For this particular paper we were to compare and contrast the East and the West. We’ve read numerous epics from the West, and a few things on the East. They live in very different worlds, having different customs, beliefs, traditions, family/relationship values and so on. So there is no surprise that their literature would be different as well, however, in the two epics I am about to discuss we see two couples who are oddly similar for coming from such different cultures. I will be focusing on the two women from these epics Sita and Penelope. These women showed great strength and went thru many trials and tribulations. They proved their love and loyalty to their husbands, showed they’re capable of being strong and holding their ground
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When Sita finds herself separated from her husband in the woods, she encounters a demigod, Ravana, the demon with ten heads. Ravana tries to pursue Sita, who tells the ten headed demigod, Ravana that he has no clue who he is talking to, and he didn’t have a chance. Sita made it clear that he shouldn’t dare speak to the wife of Rama in that manor, and that she held her husband, herself and their relationship to high standards stating this about Rama, “His name is renowned throughout the world, his eyes are large, his arms strong. He is virtuous, honest, truthful, and devoted to the welfare of all people” (Ramayana of Valmiki, Book 3. Sarga 45, 903). This line proves how highly Sita thinks of Rama, what high standards she has in a man. Standards that Ravana could never reach, she made that clear on page 904 of our text where she says to Ravana, “As for you, you are a jackal in the presence of a lioness, to come here seeking me, whom you can never have. You could no more touch me than touch the radiance of the Sun (The Ramayana of Valmik, Book 3. Sarga 45, 904). If you are even slighty familiar with Eastern culture you would know that there are very specific gender roles, today women of the West feel that Women of the East are extremely suppressed and lack rights. So you can imagine how out of the ordinary it would’ve been, especially in this time period, for a woman to speak to a male with such a sharp tongue. Hence one of the many reasons I love
When Sita finds herself separated from her husband in the woods, she encounters a demigod, Ravana, the demon with ten heads. Ravana tries to pursue Sita, who tells the ten headed demigod, Ravana that he has no clue who he is talking to, and he didn’t have a chance. Sita made it clear that he shouldn’t dare speak to the wife of Rama in that manor, and that she held her husband, herself and their relationship to high standards stating this about Rama, “His name is renowned throughout the world, his eyes are large, his arms strong. He is virtuous, honest, truthful, and devoted to the welfare of all people” (Ramayana of Valmiki, Book 3. Sarga 45, 903). This line proves how highly Sita thinks of Rama, what high standards she has in a man. Standards that Ravana could never reach, she made that clear on page 904 of our text where she says to Ravana, “As for you, you are a jackal in the presence of a lioness, to come here seeking me, whom you can never have. You could no more touch me than touch the radiance of the Sun (The Ramayana of Valmik, Book 3. Sarga 45, 904). If you are even slighty familiar with Eastern culture you would know that there are very specific gender roles, today women of the West feel that Women of the East are extremely suppressed and lack rights. So you can imagine how out of the ordinary it would’ve been, especially in this time period, for a woman to speak to a male with such a sharp tongue. Hence one of the many reasons I love