Heroines in Greek Mythand Star Wars

Images of the Female

• in folktale themes

• in divine machinery

• in the hero pattern

• in the hero quest

Women in Folktale Themes

• The Wicked Step-mother/Step-envy• Suitor Contest• The Hero's Betrayal of the Princess• Rescue of the Princess• Rescue by the Heroine (Women to the Rescue• A Woman's Web• A Woman's Wit• The Revenge of the Woman Scorned• The Danger of the Feminine

Where have we seen these themes in the myths so far?

Goddesses (Divine Machinery)

• Hera

• Athena

• Thetis

• Aphrodite

Goddess

Wife: Hera

Mother: Thetis

Virgin: Athena

Sexuality: Aphrodite

Mortal Women in Myth

• Helen of Troy

• Europa

• Penelope

• Alcmene

Hero Pattern applied to Women•The Hero Pattern applied to Women in Myth, History and Literature

Magical Earth Maiden Pattern

The pattern, which for reasons which will become obvious, we called the Magical Earth Maiden.

1. A young orphaned girl, on the brink of womanhood.2 lives in a remote place of power.3. The maiden does not usually travel; she may be carried off by an evil female.4. The Maiden is possessed of a power but may not realise it.5. The power may be symbolised by a token, ring, necklace, or jewel.6. The Maiden’s power is transformative, healing, or creative connected to the earth.7. She may be threatened by a powerful rival female who turns out to be a witch.(See #3)8. She may have a wise mentor who teaches the arts of the earth and to use her attractive power prudently. The mentor is often her deceased mother.9. The Maiden attracts a young male, often a prince or a person of power and prestige.10. The Prince may already be on a quest, which may be the rescue of the Maiden; or he is set a quest by the Maiden.11. The Prince needs help from the Maiden and she gives it.12. The quest is completed successfully and the pair are united in a bond of friendship, familial love or marriage.

Earth Maiden Pattern applied to Medea

Penelope and the Hero PatternDaughter of Icarius, king of Thestios in Aetolia (2). According to one myth, her mother was Polycaste, the daughter of Lygaeos (1). According to another myth, her mother was the Naiad (sea-goddess) Periboea. (5). Nothing is known of her childhood (9).On reaching adulthood her father proposes a foot race as a suitor contest to select his daughter’s husband. Odysseus wins the race and Penelope chooses to return with him to Ithaca rather than live in her father’s house (10).Pintoricchio, Penelope with the Suitors,

1509, National Gallery, London

Penelope the Mythic Heroine

After a long struggle with the suitors (11), she is reunited with her long-absent husband Odysseus (12), remains mistress of his house (13) where, for a time, she prescribes laws (15) until, according to some myths, she loses favor with Odysseus because of her adultery with the suitors (16) and is sent into exile or killed (17) by her husband. Her tomb is sometimes said to be in Mantinea (22).In another myth Odysseus is accidently killed by Telegonos (his son by Circe) who takes his father’s body and Penelope to Circe’s island, where he marries Penelope and Circe transports them both to the Land of the Blessed (18).13 points

Penelope as the Faithful Wife

Penelope Weeping over the Bow of Ulysses Angelica Kauffman (1741-1807)

Death of Agamemnon, Aegisthos with sword. Detail from Athenian red-figure clay vase about 500-450 BC. Boston. Museum of Fine Arts 63.1246 W.F.Warden Fund © Boston. Museum of Fine Arts

Penelope to UlyssesOvid’s Heroides I

Heroides = HeroinesFictitious letters from mythological

heroines to their absent lovers• Briseis to Achilles• Phaedra to Hippolytus• Ariadne to Theseus• Medea to Jason• Penelope to Ulysses (-Odysseus)

Ovid (43 B.C.-17 A.D.)

Heroines as Helpers

• Medea (and Jason)

• Ariadne (and Theseus)

The Heroine Abandoned

John Vanderlyn (1775-1852), Ariadne Asleep on the Island of Naxos, 1809–14, oil on canvas, 68 1/2 x 87 in. (174 x 221 cm), Courtesy of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Gift of Mrs. Sarah Harrison (The Joseph Harrison, Jr. Collection), 1878.1.11.

TINTORETTO(b. 1518, Venezia, d. 1594, Venezia)

Ariadne, Venus and Bacchus1576 Oil on canvas, 146 x 157 cmSala di Anticollegio, Palazzo Ducale, Venice

The Deified Heroine

Marie de Medicias a Mythic Heroine

Marie de' Medici. (1573-1642). Daughter of Francis of Tuscany. Married Henri IV in 1600 and mother of Louis XIII, during whose minority she was regent. She lost a power struggle with Richelieu and left France in 1631.

Rubens’ Hero Cycle on Marie de Medici:http://department.monm.edu/classics/Courses/Clas230/MythDocuments/MariedeMedici.htm

Padme

Heroines in Star Wars

• Padme

• Leia

Padme

Leia

Heroines in Star Wars

• Folktale Themes• Divine Machinery?• Hero Pattern• Hero Quest• Heroine as Faithful Wife• Heroine as Helper• Abandoned Heroine• Deified Heroine