Plato's Role Of Women In The Republic Of Plato

Women have played important roles throughout history. They have been responsible for the rise and fall of nations, sustaining families, and have been the focal point of worship in ancient religions. Moving forward in history, women's roles have continually changed. Their status as matriarchs changed as the more advanced ancient civilizations rose. The patriarchal societies of ancient Greece and Rome viewed women differently from some societies of past eras. The study of the economic and political status of women, their rights, and their contributions to both these ancient societies reveals how views change throughout history.

Throughout the ancient world women possessed few rights and privileges. A woman’s freedom varied depending on where she was born, in this case Athens and Sparta. But it can be said that most women were second-class citizens during this time period. Most women had limited social roles, little education, and no involvement in politics. Power and freedom was something that only existed in a man’s world, while women were expected to be submissive, docile, bear children, and take care of the household. Surviving records from ancient Greece show that women’s roles did not differ much from city-state to city-state but there were exceptions that include noble women and most notably, Spartan women. Some civilizations treated women with respect

The Greek and Roman societies were a very patriarchal society. This is reflected throughout the myths in classical mythology. By looking at the many pieces of literature involving Greeks and Romans we will see that the roles women portrayed are very different from women’s roles in today’s society. Although there are a few similarities to women’s roles in today’s society, their roles are more like those women in the past. We can see this by looking at the qualities of Greek and Roman female gods and looking at the roles women play in the myths.

For this informative report I will attempt to point out the roles women and how they are viewed in ancient Greece. I will then show how these views are present in Homer’s "The Odyssey." How are women, goddess or mortal, conveyed in "The Odyssey?"

Women form an important part of each society, however their role and importance to its function are often times overlooked. Society is/was organized and directed by men. All of the most important positions and purposes within it`s routine were filled by males. This societal organization is often times reflected in many pieces of literature of various time periods, however there are texts in which contrary to the patriarchal society models, women are given substantial importance within the plot. Homer`s The Odyssey, Heart of Darnkness by Joseph Conrad and Aeschylus`s Oresteia each demonstrate or conceal female importance in a given society.

Greek Woman was considered to be submissive which means once you are married to a woman, then she is in your full control. The woman in ancient was not allowed to own the property, in one way we can also relate that the woman had fewer rights than the man because they could hardly express their feeling. The woman was not considered as the citizens.

In addition to using education as a method of molding the warrior class, Socrates wishes it to be a means by which men and women’s positions and levels in society are equalized. “[. . .] If we use the women for the same things as the men, they must also be taught the same things [. . .] Now, we gave the men music and poetry and physical training [. . .] Then we must give these two crafts, as well as those having to do with warfare, to the women also to use in the same way as the men use them” (451e, 452a). Because Socrates believes that nature is defined by capacities, men and women aren’t to be separated biologically but rather by their capabilities as members of the working and warrior classes. To ensure that each man and women’s capacities are truly recognized they must be educated in the same fashion so as not to create an intelligence and job potential rift between the sexes. In this way education has brought men and women to an equal playing field, despite their apparent biological differences.

Women in classical Athens could not have had an extremely enjoyable experience, if we rely on literary sources concerning the roles of women within the Greek polis. The so-called Athenian democracy only benefited a fraction of the entire population. At least half of this population was female, yet women seem to have had very little influence and few official civic rights. `The position of women...is a subject which has provoked much controversy.'

It wasn’t until the Greek and Roman empires that gender roles in society really started to widen the gap between males and females. The combination of a growing belief of women as servants and the impact of mythology on culture culminated in a “gender specific code of conduct” (Evans). In Greek mythology (coincidentally written by men), the Hesiod’s Theogony (The Birth of the Gods) played a tremendous role in the status of man and woman (Mason). In Theogony (The Birth of the Gods), Prometheus lives in a world of only men where life was great. There was no work and all leisure. Prometheus makes the Gods

The title of Sarah B. Pomeroy's book on women in antiquity is a summary of the main categories of females in the literary imagination and the societies of ancient Greece and Rome, over a period of fifteen hundred years. Beginning with goddesses, Pomery retells some Greek myths, outlining the social functions of female Olympians – the goddesses are archetypical images of human females, as envisioned by males. Desirable characteristics among a number of females rather than their concentration in one being are appropriate to a patriarchal society. Demosthenes states in the fourth century B.C. this ideal among mortal men, "We have mistresses for our enjoyment, concubines to serve our person and wives for the bearing of legitimate children (Pomery 1995)." Pomery’s goal in writing this book was to detail and outline the true significance of women in all other their roles in antiquity.

The role of women in ancient Greek life was insignificant compared to that of Greek men. A woman's job was to take care of the children and to cook and clean unless she had servants or slaves that would do it for her. Yet, in Greek mythology, women were often written as major characters. Well-known Greek plays contain many well-written, complex, female characters. Female individuals in Greek mythology were often seen as very powerful and fierce and were depicted by “her wits, her beauty, or her bad deeds.”

Readers of the three Greek plays, Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, can easily gather an abundance of information about the different cultural details within the Greek society at that time. One of the major cultural values that can be picked up from these three plays, is the roles of women in this society. The roles of women can be observed through a comparison between them and their male counterparts.

Women in ancient Greece still have an impact on us today. They were very similar to us women nowadays and at the same time very different. There wasn’t just one type of women in ancient Greece though. There were women who lived in Sparta, Athens, and many other city states, those are just the main city states. Each city state had different lifestyles and traditions, so women in one city state were different from another. Women in ancient Greece didn’t impact us in one way, they impacted us in many ways.

Plato's suggestion that female guardians do everything male guardians do is a radical and revolutionary proposal in a time when women were viewed as property. However there are complexities and contradictions in the Platonic text on female equality. He makes obvious statements and allusions those women are more cowardly, less trustworthy, innately worse then men. In Book V, he emphasizes that women, as a class are equals to men in capacity, although on the whole, weaker in all pursuits. Plato's ideal society is inadequate for the emancipation of women from the standpoint of feminism today. His proposal is not in the interest of woman as a class whom he supposes to be depraved, but in the

Book V of the Republic discusses Women’s equality in regard to military capability – however, the book mentions a key point about how women are treated in today’s society and cultures. Plato writes about a dialogue between Socrates and Glaucon, who is known as Plato’s older brother. As described in the text, Glaucon is feverishly denouncing woman’s equality, as he believes their rightful place is in the home away from mischief and trouble (Glaucon, p62). However, Socrates creates a compelling argument in which he attempts to persuade Glaucon’s opinion. In this essay, I will be arguing that woman deserve the same education as men and point out