Helens Character in the Work of Virgil - Essay Example

In the other work of Homer, Helen assumed the character of a tormentor as she tortures the men with nostalgia by imitating the voice of their loved ones that they have left behind. This broke down the men and precipitated their defeat.

In Virgil’s Aeneid, Helen was portrayed as a traitor. When the Trojan Horse made it inside the walls of the city, Helen faked a religious ritual by holding a torch from the city’s central tower that would give a signal to the Greeks to attack the city. When the Trojans were defeated, she rejoiced with their carnage. In Homer’s Iliad, she was sympathetic to Troy as she weeps when it was burned down in defeat at the hands of her husband Menelaus.

Indeed Helen’s character was enigmatic in the great works of Virgil, Odyssey and Iliad. In Virgil’s Aeneid, she was her lover’s younger brother’s paramour after his death. In Iliad, a mistress caused the Trojan War and the downfall of Troy. In Odyssey, the tormentor brought defeated the enemies.