Representation Of A Cynical Outlook On Women

However, Valerius, like Cato, associates women with matters that are less substantial and not entirely connected to the empire as a whole. “No offices, no priesthoods, no triumphs, no decorations, no gifts, no spoils of war can come to them; elegance of appearance, adornment, apparel-these are the woman’s badges of honor.” The apparent connection between women and appearance shows that women in Roman society were something to be looked at or shown off. Women were the prizes of men and the better they looked or the more they had been directly linked to his status in society.

Misogyny pervades the picture Aeschylus, Aristophanes, and Sophocles paint of Athenian society. In their literature, however, female characters catalyze plot by challenging this picture. Such characters--from Sophocles’ Antigone to Aristophanes’ Lysistrata--face grim consequences for acting independently. Clytemnestra and Cassandra from Aeschylus’s Agamemnon exemplify this archetype of autonomy and destruction. When they confront injustice, male characters perceive them as vindictive and hysterical. This paper will compare the standards of justice Aeschylus’s society imposes on men and women. I will argue that Clytemnestra and Cassandra are protectors of divine justice who reject subservience and thereby transcend the sexism of their society.

In the United States, study after study continues to show that women have fewer opportunities to advance in the workplace than men. These disadvantages are a result of society’s views of women in leadership positions and how women may view themselves in these roles. Women have been making progress in terms of equality in pay and job positions, but significant gaps remain. Women who strive to be promoted into higher levels of responsibility in their companies often meet resistance that prevents them from achieving the goal of a senior or executive level of management. This barrier is referred to as the “glass ceiling” and it is a controversial issue in our country today. The glass ceiling called this because women are able to see the higher level positions, but can reach them because of an intangible barrier. One can look at the Fortune 500 companies, which are the most successful companies in the U.S. in terms of revenue to see how few women are in leadership positions. Clearly, women are significantly underrepresented in these companies, as less than 5 percent of these companies have female chief executive officers (CEO) today (Dockterman 105). Providing the opportunity for women to move into management positions, like CEOs, would bring a unique talent and a new perspective on how the company can operate to perform better (Buckalew 147). The “glass ceiling” is a real obstacle that creates an intangible barrier that puts women at a disadvantage in advancing in a company.

In the Aeneid the Roman poet Virgil presents many different people that play roles in the life of Aeneas. From gods and goddesses to mortal men and women, every personality has some precise part to play in Aeneas' impersonal fate. Of the many different characters, several are women. In fact, after reading the Aeneid it becomes clear that women play a particularly large role in Aeneas' life. From Juno to Venus, and Penelope to Lavinia, women seem to directly affect Aeneas' destiny for good or for worse. However, one can also see that

In his epic poem “The Aeneid,” Virgil details an account of how the great empire of Rome descended from a Trojan leader named Aeneas. It is an action-packed story, filled with tales from the hardships at sea to the brutality of warfare as Aeneas journeys to Italy following the downfall of Troy. Aeneas, the hero of the story, is depicted in mostly a positive light throughout the poem and shown portraying a wide variety of emotions and traits, some seemingly contrasting one another—from scorching, merciless anger to tender, affectionate love. While he is a three-dimensional, rather well-rounded character, Virgil depicts women throughout The Aeneid in a more one-dimensional, usually negative light, establishing a hint of sexism and misogyny throughout

The Roman epic of Virgil's Aeneid describes the hardship and misadventures of Aeneas and the Trojans quest from Troy to Italy. Like Homer’s famous epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, Virgil’s narrative style and structure portrays similar attributes in the finding of Rome. Aeneas encounters several women on his journey who play a significant role throughout this epic in assisting or destroying his journey to Rome. His representation of female characters provides the readers with a better understanding of gender politics and reasons why some female leaders failed. Each of Virgil's female characters demonstrates a combination of traits throughout the epic; however, such behaviors of these women tend to develop unwanted conflict due to emotions.

Virgil potrays his characters, both male and female, in a way that threatens the standard cultural norms of Rome at this time. While they do possess certain Roman characteristics, Penthesilia, an Amazon warrior queen, Dido, queen of Carthage, and Camilla, a female warrior, are all well-known representations of women destined to face their doom in a world that is completely dominated by males. These examples serve to reinforce the importance of gender roles and also to serve as warning signs for when limits are surpassed. The Aeneid serves not only to establish a Roman identity that acknow3ledges that women are indeed a necessary component to the continued existence, but also what happens when their role extends too far. Virgil portrays

