Comparing Female Characters in Euripides' Medea and Sophocles' Oedipus the King and Antigone In the times of the ancient Greeks, women had an unpretentious role. They were expected to do take on the accepted role of a woman. In most cases, a woman's role is restricted to bearing young, raising children, and housework. In Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Antigone, and Medea, the dominant female characters impacted upon men with authority and political power. It is
It’s extraordinarily apparent that throughout the course of both oral and written history, women have been on the short end of the stick. During the Early Modern Europe, roughly between the late fifteenth and late eighteenth century, European countries were on a witch craze. Women, although some men too, were often accused of consorting with the devil and performing magic, and then sentenced to death if they were unable to prove their innocence, burning being the most popular form of punishment.
Women Behaving Like Men in Antigone, Electra, and Medea Throughout Antigone, Electra, and Medea, many double standards between men and women surface. These become obvious when one selects a hero from these plays, for upon choosing, then one must rationalize his or her choice. The question then arises as to what characteristics make up the hero. How does the character win fame? What exactly is excellent about that character? These questions must be answered in order to choose a hero
Gender Roles in Ancient Greek Society Throughout history, the roles of women and men have always differed to some degree. In ancient Greece, the traditional roles were clear-cut and defined. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work. This system of society was not too far off the hunter gatherer concept where women cared for the house and the men hunted. Intriguingly enough, despite the customary submissive role, women had a more multifaceted role and image
they were all men. Women within the Grecian culture where very much the passive sex, confined to housework and almost never educated. It is interesting therefore that the characters that have emerged at the exposure of the phallic philosophical pen still remain as an ally to the feminist movement and are relevant to our way of thinking today, acting as feminist pioneers both in theory and literature, helping the canon evolve years after being written. At a time where scientific
Sophocles’ Antigone The character of Antigone in Sophocles’ play, Antigone, is one of the most controversial tragic characters in classic literature. The war in her city has torn her family apart, caused the death of both her brothers, and created a reason for her to fight against the King, her uncle. Her uncle, Creon, makes a ruling that her brother, Polynices, is not to be buried because he is a traitor, but according to her religion, her brother’s soul will not go to the afterlife until he
Medea as Woman, Hero and God In Euripides' play the title role and focus of the play is the foreign witch Medea. Treated differently through the play by different people and at different times, she adapts and changes her character, finally triumphing over her hated husband Jason. She can feasibly be seen as a mortal woman, Aristotle's tragic hero figure and even as an exulted goddess. Medea's identity as a weak woman is emphasised at the very start of the play. It is made very clear that
delle'arte specialize in? 6. What is satire? a literary genre or form, although in practice it is also found in the graphic and performing arts, or a literary technique that attacks foolishness by making fun of it. 7. ( T or F ) The prophecies in Oedipus Rex turn out to be wrong. True 8. One actor on stage, speaking his
Episodes and Stasimons there are in the play. There were approximately 12-50 members in a chorus and usually only a maximum of 3 actors on stage. The actors would alternate roles and would wear masks to identify their character. Women were prohibited from acting; therefore men performed both roles of both genders. The most common roles played were: • Young/old
They deal with universal emotions and feelings that can be felt all across the world. This can be seen in Antigone. Everyone can relate to the sibling rivalry and disagreements. In Antigone the Sophocles' sisters, Ismene and Antigone show up as foils and opponents. Ismene is reasonable, meek, and devoted, full-figured and excellent in being a decent young lady. Conversely, Antigone is stubborn, careless, and touchy, slender, and refuses in being a young lady like the rest. Two sisters despite