Cassandra/Kassandra
In Greek mythology it is important to mention the Ilias because it is mainly what we see when we think of the Trojan War. In the Textbook ‘Classic Mythology’ pg; 441 we can see that Cassandra the daughter of King Priam of Troy was captured in this incident by Agamemon, who was later killed. Cassandra was depicted as someone who possessed this power of prophecy but it was not enough and after the war Ajax raped her.
Diamond Singh
In this instance, the idea was that Cassandra was blessed to have the gift of prophecy which led to her to see into the future, the only downside was her not seeing her fate right in front of her. She also comes from a background of being beautiful, with her story being filled with betrayal and tragedy it showcases how her story dissolves. Her curse was to not be believed by anyone. Meaning that anything she would tell would not be cared or heard, this resulted in her tragic fate. Her story idealizes the idea of not ignoring prophecy or wisdom in life. The strong power women have can lead to dangerous things mostly to those who are power crazy and continue to betray you.
To begin with there are many instances where Cassandra's prophecies were shown in Greek mythology. One of the more notable instances was the story of the Trojan war. In the Textbook it depicted that Cassandra understood that the Greeks and Trojans were at war, so when a giant horse filled with trojan soldiers appeared she tried to warn people that it was a trap but it was ignored and this created a disastrous situation which led to the Trojan war. This continues on with her being captured by Aagamemnon, and Cassandra warning him that when he returns back home. Agamemnon did not listen and his wife ended up killing him, and Ajax captured Cassadnra and raped her. There are other instances where her prophecy and her ability to see the future hindered her and others in the process. Another situation that was interesting to read was the story of The Oresteia by Aeschylus. The idea was that Oresteia was a 3 part play and it told the story of how the cursed family ends up letting Agamemnon die (he is the Greek commander) at the attack on troy. In this story Cassandra also comes into the second play where she again knows what is going to happen but she is ignored by the others. (Britannica, Oresteia)
To continue on with this, Cassandra's prophecy was being used and hindered in so many directions. With different perspectives outlining the same endpoint I wanted to highlight the story of ‘ Bibliotheca by Pseudo-Apollodorus’ (Diller JSTOR 1935). In this excerpt it shows the history of the Bibliotheca which is a compendium within Greek mythology. Briefly it would showcase Cassandra's abilities within the trojan war but yet the fall of troy and her kidnapping still occurred. For me, in this case I feel like Cassadnra is comparable to the boy who cried wolf. Although, the boy who cried wolf kept crying for no reason until the wolf came and no one believed him. The same idea transfers to Cassandra on how she possesses this ultimate power yet the bad side is that she is cursed with no one to believe her. On the other hand, like other stories about Roman poet Void or Cassandra complex by Laurie Halse, Anderson both explain the wrongness of ignoring. First Ovid continues the line of what dangers come with not listening to Cassadra and her prophecy. The second being that the Cassandra complex identified a young beautiful Cassandra being ignored. It was interesting reading this novel because the themes explain power, gender, and misogyny really early on in history.
In the end, the gift of the young and beautiful Cassandra was explained in many different viewpoints. The same idea stood that she was ignored and not taken seriously during her times especially in the Trojan war. What would have happened if she was a man? Would others actually listen to her? Or would it continue to be the same because of her gift giving herself a curse that is irreversible. In the end, she was gifted with the ability to see the future but cursed with silence, neglect, and ignorance.
Citations:
“Oresteia.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oresteia.
Vol. 111, No. 3, Dec2005 of Oikos on JSTOR. 2005, https://www.jstor.org/stable/i283301.
Overton, Lois A. The Winter Girls: When Joys Were Vivid. Cedar Tree Press, 1997.
Mendelsohn, Daniel. “Should Ovid's Metamorphoses Have a Trigger Warning?” The New Yorker, 7 Nov. 2022, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/11/14/should-ovids-metamorphoses-have-a-trigger-warning.
MICHAEL., MORFORD, MARK. LENARDON, ROBERT J.. SHAM. Classical Mythology. OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2023.