To what extent are the roles of women in the Iliad important?

Plan: Women as Plot Devices: Paris' stealing away of Helen is the cause of the war - However it is Paris' own actions which are more important to the plot than Helen. Book 1 Briseis taken from Achillies - cause of his anger which is the driving force of the whole plot - However it is Agamemnons actions which enrage Achillies, not Briseis herself. *Overall women are not overally important to the plot. Evoking Sympathy: Book 6 Helen's and Hector's conversation where she laments the fact that she doesnt have a husband as good as he is. Sympathy created for her situation, didn't ask to be there. Book 6 Andromache and Hectors goodbye - says she is her husband, her parents and her brother (all she has) and that when troy falls she will be a slave and their son an orphan, pleads with him to stay with her behind the wall and not fight. Especially effective is that it is their last goodbye before Hector is killed my Achillies, very sympathetic. *Overall women are very important in evoking sympathy in the IliadWomen as prizes (Geras): book 1 - Agamemnon refuses to give back Chryseis his prize, results in Apollo reigning down a plague upon the Greeks. Book 1 - Agamemnon's taking of Achillies' prize Briseis causes his anger which is the main theme of the epic. Also Helen is effectively Paris' prize, whole cause of the Trojan war. *Overall women as prizes are very important to the Iliad, although it is the taking of them, or refusal to give them back by men which causes conflict. Divine Women: *make sure to say that it is debatable whether goddesses should be included in discussion of women, but you will include them. Book 1 - Thetis asks Zeus to make the Greeks start to lose, very important. Book 3 - Aphrodite saves Paris from Menelaus, very important because war would have been over if Paris had killed him, although impossible for Paris to die then as he is fated to kill Achillies. Book 4 - Athena convinces Pandarus to fire at Menelaus, restarts war, v important. Book 18 - Thetis goes to Hephaestus to make Achillies armour so he can kill Hector, v important. * Overall Divine women are very important to the IliadConclusion: Women alone are not overly important to the Iliad, it is men who create the conflict in terms of plot development and the use of women as prizes. However, women are very important to the Iliad in terms of evoking the sympathy of the audience, and divine women are extremely important in advancing the plot.