Cassandra, or "Why can't men just calm down?"

“That is how the male poet chooses to see these women: vindictive, jealous, petty toward each other - as women can be when they are driven out of public life, chased back to home and hearth.” (Pg. 179) This quote is from Christ Wolf, the author of Cassandra. She read The Oresteia and was displeased by the way Cassandra and Clytemnestra was portrayed, so, she set off to fix that. Cassandra is a deeply anti-war and feminist book. For the whole book Cassandra is trying to figure out why Troy is even fighting a pointless war, the woman the Greeks want, Helen, isn't even at Troy! The 'men' however won't listen to Cassandra, or any woman, Hecuba used to hold power but as the war dragged on she lost it to Priam. Watching Cassandra slowly being iced out is rough, especially when Cassandra mourns the fact that she didn't really try and connect with her siblings.  What really gut punched me in this novel was the way Christa Wolf handled Clytemnestra's and Cassandra's relationship. It makes The Oresteia painful, more so than it already was for the women, to me. Wolf makes it very clear that Clytemnestra is just doing what she has to to win, and there is no hatred towards Cassandra herself. Fate just forced them on opposite sides. The quote on page 42 "“Both of us had this same thought, and the same smile appeared in the corners of Clytemnestra’s mouth as in mine. Not cruel. Painful. Pain that fate did not put us on the same side” really, really​, hurt. Wolf makes it a point to show that Clytemnestra and Cassandra are both trying to survive this new patriarchal world. It's just a real bummer that that couldn't have worked together. Greece wouldn't stand a chance with those two tough ladies fighting together.