Ashley Miller

CLA 201-02

Ovid Heroides

In Classical Mythology, or really just mythology in general, there seems to be a few

common themes throughout them. They are normally focused on a hero of some sort, with

character, strength and wits beyond compare. They normally have a girl in them as well.

Sometimes a helpful ally, other times the typical damsel in distress. Either way, if youre in a

myth or legend, more often than not, there will be a girl in your path at some point down the

road. So these women make their appearance in the heros story, but how much of a hero is he to

them after they have played their part? Again, more often than not, its not a pretty story. From

lying, cheating and betrayal, these heroes have done it all to their ladies. So then where does that

leave them? Through the womens decisions to love, even the idea of loving someone, each and

every one of the heroines experience some form of regret, self-degradation, and irrevocable

hurt, often presenting themselves as weaker than their male counterparts.

Brisies is the first example of one of the women who was really betrayed by a man or

hero. The letter that she composes to Achilles, who abandoned her, is simply spilling over with

regret, hurt and vulnerability. She starts the letter off saying how weak and alone she is. She

refers to herself as stolen Brisies, an alien who has learned some Greek, apologizes in

advance for the lines that have been so blurred by her tears (Ovid. Ch.III. Pg. 21). Right off the

bat she is already portraying herself to be weak, though we dont know exactly why at this point

in the letter. We know at the very least she is hurting. She continues the letter to express just how

hurt she is, how abandoned she feels. She is so in love with Achilles that she just cant

understand, with the type of hero and man that he is supposed to be, how he hasnt made

outrageous demands and efforts in order to return her safely to him (Ovid. Ch III. Pg.22). She is

utterly and completely heartbroken. This is partially due to the fact that she has just recently lost
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her entire family as well as her homeland. Achilles love was surely her silver lining in the midst

of it all. Now it appears as though his love for her is gone as well (Ovid. Ch III. Pg.22). This

leaves Brisies alone not only emotionally, but physically as well. She is far away from home, she

has nothing and no one. So, not to say that the letter is her simply throwing herself a pity party,

but she definitely does feel sorry for herself, and rightly so. Though she is in poor spirits and

feels abandoned, throughout the letter she makes a few efforts to let Achilles know that she is

still in love with him. Asking him to take her back, asking him to remember what love was

once theirs, and at the end, commanding that she go where he go (Ovid, Ch. III, Pg. 25). She is

deciding to love him, over and over again. Even though he really doesnt seem too torn up over

her being out of his life, she makes herself pretty clear that she needs to be where he is. This plea

to a man that clearly abandoned her not only makes her appear weak and desperate, but needy as

well. However, I dont think that she is making these claims and request out of love as much as

shes making them out of desperation for some familiarity. As said before, she is alone in every

sense of the word. So her willingness to go where he goes is an effort more so at being with

someone familiar, a friend, then being madly in love with him. Regardless of her reasoning for

demanding to go where he go, she makes herself appear helpless and in need of Achilles rescue.

Following Brisies is the letter from Deianira to Hercules. In my opinion, this letter is one

with some of the most anger in it. Deianira was one of the wives of the hero Hercules. Deianira

suffers greatly for a few reasons. Obviously one could imagine the stress a wife must have of

being married to such a hero. He would always be away, in constant danger. Deianiras stress

and pain goes far beyond that however, because she knows that Hercules is far from a faithful

husband. Within the first two lines of her letter to her husband, she expresses just exactly how

she is feeling. That feeling of course, is none other than grief(Ovid. Ch IX. Pg.77). Not just grief,
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but she starts off by making subtle shots at his character, insinuating that Hercules has indeed

embarrassed himself in his unfaithfulness, and the unfitting rumors (Ovid. Ch IX Pg. 77). She

states that he may have finally pleased his stepmother Juno, though it is no doubt a statement

laced with a sarcastic resentment (Ovid. Ch. IX Pg.77). Deianira presents Hercules as much

higher than herself throughout the letter in a way that is very belittling to herself. She does this

mainly by mentioning certain outrageous accomplishments of his, like strangling two poisonous

snakes at infancy, mentioning the lions, boars and the three headed dog that he has conquered

(Ovid. Ch. IX Pg. 78). She then goes right on out to say that she married well for herself, but he

has Jupiter as his father he must have then married below his status. An ox yoked to one not

his equal, suffers like the wife who is less than her lord. (Ovid. Ch. IX Pg. 78). Shes laying it

all on the table right now, directly after she says that a happy marriage requires that only equals

marry. How she feels about the happiness of her marriage also directly correlates with her

feelings of regret that she shows throughout the letter as well. She seems to regret their marriage

altogether. She expresses several times how stressful it is being to a man that is constantly

picking fights with dangerous beings, she never knows if he will return in one piece. Then, there

is the biggest elephant in the room, Herculess mistresses. Deianira is really upset about this, as

any wife should. She is the one that is constantly worrying, yet he decides to love other women.

