Have you ever come across a story or myth where a female character was revealed as a protagonist, far from evil and not controlled by others? Not very likely. The mythological world was so much a part of male civilization that women did not seek public attention in any way. Despite the fact that female characters were often involved in countless myths, many were scapegoated for men; they have to suffer, sacrifice and be tossed around. Such portrayals were established in “Demeter and Persephone” by Celia Barker Lottridge, “The Face in the Pool” by Mary Pope Osborne, and in the Greek mythology The Beginnings “Pandora's Box” by TR Gadd. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay In almost all tales and myths, there is always an innocent female character who must suffer in the end. Demeter, goddess of the Earth, along with her daughter Persephone, were two delighted female figures who lived on Earth in the story of "Demeter and Persephone". Unfortunately Hades, god of the underworld, decided to kidnap Demeter's beloved daughter, bringing joy and lightness to the world where only death existed. Ultimately, Demeter soon discovered the loss of Persephone, and this angry mother sought revenge. As a result, Persephone became the property and was under the rule of Hades. Being an ignorant person, Persephone did not know why she suddenly became the bride of Hades and would forever breathe the air of the underworld. On the other hand, men and nature on Earth were covered with the memory of Demeter. “Until my daughter is returned to me, the earth will show the pain in my heart,” Demeter stated to Zeus (Lottridge 314). From this it turned out that both Demeter and Persephone were innocent female figures who had done nothing wrong but had to suffer in different ways. Furthermore, the Earth goddess along with Persephone were simply bringing energy and joy to the world, while Hades was the one causing the problems. Yet Persephone had to remain in the dark and gloomy underworld and Demeter had to suffer from sadness. These acts of punishment demonstrated that they were being punished for the fault of others, therefore scapegoats of Hades. The evidence of suffering was also developed in "The Face in the Pool", where Echo, a charming nymph, served the sky god and also ruler of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter. In addition to this, Jupiter often called this little wood nymph to distract his wife Juno from finding out where she was happily entertaining other wood nymphs. Eventually, his wife realized that Echo was actually misleading her, and Juno, outraged, cast a spell on Echo. As a result, poor Echo was not only cursed to be unable to develop sentences, but also to only repeat the last words of others. Unlike Demeter in "Demeter and Persephone", the curse on Echo was continuous and never-ending suffering. Words filled with fury came from Juno's mouth as she shouted angrily into Echo's face, "From now on, your voice will be shorter, my dear! You will always have the last word, but never the first." (Osborne 6) Because of this, we can identify how Echo as a female character was actually assisting for a god but unfortunately ended up suffering. Furthermore, Echo was simply used as a toy for Jupiter, but he had no intention of even assisting Echo's recovery or doing anything about it after his wife had plagued her to forever echo the words of others. Echo was evidently nothing more than Jupiter's scapegoat for what he did. Inother words, Jupiter essentially treated Echo as a shield that kept him out of trouble because he hugged and frolicked with the wood nymphs, yet Echo was abandoned when she became useless. Evidence of suffering appeared in "Pandora's Box" as well, where Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create an uncommon woman to bear the responsibility of discharging evils into the world. Because of Pandora's curiosity in her head, thrown in by Zeus, she opened a full box and evils plagued the world. Shortly after the wedding of Epimetheus and Pandora, Pandora tried to convince her husband by allowing her to check what was in this beautiful vase, a gift from the King of the gods. "Please, my husband. I would like to see it," Epimetheus kept prodding, "I wonder what's in it." (Gadd 20) Obviously, we could recognize that Pandora was a female character in this myth who was given great responsibilities and was created with an empty head but also with great curiosity. Maybe she doesn't know it herself, but she has suffered. Furthermore, Zeus only came up with this plan for revenge on humans because the fire reminded him to do so. Yet it was essentially humans and Prometheus who started this problem. So similar to Demeter, Persephone and Echo, Pandora had to suffer at the fault of others. In this case, Pandora was the scapegoat of humans, Prometheus, and even Zeus. Many myths contained suffering to some extent and it was the female figures who were initially innocent but were expected to contribute to that suffering. There was always a female figure who was supposed to sacrifice something in many different myths. In the story of "Demeter and Persephone", Zeus, the Heavenly Father, knew that Persephone was still young and did not belong to the underworld. Meanwhile, as Hades called Persephone to go with Hermes, the messenger of the gods, he also declared that if Persephone ate anything in the underworld, she could not leave. Realizing the fact that