ANTIGONE
The conventionally accepted roles of both males and females in ancient Grecian society were well defined and manifested. Women were considered the weaker of the sexes and, thus, were expected to remain in the home and perform their domestic duties, while the men were to be rulers and bread-winners. The woman’s voice was not heard on any issues affecting the society as her opinions were thought unworthy of consideration. She was required merely to reproduce, to execute her domestic duties well and to submit incontestably to the authority of the men. In essence the Greeks valued their women almost as little as a common slave was valued. These values and traits associated with femininity in ancient Grecian societies are
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Property ownership could only be achieved through gifts, dowry and inheritance. The most important role of women in ancient Greece, especially married women, was considered to be the production of lawful children and the execution if household chores. Also she was required to literally remain inside the home, except she was attending a special event as in those days women found in the streets were either assumed to be enslaved, a harlot, a concubine or a woman who had to find work outside of the home because of poverty (Thompson, par.8). It was also considered respectable for a woman to remain out of sight and audible range when the man of the house had guests. Evidently, women of ancient Greece were subjected to what modern day women may consider harsh and unfair treatment as a result of some irrational beliefs and practices that were given judicial recognition. Because of fear of facing the consequences that may arise from contesting these laws, many women living during that period made no attempt to do so. So they remained as they were considered to be – weak and helpless – because of fear. Sophocles’ mythical anecdote of Antigone, however, shows the apparently unseen characteristics of women, though not all women, in ancient Greece. They were not as weak, helpless and unwise as they were believed to have been but were strong willed individuals, possessing strong characters and competent of making sound decisions.
Women in Ancient Greece were shown to be treated unfairly and less superior to men in homes, as wives, and in society as shown in Sophocles's play Antigone. They were looked down upon and thought of as less intelligent, as if they weren't really needed except for reproducing, doing housework, and taking care of children. Also, women were considered dangerous due to their emotions as they could hurt themselves or someone else. Antigone presents a variety of these ideas of how Women's roles played out in Ancient Greece.
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.
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 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.'
Roman and Greek women were both under the protection of men, with their primary life goal being motherhood. (62, line 15. Find Roman citation here!) Greek women’s marriageability was dependent on their dowry, and a woman was “obliged” to marry the men selected by her guardian. (64,line 4) However, in Roman society the women had more say in whom they married. If the woman deemed the potential husband to be morally unfit, she could deny the marriage. After their father and potential guardians passed away, a Roman women could even select her own husband. (157,line 26). Throughout the duration of marriage, Athenian women were expected to stay within the home, taking care of the children and spinning her wheel. This seclusion was
Greek women were slightly higher than women in other ancient pagan societies. It was true that were almost at the same level with the slave and were under the authority and control of their husbands, both by custom and by law. Increasing the city-state was an important factor affecting the status of women in Greece. From the city-state was supreme, all individual wishes were subordinate to it. Freedom was not automatic, but had to be understood, mass education was rudimentary and even in the first century were women, rich enough to own slaves who could not read or write. Greece suffered the sexes be at different levels of culture ".
Ancient Greek society treated women as secondary citizens. Restrictions were placed on the social and domestic actions of many aristocratic women in ancient Athens. The women depicted in Homer's Odyssey, on the other hand, are the ideal. Penelope, Clytaemestra, Athena, and Helen are all women with exceptional liberty and power.
Women’s role in Greece can be seen when one first begins to do research on the subject. The subject of women in Greece is coupled with the subject of slaves. This is the earliest classification of women in Greek society. Although women were treated differently from city to city the basic premise of that treatment never changed. Women were only useful for establishing a bloodline that could carry on the family name and give the proper last rites to the husband. However, women did form life long bonds with their husbands and found love in arranged marriages. Women in Athenian Society Women are “defined as near slaves, or as perpetual minors” in Athenian society (The Greek World, pg. 200). For women life didn’t
Since the ancient greek era, the position of women in society has always been inferior to men. In the classic Greek play, Antigone, written by Sophocles, gender roles influence the effect of play drastically. Antigone not only set herself apart from other women by advocating what she believed was right, but she was accused of breaking the law by doing so, which in turn lead her to her downfall. Although her death was tragic, her actions were honorable and true to the greek gods and people. As a women who disobeyed the laws of a patriarchal society, she paved the way for many women who believe in equality.
The article, “Gender pride as tragic flaw in Sophocles' Antigone” by Omolara Kikelomo Owoeye examines the tension between Creon and Antigone, and how the dramatic gender conflict effects the purpose of the novel. Through a psychoanalyst study of Creon, we see that the conflict is deeper than man vs. state. We see an internal conflict between himself and divine law, and then using this tension to attack the protagonist of the novel, Antigone. Owoeye makes the case that the critical reason for his stubbornness is because Creon is a woman, and in society during that time, it would have been a comical action on Creon’s part. He believes that his title, status, and gender make him the superior being. This thought process is what leads him to defy
Similar to the lives of women in other ancient civilisations, Ancient Greek women’s lack of independence was largely a result of the patriarchal ideology of their society. Although contemporary evidence suggests that ancient depictions of women lack some credibility in their assertions, the weight of evidence reveals that while Greek women were socially and economically secure in marriage, the ideal image valued by Greek culture, one of humility and domesticity, meant that women exerted little legal, political and social influence. Despite doubts about their accuracy, ancient evidence shows that women, in accordance with the bigoted Greek society’s idealised view, enjoyed a degree of responsibility within their household, but had little independence in the wider community.
Women in ancient Greece had very few rights in comparison to male citizens. Women were unable to vote, own property, or inherit wealth. A woman’s place was in the home and her purpose in life was to rear children. Considering this limited role in society, we see a diverse cast of female characters in Greek mythology. We are presented with women that are powerful and warlike, or sexualized, submissive and emotionally unstable. In many myths, we encounter subversive behavior from women, suggesting, perhaps, the possibility of female empowerment. While produced in an ostensibly misogynistic and oppressive society, these myths consider the possibility for a collapse of male power and the patriarchal system. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey,
Daily life was one of the most distinguishable factors of Athenian and Spartan women, and it varied depending on social status. The communal job of Athenian women was confinement to daily life in their domain; the home or ‘oikos’, immersing themselves in domestic activities. This notion was verified by ancient writer Xenophon; “…Thus, to be woman it is more honourable to stay indoors than to abide in the fields…” .They were responsible for various jobs in order to support their families including cooking meals and producing textiles. The majority of affluent women had established slave work in their homes; hence they verified their decadence by not partaking in laborious work
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.”