She really lets him know how she is feeling at this point in the letter. She makes him out to be

such a mighty all conquering hero in the rest of the letter, one that she is not worthy of. Then, she

goes to say how he, the mighty Hercules, has been conquered by a simply Lydian girl. You,

mightiest of men, have become much less than she; conquering you, she has won a victory

greater by far than you won conquering all your enemies. (Ovid. Ch IX Pg. 80-81). This is

definitely a blow at Herculess ego. Shes saying that he, who has completed all of these
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incredible tasks, is no greater than his weak will to resist other women. However, despite all of

this, Deianira decides to love Hercules still she even describes herself as maddened with love.

This is where her decision to give Hercules the love-potion drenched cloak comes into play.

Little did she know that she had been tricked into killing her husband, and that the robe was

really poisoned. So through her decision to love Hercules still, take drastic measures to keep him,

she ends up with dire consequences, and portraying herself as weaker than her own feelings.

The letter from Oenone to Paris has just as much hurt and regret in it, but perhaps with

less dire decisions and consequences. Throughout the letter she takes shots here and there at

Pariss new love, all the while trying to make herself seem like the obvious better option. She

sets the tone very early on in the letter with a will your new wife even let you read my letter

(Ovid. Ch. V Pg. 40) remark, giving you a bitter taste in your mouth. So clearly, the reader

already gets a feel for how she feels about the whole situation. She is not pleased in the least.

Oenone feels utterly betrayed, and undeservedly so. She was always a faithful partner to Paris,

and he goes and leaves her for the most beautiful woman in the world. She describes the intensity

of the grief that she experienced, harming herself, crying fiercely, and tearing her clothes away

(Ovid. Ch. V Pg. 42). Now obviously, she has a lot of hatred toward Helen. She mentions several

times how she hopes that Helen suffers the way that she caused her to suffer, So may Helen

grieve and so may she lament when she is deserted by her love. (Ovid. Ch. V Pg. 42). Oenone

takes shots at Pariss new taste in women, the unfaithful ones in reference to how Helen ran off

with Paris from her own husband, She loved Menelaus the same way. (Ovid. Ch. V Pg. 43).

She goes further yet to try and belittle Helen, by saying that once ones virtue is wounded, it is

not ever brought back in full (Ovid. Ch. V Pg. 40). Basically, she has a reputation for being a

cheater, and shell never lose that reputation. Oenone thinks Paris a fool for being duped by such
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a women, where she on the other hand, loved him first. She didnt care about his social status,

she remained faithful to him, still. She makes the decision to wait for Paris to come back to her.

Throughout the entire letter she is trying to show him that she is indeed the better option. Toward

the end she portrays herself as very weak and helpless and in need of Paris. Saying that she

deserves his aid, and pity, as well as his love (Ovid. Ch. V Pg. 45). She also hasnt caused a war

by leaving her husband, which is always a plus. So, through her bashing of Helen and utter

desperation to get Paris back, Oenone really portrays herself as driven only by her emotions. The

entirety of her letter is spent bashing Paris and his decisions, but in the end saying I still love

you, please take me back.

Now, building off of Oenones letter to Paris, is the letter from Helen to Paris. If you

dont think of Paris as a bit of a player by now, you probably should. Nevertheless, the most

beautiful woman in the world is all worked up over Paris. A lot of her main concern seems to

center around what happened between Paris and Oenone. It causes Helen to wonder if she means

no more to Paris than what Oenone did. The irony is strong in where her worries lie, considering

she left her own husband just as willingly as Paris did Oenone. This is where she really belittles

herself, because she knows deep down that she is more beautiful than Oenone, and a royal to

boot. Her letter to Paris also seems to house a good deal of regret. She speaks so often of the fear

that is within her, now that she has fled Menelaus. She even points out to Paris that even if he

tried, he is not capable of being a faithful lover. She shows further regret when she speaks of

how Paris led her to sin(Ovid. Ch. XVII Pg. 170). Just as Oenone so readily pointed out in her

letter to Paris, Helens virtue is most definitely tainted Ovid. Ch. XVII Pg. 170). And so, Helen

decides that though she is in love with Paris, the facts are facts. Helen knows that she cannot be

with Paris. However, she does not deny that she loves him. The opposite in fact. She admits that
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if I did not love a hear like yours, I would be made of iron; but iron I am not, believe me,

though I resist loving one I have decided can hardly be mine. (Ovid. Ch. XVII Pg. 170) Helen is

definitely showing vulnerability in how strongly she feels for Paris, especially because she

knows what she is doing to be wrong and that she will most likely get hurt and come to regret it.

