The Prettiest Woman on Earth Many greek myths were based on either the ugliest, the scariest, or the prettiest person in all of Greece. These stories have been told throughout history and in many different ways. One very widely known myth is that of a girl named Helen. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leda, and sister of Dioscuri and Clytemnestra. She became very well known as being the prettiest woman in the whole world. Many artists, poets, and writers have made many pieces of art or poems describing her and her many different suitors. In the painting “Helen of Troy” by Evelyn de Morgan, she portrays Helen as self-centered or conceited, and that she only thinks about herself by showing her surrounded by many beautiful things to look at,
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She was married to William de Morgan, who was a poet as well. She was also an important part of the second generation Pre-Raphaelite, which was brotherhood composed of many famous painters, poets, and critics (Art Renewal 1).
Christopher Marlowe explains Helen in A Description of Helen as a very angelic woman. He asks, “Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” (All Poetry). He indicates that such a beautiful woman surely could not have caused such harm. Marlowe also says, “All is dross that is not Helena” (All Poetry). He is saying that the speaker of the poem believes that if you are not Helena, then you are not pretty.
Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, in Canterbury, England. He received his education at King’s School, and there, got awarded an Archbishop Scholarship that allowed him to study at Corpus Christi College Cambridge (Poetry Foundation). There, he earned his bachelor of arts
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Both the poem and the painting show that love and beauty can make people do crazy things. A man and a woman’s view can be very different, as you can see, but in the end both Evelyn and Christopher portray that Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, but with that, she also got much hate from fellow women, which would not be very fun to deal with. Evelyn sees Helen as a woman that only thinks about herself, while Christopher sees Helen as a woman that was lusted after and never did anything wrong. So even though she was happy being beautiful, she probably felt lonely not having other women to talk
She was married to William de Morgan, who was a poet as well. She was also an important part of the second generation Pre-Raphaelite, which was brotherhood composed of many famous painters, poets, and critics (Art Renewal 1).
Christopher Marlowe explains Helen in A Description of Helen as a very angelic woman. He asks, “Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium?” (All Poetry). He indicates that such a beautiful woman surely could not have caused such harm. Marlowe also says, “All is dross that is not Helena” (All Poetry). He is saying that the speaker of the poem believes that if you are not Helena, then you are not pretty.
Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, in Canterbury, England. He received his education at King’s School, and there, got awarded an Archbishop Scholarship that allowed him to study at Corpus Christi College Cambridge (Poetry Foundation). There, he earned his bachelor of arts
Student …show more content…
Both the poem and the painting show that love and beauty can make people do crazy things. A man and a woman’s view can be very different, as you can see, but in the end both Evelyn and Christopher portray that Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world, but with that, she also got much hate from fellow women, which would not be very fun to deal with. Evelyn sees Helen as a woman that only thinks about herself, while Christopher sees Helen as a woman that was lusted after and never did anything wrong. So even though she was happy being beautiful, she probably felt lonely not having other women to talk