they care about her feelings?

Did they stop to think about how much they were hurting her?

Did Paris think about the consequences of his actions when he kidnapped her and brought her to Troy?

A city she didn't know anything about?

A city that wasn't her home?

How she had to leave everything behind?

How she had to leave her husband, Menelaus?

Or her daughter, Hermione?

The truth is, women are always blamed for things they cannot control.

And Helen is one of them.

One of them and certainly not the last.

Because that's what fate is to us girls.

Cruel.

 

Chapter 2: All alone.

Summary:

Penelope.

Chapter Text

Everyone knows about Odysseus.

The journey he went through to get home.

To see his wife and son.

But what about her?

Penelope.

The one who waited for twenty years.

The one who raised Telemachus while protecting him and herself from the unwanted suitors.

The woman who patiently waited for her husband when everyone thought he was dead.

Who talks about her?

Why doesn't anyone speak about her grief?

Her suffering?

How lonely she must've felt?

How scared she must've been?

How she had to raise her son all alone?

How she was forced into choosing one of the suitors?

When she thought her love dead and forever lost?

When he came back and killed the men,

Did she feel relief or sorrow?

Was she happy that the man she loved was back?

Or was she scared she might not recognize him anymore after two decades?

Did she grieve someone who wasn't dead but with her?

Did she grieve the Odysseus she knew?

That I do not know.

But what I know is that fate is cruel.

And sometimes kind.

 

Chapter 3: For the love of a daughter.

Summary:

Clytemnestra :(

Wrote this yesterday at 5 A.M and got super emotional because of her, also, in the book I get my sources from Clytemnestra sees her daughter's death happen.

Chapter Text

Clytemnestra is often remembered as the mad woman who killed her husband.

But do people even wondered what happened for her to kill someone she used to love?

What possibly went through her head?

The answer is grief.

At least that's what I think.

The grief of being robbed of her daughter's life.

Her daughter. 

Her baby.

Her baby which she carried for nine months.

The baby she gave birth to.

The newborn she held for the first time.

The toddler who took her first steps.

The young girl who was supposed to have a bright future.

Did she try to caress her poor daughter's hair when her body was nothing but a lifeless corpse,

As she did when she was just an infant?

Did she scream and cry?

Did she cry when seeing her dead body?

Did she cry when she killed Agamemnon?

Did she wonder why Artemis decided her daughter had to die?

Did she spend days and nights mourning what could've been?

Did she think how cruel the world is to a woman?

Because I have.

 

 

Chapter 4: Blood doesn't run thicker than water, does it?

Summary:

Iphigenia because I love her :(

Chapter Text

I think we all know what happened to Iphigenia.

She was sacrificed to the Goddess Artemis so the winds could blow again.

She was tricked by her father.

If Agamemnon had to sacrifice his son instead, would he have done it?

The answer is: probably not.

What did Iphigenia think when the news were delivered to her?

Was she excited she would marry the strongest of the Greeks, Achilles?

Was she sad she would have to leave her mother and siblings?

Did she worry a bit, knowing she wasn't a child anymore?

Did Clytemnestra comfort her, saying she would still be her little girl?

Did they cry, knowing they were going to be separated?

Did she try to be strong for her mother?

What was her reaction when she saw her 'spouse' for the first time?

What was her reaction when she felt the blade against her neck?

Did she see Achilles unknowing expression?

Did she wonder why her father had done this to her?

Did she think about her mother in her final moments?

Did she wonder why fate was so cruel to her?

Chapter 5: And I'm asking, why, lord?

Summary:

Cassandra :(

Chapter Text

Cassandra is a woman which people remember for two reasons:

Rejecting Apollo.

And getting cursed so that no one would believe her prophecies anymore.

Sometimes I wonder what would've happened if anyone had listened to her.

Maybe Troy wouldn't have fallen?

Maybe she wouldn't have died?

Maybe she'd have a chance?

I can understand why she rejected the God of music.

Apollo's lovers never had a happy ending.

She didn't want that.

She didn't want to end like them.

Did she think she would've been cursed if she rejected him?

Did she think her prophecies, which were once witty and believed, would be considered insane?

How many times had she tried to warn everyone?

How scared must she have been when Parish foolishly kidnapped Helen?

Did she realize that was the end?

Did she realize things were going to escalate?

Did she think, before her death, that if anyone listened to her words she could've survived?