Lastly but certainly not least is the letter from Medea to Jason. I found this letter to be

unique because I felt that that Medea made herself out to be a little bit stronger, in spite of her

emotional state. Medea, like the Brisies and Deianira and Oenone was betrayed by Jason. She

was not only betrayed but she feels cheated in the sense that she helped him on his task to

retrieve the Golden Fleece, as well as help him through a labyrinth. She definitely did him a solid

favor or two, and then gets nothing in return as thanks. He goes off with the golden fleece in

hand, returns a hero, and she is left with no virtue and a broken heart. She mentions the hurt that

she is experiencing, sleepless nights, bitter days, she speaks also of how her sister has found her

before, face down and weeping (Ovid. Ch. XII Pg. 108). She is not being shy about how

emotional she is, how much pain she is in. she knows that she messed up. She says how she took

too much pleasure in his appearance, his fine ways and his lies. She knows that she fell too hard

and too fast, and regrets it immensely(Ovid. Ch. XII Pg. 109). Though Medea is every bit as

hurt, betrayed and upset as the other women, she handles her grief in a different manner. She

cries her tears yes, but then she goes for revenge. She blatantly says, Medeas foes will all be

punished. (Ovid. Ch. XII Pg. 112). It is that revengeful aspect of Medea that really sets her apart

from the other women. She knows that the way to best get back at Jason for betraying her is to

kill the things that he loves most, even taking with her their two children (Ovid. Ch. XII Pg.

110). After she makes the decision to love him, and he leaves her, she decides that she will get

revenge for herself. Instead of portraying herself as weak and wounded, she opts to portray
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herself as angry, and stronger in a way. I use the word strong simply because she has accepted

what has happened and chooses to take matters into her own hands and get revenge, though

psychotic may work just as well in her case. The point being, she is not crippled by this betrayal,

and isnt banking on Jason coming back to her.

These women and their letters have a way of making one never want to be in love,

because it seems to leave most of them in a less than ideal emotional state, and in the case of

Medea, a bit homicidal. So either these women really know how to pick the men, or the men of

the time were just real jerks. Either way, through these womens decisions to love, an action of

feelings of love, even the idea of loving someone, each and every one of the heroines

experiences forms of regret, self-degradation, and irrevocable hurt, often presenting themselves

as weaker than their male counterparts.

The Iliad
http://www.gvsu.eblib.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/patron/FullRecord.aspx?p=1882108&echo=1&use
rid=jj4SPc4jvIn4%2fnWPyDKZ0w%3d%3d&tstamp=1460744816&id=C7FC8EDF78806D788
1303FBB044E9EAF5AB280C5
Homer; Green, Peter. The Iliad : A New Translation by Peter Green. Berkeley: University
of California Press, 2015. Ebook Library. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Achilles/Paris/Helen info
Burgess, J. (1995). Achilles' heel: The death of achilles in ancient myth. Classical
Antiquity, 14(2), 217. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/1297893215?accountid=39473
o Achilles info
Wartofsky, A. (2002, Nov 03). With medea, she didn't just get mad; fiona shaw & the
abbey theatre, seeing the humanity in an unhinged role. The Washington Post Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/409375396?accountid=39473
o Medea History
Austin, N.."Helen of Troy: Beauty, Myth, Devastation by Ruby Blondell (review)."
American Journal of Philology 135.2 (2014): 285-287. Project MUSE. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
<https://muse.jhu.edu/>.
o Helen background story
Huber, Michael. Mythematics : Solving the Twelve Labors of Hercules. Princeton, NJ,
USA: Princeton University Press, 2009. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 15 April 2016.
o Used for Hercules background story
Bernhardt, Peter. Gods and Goddesses in the Garden: Greco-Roman Mythology and the
Scientific Names of Plants. Piscataway, NJ, USA: Rutgers University Press, 2008. ProQuest
ebrary. Web. 26 April 2016.