In the opening books of the Aeneid, Virgil presents many different characters that play important roles and have influences on Aeneas’s journey. This includes not only mortal men and women, but also Gods and Goddesses. Throughout the plot, Virgil constantly addresses political issues through the actions of the characters. Of these characters, the female figures are often portrayed in a negative way. For example, they tend to act emotionally and in a way contrary to knowledge. This implies that women’s participation in politics may lead to negative consequences. Virgil shows women’s negative impact on politics by examining their unfavorable characteristics, such as irrationality, impulsive behaviors, and the selfish desires that often

My paper doesn’t try to show that the dominance of men over women started at the introduction of a legal system, but that the voices of women were still heard as long as the family was the sovereign unit of society. As long as the family was the heart and center of a society, the voices of women could be heard and they were adequately represented. The shift to the polis meant the complete alienation of women. In the family, the women had a seat at the round table; they could influence decisions albeit in a small way. In the polis however they were sidelined and relegated to the background. Gender equality and patriarchy is made evident through the progression of the play from the Agamemnon, to the libation bearers, and finally to the Eumenides. I claim that Aeschylus’s trilogy the Oresteia shows the legitimization of patriarchy and the establishment of male dominance over the

In the discourse of literature, every tale presents a story with a hero. When it comes to culture, the author displays a heroic character as someone who demonstrates ideal characteristics that are based on the story’s historical background. These ideal attributes can include heroism, honesty, selflessness, and confidence. From Virgil’s tale of The Aeneid, Aeneas is portrayed as the protagonist and hero of the tale. Within this story, Virgil shows how the Roman culture is valued through Aeneas’s actions of heroism. His example of presenting the value of Roman culture to the reader is by illustrating the concept of romanitas. In the Roman culture, romanitas can be expressed in Latin as “roman-ness.” Though it is known to be a combination of

Juno 's action is a clear obstruction to the human world, but more importantly to the task that Aeneas is to undertake, and thus, to "politics". Virgil 's depiction of women is not only that they act on selfish desires, but also that they make life unnecessarily complicated overall. Before Juno convinces Aeolus to summon the winds of destruction, Aeneas has a clear path to Italy; however, due to Juno, he is forced off his path, and the founding of Rome is in jeopardy.

Intro – Begin by talking about how people often see Aeneid by Virgil as focusing on the events surrounding the Trojan war, but an equally important part of the story is the prevalent theme of duty. For instance, if one looks at Aeneas one can see his devotion towards caring for his people, and his persistence to follow his duty. Because of the emphasize that Virgil places on Aeneas devotion to his people and his duty to obey the gods, one can begin to theorize that Virgil believed duty was the most important quality a man could possess. Thesis: Often times, the Aeneid carries the reputation as a book centering around the founding of Rome, however, without the constant reminder of duty, one cannot fully view Virgil’s story as he intended.

Virgil was Rome’s unwilling epic poet, he gave the Roman people a cohesive narrative that tied them to the past and propelled them towards the future. This narrative, The Aeneid, had its basis in local lore as well as ties to the older Greek epics of Homer. The Aeneid almost functions as an extension of The Iliad and Odyssey, with its protagonist, Aeneas, being a minor figure in the earlier poems, and the work itself academically divided into “Odyssean” and “Iliadic” parts. In this relationship Virgil owes a creative debt to Homer, and there is a resemblance that can be seen with striking clarity when the experiences of Homers’ Odysseus and Virgil’s Aeneas are examined side by side. Odysseus and Aeneas are both honour bound to reach the destinations of their respective journeys, Odysseus to rule Ithaca and Aeneas to found Rome, and while ones journey often mirrors the others, there are significant differences between the two. The major differences that can be observed lie in their characters and forms of heroism and these variations shape the course of their narratives, yet the similarities of their internal journeys and ultimate fates remain intact.

In this essay I intend to discuss how Aeschylus presents Clytaemnestra in the Oresteia and how he marks the extent to which traits of Clytaemnestra's character remain defiantly unchanged as she manipulates events and characters around her. Clytaemnestra is the only character who appears in all three plays in the trilogy, but despite her immense stage presence she remains a troublesome character to interpret due to the highly ambiguous nature of her words. I intend to show that the key to unlocking Clytaemnestra's manly heart lies in the fact that she hated Agamemnon, not simply because he had killed her child, nor because she loved Aegisthus, but out of a jealousy that was not a jealously of Cassandra, but of Agamemnon himself and his

Virgil’s epic of the classic hero, Aeneas, discusses several women but hardly any fit the cookie cutter literary stereotype of being feeble, passive and submissive. Rather, women in The Aeneid are opinionated, emotional and powerful. Dido, a protagonist in the story of Aeneas, possesses immense power. Dido’s reign as a powerful and governing woman falls once Juno and Venus devise a plan to keep Aeneas in Carthage. Focusing on the dynamic Dido, this paper will explore how her power as a woman is illustrated throughout the story and how her emotions precept her decisions.