The roles of women have been changing since the beginning of recorded history, and even more rapidly in recent times. However, looking back at history, much can be said about the roles women had through the myths about them. The stories of Eve and Alcestis are both antiquated tales of women from different cultures but much can be discerned from how the plots of these stories are the same and where they diverge. The story of Alcestis came from the Ancient Greek playwright Euripides in 438 BC, and is a tale of a mythical queen who is constantly making sacrificed. The ancient Israelite story of Eve is much older and tells the story of the first woman and how she is the reason behind human suffering on earth. Whereas the actions of the women in …show more content…
In the Biblical tale of Eve, Eve is portrayed to be a challenge for men and a detriment for them. As the story goes, Eve is the person first swayed by the serpent to disobey God. She eats from the tree and gains knowledge of good and evil, and after she eats, Adam follows her example and eats as well. This story makes it seem like the original sin and the fall of man are the fault of Eve. Overall, the impression of Eve is very poor, since she seems incapable of making the right choices, and is even commanded to follow the will of her husband because of this supposed flaw she posses. On the other hand, the myth of Alcestis portrays the female protagonist in a much more positive light. Alcestis, following her own will, seems to make the right choices while Eve failed to. First, when her sisters are plotting to chop their father, King Pelias, she is the only one to object and to try to stop her sisters from being fooled by the magic of Medea; she is clearly a character capable of making sound decisions on her own. Later, when her husband is about to die, she also seems to make the right moral decision, laying down her life for her husband and being rewarded by having her soul brought back from the realm of the dead. These are two very different portrayals of women, where one story’s female protagonist can make the good choices on her own while the one in the other story
In the text Mythology by Edith Hamilton, women are portrayed as being property and objects. During this time women were seen to be not as "good" as men. They saw perfection in relationships between men and young male adults as the best relationships to have. However, homosexuality was frowned upon. Men were considered knowledgeable and educated, but women were seen as a burden placed on man by the Gods. When it came to women nothing was valuable about them but their beauty. When a woman was beautiful she was wanted by many men: a man would do almost anything to have the possession of a beautiful woman and have her as his property. It was as if a woman’s role was to only be a man’s beautiful possession and to procreate the lineage of a
However, many women could manipulate the world around them to accomplish their goals. Women like Olympias, Adea-Eurydice, and Berenice were born into power but still could have lived comfortably, without any true control. They decided to use what they had and use unfavorable situations to their advantage. These women were uncharacteristic for their time but set the stage for later women. Women were expected to be obedient and get married, but when the men of their lives failed to do what they wanted, they took control. While most women were still looked down upon, Olympias, Adea-Eurydice, and Berenice set different standards for women, pushing past the oppressive forces that attempted to belittle
For thousands of years there has been a strong distinction between the roles of men and women. Often times in stories there will be women that are only mentioned for their beauty and charisma. Hardly ever will you see pages upon pages being spent talking about the true character and accomplishments of women characters. Even though stories like The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis were written thousands of year ago, (when stories were told mostly told from a males perspective) the light shined on women in the texts show them as wise, strong, and greatly influential beings. In The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Book of Genesis, the writer shows the women as bringers of knowledge, guidance, and care to the men in the texts that are lacking thereof.
The Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal society. This is reflected throughout the myths in classical mythology. By looking at the classic mythology we will see that the roles women portrayed are very different than 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 attributes of Greco-Roman female gods and looking at the roles women play in the myths. By comparing the roles of women in the myths with women's roles today we will see that the roles have many differences and few similarities.
Gender inequality has been a controversial topic for numerous religions and cultures throughout history. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender, an idea that was no different in Ancient Greece. Throughout Greek mythology, women were considered inferior and troublesome symbols, while men were known for courage, leadership, and strength. While there is no argument of the flagrant sexism that is illustrated in Greek mythology, it can also be claimed that women were given a situated position of freedom, necessity, and power as well. Many popular Greek plays and myths contain several complexes and well described female characters. These goddesses themselves, partook the role of victim, heroine, and villain as it illustrated the diversity of characters in which women were portrayed and seen in both Ancient Greek society and mythology, allowing us to question “Were the women of Ancient Greek mythology equally represented as free and superior?” The creation of the Greek mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered goddesses or deities, and the free and superior personalities accredited to women in Ancient Greek mythology to answer the question that women were fairly represented as powerful in Ancient Greek mythology.
In the span of our history, women have always been outcasted as “something else,” to put lightly. Cultures tend to see women in different lights, usually ending up being the assumption that all women are home goers and weak, and not as strong and willed as their male counterparts. Not to say many women do not follow this assumption. Nonetheless, women can be perceived in many more lights than only one simple assumption. The Odyssey views women as strong, but ruthless and snake-like. Wonder Woman views women as strong, but weak and useless as well. Both these pieces of literature show women in the many limelights society has seen over the years. Both The Odyssey and Wonder Woman show women in different ways, together as strong, and separate in their own ways.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of Genesis and the Greek play Medea, by Euripides, contain female characters that can be seen as complex and have significance and meaning in the text. There are many interpretations involving the female characters, some characters may be portrayed as weak and irrational or strong-willed and wise. I will argue that, women are portrayed in the Hebrew Bible and Medea as irrational and senseless, in order for the men to be portrayed as superior and for women to be seen as inferior. This idea of the female characters being irrational and senseless can be seen in Genesis 4, Genesis 18, Genesis 29, and throughout the Medea play.
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?"
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 The Odyssey, women play many different roles. The goddesses are very powerful and controlling, while most mortal women are subservient and seen as inferior to men. However, there are a few key women in The Odyssey who prove to be both intelligent and strong, unlike their stereotypes.
Females have many big roles in majority of books. For example in the graphic novel Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman is portrayed as really strong and as the person you can count on. On the other hand,in books like Running Girl, there’s women like Chloe Dow who get scared quickly and aren’t considered strong. In the Odyssey, Homer shows these females has really strong or powerful instead of weak and easily scared.
The role of women in Greek literature has demoralized them and showing them in a maligned light. The women are portrayed as frail, cruel, insensitive, or as seductresses. These characteristics have been integrated into today’s society and [have] built the standards and defined the moral outlook of women. However, in Greek mythology, powerful and strong women are not as well celebrated, such as Athena. Homer’s The Odyssey construes the positive and negative role of women through the epic poem. The women in the poem are depicted through the contrasting actions of Penelope and the maids, in addition with the opposite personalities between the goddess Athena and the nymph Calypso.
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.”
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.
Many religions and cultures no matter how small or large have creation myths and legends that were deemed to be important to their livelihood. Mythology was a tool that was used to explain how the world came to be. It gave explanations for how the seasons change, where humans come from, why there are specific rituals for a certain culture, and structure to how societies were governed. In Classical Greek mythology patriarchy is a common theme that was used for how society was governed. Zeus became king of the gods and from the mythologies created Ancient Greece followed the ways by which the gods lived. The Greek goddesses didn’t obtain higher power unless they had to threaten another god or they were working with a male god. Patriarchy was used in mythology to promote the male domination of government and the mainstream governing forms of the Ancient Greek world. Examining the story of Hesiod's Theogony we find instances that there was a patriarchal structure.