CLA L10 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

CLA L10 - Essay Example Helen of Troy left her homeland and moved to a new land with a male Paris. Medea crossed boundaries with Jason. Paris takes Helen from her husband Menelaus and travels from Sparta to Troy with her. This abduction causes the Trojan War. The contest between the goddesses and the judgment of Paris points out the cause of Helen’s abduction; Aphrodite promises to Paris that he could have Helen as a prize (Steiner, 2011). By traveling to Troy, Helen abandoned her home, her husband, and her child and broken the social boundaries of marriage. The result is disastrous for Trojans and Greeks, ten years of war, involving bloodshed and suffering, to bring Helen home from Troy. Helen’s movement destroys all Trojan husbands and perverts the wedding rituals of the Trojan women. Medea is a maiden who leaves her homeland willingly to travel over geographical boundaries to aid her hero that she fell in love with on her quests. She helps Jason to win the Golden Fleece. In Colchis. Aphrodite influenced Medeas falling in love with Jason. Medea betrays her father Aeetes and aids Jason. Like Helen, Medea is influenced by the gods. Aphrodite influences their decision to cross boundaries. Hera convinces Aphrodite to make Medea fall in love with Jason so that Jason can obtain Fleece, as Hera’s motive to eventually ruin Pelias for dishonoring her. Like Helen’s act of crossing boundaries, Medea’s traveling with Jason was also characterized by bloodshed. Medea and Helen’s movement to new lands results in the death of others. Medea murdered her brother Apsyrtus. While traveling from Colchis on the Argo, Medea aided the voyagers by killing Talos. In Iolchus, Medea kills the ruler of the city, which she is foreign to and destroys family bonds. When Jason forsakes Medea in Corinth, she kills both the princess and her father Creon in vengeance. Medea is cruelly smart than Helen and goes