Greek mythology tells of a woman whose actions sparked a ten year war, destroyed an entire city, left thousands dead, and changed the entire course of Greek mythology. This woman is Helen of Troy, daughter of Zeus and the most beautiful woman in the world. The reason the war took place was because of her, and the entire war seemed to revolve around which group- the Greeks or the Trojans- got to take her back. Helen of Troy plays the role of a villain in the Trojan War because she ran off with a Trojan prince while she was married, was very intimate with many men throughout the war, and was unfaithful to both sides of the war. To illustrate how self-interested this woman is, I will first point out that Helen of Troy decided to run off with …show more content…
A perfect example of this is when Paris spoke to Helen towards the early stages of the war: “I’ve never wanted you so much, not even when I first took you away from Lacedaemon in my sailing ship and made love to you on the island of Cranea.” (Lombardo, Page 64). That is to say, Helen was already to take that rather important step in their relationship and make love without even taking the time to think about the cost of her actions. Helen did not seem to realize the immorality of what she was doing, and if she, did she simply did not care. Many argue that Helen may have been under the influence of Aphrodite and had no choice but to fall in love with Paris, which is a very reasonable argument. However, Paris was not the only person she was attracted to, and Helen had affairs with these men not due to the influence of gods but on her own accord. In fact, on many accounts, she has been said to have had a relationship with the son of Paris, Corythus, and Paris was so jealous of his son he killed him. After Paris was killed, Helen did not waste time mourning and and had an affair with Paris’s brother, Deiphobus, who was eventually killed by Menelaus, possibly with with the aid of Helen (stanford.edu). This proves that Helen did indeed enjoy her time with men and take advantage of any opportunity she could have with them. Helen seemed, for the most part, …show more content…
Some accounts say she was aware the Greeks were in the Trojan horse and called to them using their wives’ voices, but did nothing else to prevent their infiltration of Troy. Others say even helped Odysseus, a Greek warrior, steal a valuable object from Troy. (stanford.edu) Helen even said some questionable words to her lover, Paris: “You used to boast you were better than Menelaus, when it came to spear work and hand-to-hand combat. Why don’t you challenge [Menelaus] to fight you again?” (Lombardo, Page 63). To clarify, she wants Paris to risk his life fighting her husband after Paris had already been defeated by him. This behavior brings up questions of her morality. She made the decision to leave Greece and her family for an extravagant life in Troy, betraying the Greeks and starting the war. However, she still assists the Greeks in multiple ways throughout the war. She committed treason to both sides which shows that she has no honor, and even tried to talk her husband into potentially killing himself which is very immoral. She was unfaithful to both sides of the war, thus proving that she is a