Persephone had actually eaten four pomegranate seeds, Zeus had no choice but to speak to both Demeter and Hades: "Because Persephone ate four seeds in the underworld, she will spend four months of the year with Hades." (Lottridge 315) Clearly, it was shown that Persephone, as one of the female characters in the story, had to sacrifice part of her life by giving up four months every year and spending time in the underworld with Hades. Furthermore, Persephone was simply a joyful little goddess who loved life on Earth, but was captured by Hades. Persephone was clearly nothing more than a mere scapegoat of Hades for his faulty mistake. Testimonies of female figures sacrificing themselves also appeared in "Face in the Pool", where Echo was cursed as she was unable to create sentences and was only able to say the last words of others. In other words, his ability to speak was significantly impaired. Likewise, he had to sacrifice something that was part of his life basis, as Persephone had to do. For example, the words spoken from the mouth of Juno: "From now on your voice will be shorter, my dear! You will always have the last word, but never the first." (Osborne 6) effectively illustrated that Echo from that moment on would no longer have the freedom and ease of communicating with others. Additionally, quotes such as “Let us meet” (Osborne 6), “Love me” (Osborne 6), and “Goodbye my love” (Osborne 7) demonstrated what and how Echo was sacrificing in the story. Furthermore, Echo was obviously Jupiter's scapegoat because he played with the wood nymphs. In other words, Echo was Jupiter's shield who ended up partially losing his voice and sacrificing his ability to speak. Unlike Persephone and Echo, Pandora didn't have to sacrifice anything. Although she was left with the responsibility of releasing evil into the world,he actually had nothing to sacrifice. As a gift from Zeus, she was sent to be the bride of Epimetheus. Ask questions like, "Where is that big light in the sky coming from? Why is it cold today? Why is that water falling from the sky?" (Gadd 20) showed how Pandora was happy with the marriage and had no problems afterwards. As mentioned before, she was the gift, or rather the weapon of Zeus. Therefore, it can be said that Pandora was Zeus's scapegoat for his revenge on humans. All myths required characters to sacrifice something to demonstrate sympathy and need for that person, but often these were female figures who had to give up something and be involved in the sacrifice. Many myths involved sacrifice to some extent and it was mostly female figures who sacrificed their belongings but not men. In most myths and stories, female characters were often thrown around by others. As mentioned above, Persephone, daughter of Demeter, was unable to stay on Earth for the whole year due to falling in love with Hades. “Because Persephone ate four seeds in the underworld, she will spend four months of the year with Hades.” (Lottridge 315) Clearly, Zeus stated that Persephone would have to spend four months every year living in the underworld. Subsequently she began to be tossed around by the male figures of the story directly by Hades and in some way by Zeus, who had this unpleasant idea. After all, Hades was the individual who initiated such a terrible mistake. So up until now Persephone and even Demeter were still Hades' scapegoats for what he did. Evidence of female characters being thrown around also appeared in "Face in the Pool". Despite the fact that Echo was one of the toys that Jupiter could hug him and play with, Jupiter always asked Echo to come closer to his wife and act as a shield when Juno came to visit him. As a result, Echo had to sneak around to find out where Juno was before Juno discovered what Jupiter was doing. “But every time Juno came close to finding Jupiter, a charming nymph named Echo crossed her path.” (Osborne 6) Therefore, she was sent around to do whatever Jupiter told her and was constantly tossed around to some extent. However, her level of agitation from male figures was not as great as that experienced by Persephone. Furthermore, after acting as a shield for Jupiter, Juno soon discovered that Echo was deceiving her and cast a deadly spell on Echo. Yet Jupiter didn't even think of trying to save her after this happened. Therefore, Echo clearly appeared to be Jupiter's scapegoat for his entertainment and was discarded after use. In "Pandora's Box", Zeus came up with a clever plan to bring evil upon humans. Pandora, the bearer of the evil gift, was created and sent to humanity with her husband and was tasked with releasing evils into the world. From the laughing words from the mouth of Zeus: "Now is the time for me to give her my gift. Let's see what this gift will do for her. But Hermes, I have another task for you to complete. Bring Pandora to Epimetheus, the brother of that traitor , Prometheus, tells him that she is a peace offering from me. I want Epimetheus to know that I hold no grudge against him because of his brother's unforgivable acts. So Pandora can be Epimetheus' wife take this vessel as a dowry to Epimetheus,” we could identify that Zeus wished to throw Pandora to Epimetheus and marry him. Since Zeus realized that both Prometheus and Epimetheus were the creators of humanity and probably loved spending time with humans, this would help Pandora, who was innocent and knew nothing about what was happening, achieve her intended goal for her: to free evil?