Comparing warrior women and women to be feared

e.g.: both are unmarried / virgin warrior women; both fight against the side of the hero (Penthesilea against the Greeks at Troy, Camilla against Aeneas' Trojans); both are killed in battle; both lead bands of female warriors; both are linked with the Amazons (Virgil compares Camilla's band to Penthesilea's Amazons); both fight with Amazon weapons (bow, axe, spear); both are admired for their courage and beauty.

e.g.: Penthesilea is a foreign Amazon queen, daughter of Ares, from the edge of the world; Camilla is an Italian princess of the Volsci, devoted to Diana; Penthesilea was killed face to face by the greatest hero, Achilles (who fell in love with her), Camilla by a hidden spear-throw from Arruns, a lesser warrior; Camilla's death is avenged by Diana's nymph Opis; Camilla was raised in the wild by her father Metabus; Penthesilea comes from a whole society of women.

Source A, e.g.: 'She hates her children'; 'I am afraid she may be planning something new'; 'Her mind is violent, and she will not put up with being wronged'; 'I know her, and I am afraid of her'. Source B, e.g.: Medea grips a sword; she stands apart staring, deep in thought; the children play unaware, watched only by their old tutor.

Indicative content (not a checklist; credit other valid points): Source A - even the Nurse, who loves her, is afraid of her, which builds dread from the opening lines; 'hates her children' unnaturally reverses a mother's love and hints at the murders to come (dramatic irony for an audience who knew the myth); 'will not put up with being wronged' shows a heroic, male-style pride that demands revenge; her past (betraying her family for Jason) shows what she is capable of; her grief turns into dangerous anger, unlike the patient endurance expected of an Athenian wife. Source B - the sword, a man's weapon, in a mother's hands is shocking and shows she is contemplating murder; her stillness and brooding suggest a terrifying calm before the deed; the innocent children playing nearby create tension, because the viewer knows what will happen; she stands apart from her children, already separated from her role as a mother. Both - Medea is frightening because her love turns to violent revenge and because she will kill her own children; the Greek play builds fear through words and foreshadowing, the Roman painting through a single frozen moment; the painting shows the story was still famous in Roman Italy. An answer cannot gain two AO2 marks for listing traits; each mark needs an explanation of how the detail shows the idea.

Source A, e.g.: her hands were 'not used to Minerva's distaff or her baskets of wool'; she leads horsemen and bronze-clad troops; she is 'hardened to endure tough battles'; young men and mothers gaze at her in wonder; her purple, gold clasp, Lycian quiver and iron-tipped staff. Source B, e.g.: the Amazon wears trousers and a long-sleeved top; a pointed cap; she carries a bow, an axe and a crescent shield.

Indicative content (not a checklist; credit other valid points): Source A - wool-working was the defining task of the ideal Greek and Roman woman (Lucretia spinning, 'she worked wool' on epitaphs), so rejecting the distaff and wool-baskets marks Camilla as the opposite of a matrona; leading cavalry and enduring battle are male roles; the crowds of young men and mothers staring 'open-mouthed' show how astonishing she is; her mixture of royal finery and rustic weapons (Lycian quiver, shepherd's staff) shows she belongs to a wild world outside the household; 'maiden' shows she is unmarried and devoted to Diana, outside the cycle of marriage and motherhood. Source B - trousers and long sleeves were the dress of Scythians and Persians, never worn by Greek women, so the Amazon looks foreign and barbarian; covering the legs in a man's garment contrasts with the Greek woman's long chiton; the bow, axe and crescent shield are weapons, impossible for an Athenian woman, who was barred from war; her outfit lets her ride and fight. Both - warrior women are marked as different through dress, weapons and activities; Camilla is Italian and admired, the Amazon foreign and exotic; both define the 'normal' woman by contrast. An answer cannot gain two AO2 marks for listing traits; each mark needs an explanation of how the detail shows the idea.

Indicative content (not a checklist; credit other valid points): AO1: Amazons - defeated by Heracles (Hippolyta's belt), by Theseus when they invaded Athens, by the Greeks in countless Amazonomachies (Parthenon metopes, Bassae, where some beg for mercy); Lysias: none returned home. Penthesilea - killed by Achilles (Exekias), though he fell in love with her. Camilla - kills many, but is killed by Arruns' spear while chasing Chloreus' golden armour, blinded by 'a woman's love of plunder'; dies 'indignant'; avenged by Opis, who kills Arruns; Diana takes her body home. Medea - kills the princess, Creon and her sons, then escapes unpunished in the chariot of the Sun to Aegeus in Athens; she has the last word, refusing Jason the bodies and foretelling his death; the krater shows her triumphant above, though with Furies watching. Cleopatra - defeated at Actium, flees (Virgil: 'pale with the death to come'); suicide in 30 BC; but in Horace she denies Octavian his triumph, dying 'no humble woman'; Octavian's triumph had only an image of her. AO2: For - the pattern of defeat reassured male audiences that the 'natural' order wins; warrior women's deaths are the climax of their stories; Augustan writers needed Cleopatra defeated to glorify Octavian; even Camilla's death is blamed on a female weakness. Against - Medea is the clear exception, escaping with divine help and leaving Jason ruined; Cleopatra's death is presented as a moral victory over Octavian's triumph; Camilla's death is avenged and treated tragically; Penthesilea wins Achilles' love; 'failure' in battle is not always failure in the story's meaning. Judgement, e.g.: true of the warrior women and of Cleopatra in a military sense, but not of Medea, and the defeats are often given dignity or turned into moral victories.