As we have read in The Odyssey as told by Homer and The Aeneid, written by Virgil, husbands in literature are sometimes forced to abandon their wives because of circumstances beyond their control and inadvertently end up leaving their women for a good cause. These are both cases of ends justifying means. In other works, such as Euripides' Medea and Christine de Pisan's Treasure of the City of Ladies, we are told just what might happen when a man leaves his love for another woman due to his own vanity. The work of modern art known as Ariadne, by Giorgio de Chirico, is a painting based on another Greek myth involving the abandonment of Ariadne, a figure in ancient mythology. Although the works differ in the ways that women handle abandonment by their husbands, it is interesting to see just how d

Aeneas, the protagonist in Virgil's The Aeneid, is destined to found the Roman race in Italy, and this is the epic tale about his journey to do so. Aeneas meets Dido, a widow and the Queen of Carthage. Venus, the god of love, and Juno, the god of marriage as well as Aeneas' wife, both have their own interests at stake, so they each manipulate Aeneas and those who come know him in their own way in order to out-do one another. Eventually, Dido falls in love with Aeneas and the two end up sleeping together in order to keep Aeneas from leaving Carthage. Jupiter's messenger Mercury tells Aeneas that his fate awaits him and that he must continue his journey to settle in Italy. Aeneas complies, and Dido, furious that he had abandoned her, has her sister set up a fire to burn his belongings. Instead of following through with the initial plan, she throws herself into the fire and perishes.

ifferent various individuals behave in similar circumstances.

Another tale from ancient Greece that deals with the theme of abandonment is the tragedy Medea, written by Euripides. This is the story of a princess named Medea who happens to also be a sorceress; she fell in love with Jason after helping him obtain the Golden Fleece with her magic. Jason has since left her to pursue a life with the daughter of Creon, King of Corinth. Jason wants to improve his social status, and he knows that leaving Medea for the King's daughter will help him do just that. Medea is infuriated and eventually goes mad from this realization that he abandoned her for another woman, She can't believe this would happen, especially after the times they had been through. After all, she killed her own brother in order for them to escape Colchis together. Nevertheless Jason refuses her, and as an act of horrible vengeance, Medea slays their children.

The common bond between all of these works is that the male of the story is usually made out to be a virtuous character, despite his penchant for abandoning his wife or lover whenever it best suited him. The Odysse

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Approximate Word count = 1374
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)