Throughout history, men have traditionally been perceived as superior and prevailing over women. Although women have held many different roles in society, women had always been considered inferior both physically and intellectually. Pericles, a general of Athens, gives his opinion of women’s role in society in his famous funeral speech. He first shows that he views women to be the weaker sex by stating, “…to those of you who will now be in widowhood, it will be all comprised in this brief exhortation. Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character”. He believes that naturally women are weak and vulnerable and that they must never be nothing more than that. He continues to give his opinion on women by lastly saying “…greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men, whether for good or for bad.” He clearly lets us know that women are not to be seen, heard or talked about no matter what they have done or who they are. Pericles tries to make us understand that a woman that is nonexistent is the one who deserves the most glory. Pericles’ ideal of Athenian womanhood brings us to understand that in his opinion women were weak, nonexistent and vulnerable people in a society greatly guided by men’s wisdom. Even though many women did act just as Pericles described them to be, others refused to let men oppress or control them. Hera, Jocasta and Antigone are perfect examples of women that contradicted Pericles’ ideals of Athenian womanhood.
In the Iliad one of Homers’ greatest works women are often depicted not only as inferior to men but as objects of possession. The story begins with a dispute over Chryseis a daughter of a follower of Apollo who has been taken captive by Agamemnon as a war trophy. Agamemn...
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...to attack the king but without success he turns and kills himself saddened by the loss of his love Antigone. Haemon’s death shows Antigone’s control over the men around her.
Throughout Greek literature it is strongly apparent how women are inferior to men but through Hera, Jocasta, and Antigone it is shown how women can have their own character development and be strong enough to try to defy their own fate. All three of these women showed defiance to powers supposedly greater to their own whether it be a king, a prophecy, or even the leader of the gods Zeus himself. The stories even go as far as to show how much everything falls apart once they are gone as in the case of Jocasta and Antigone. This goes to show that women not only can be seen as a driving force in their society but can even lead to the destruction of the people around them if they were to disappear.
For the Greeks, Homer's Odyssey was much more than just an entertaining tale of gods, monsters, and men, it served as cultural paradigm from which every important role and relationship could be defined. This book, much more so than its counter part The Iliad, gives an eclectic view of the Achean's peacetime civilization. Through Odyssey, we gain an understanding of what is proper or improper in relationships between father and son, god and mortal, servant and master, guest and host, and--importantly--man and woman. Women play a vital role in the movement of this narrative. Unlike in The Iliad, where they are chiefly prizes to be won, bereft of identity, the women of Odyssey are unique in their personality, intentions, and relationship towards men. Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each--through her vices or virtues-- helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks.
He anxiously awaits the day when he can call Antigone his wife, but because she defies King Creon, she deprives him of that opportunity. At first, Haemon tries to be loyal to his father. He tells Creon that he supports his decision to execute Antigone. However, as the conversation continues, he reveals that the community members are starting to renounce Creon’s decision. As the pain of potentially losing his fiancé becomes too much, he also renounces his father’s decision, arguing that the Gods would not condone it. In an act against his father, Haemon hurries to the cave Antigone was exiled to, in hopes to save her, but instead finds her hanging from the veil she was supposed to wear on her wedding day. Instantly overwhelmed with grief, Haemon, “[bewails] the loss of his bride” (Sophocles 152). Similarly, to Ismene’s case, Haemon cannot picture himself living on Earth without Antigone by his side, and commits suicide. In Antigone’s desire to appease the Gods, she abandons her loved ones, and causes them great suffering. This could have been avoided has she not pursued her desire to bury
In the Greek society women were treated very differently than they are today. Women in ancient Greece were not allowed to own property, participate in politics, and they were under control of the man in their lives. The goddess Aphrodite did not adhere to these social norms and thus the reason the earthly women must comply with the societal structure that was set before them. Aphrodite did not have a father figure according to Hesiod, and therefore did not have a man in her life to tell her what to do. She was a serial adulteress and has many children with many men other than her husband. She was not the only goddess from the ancient Greek myths to cause doubt in the minds of men. Gaia and the Titan Rhea rise up against their husbands in order to protect their children. Pandora, another woman in the Greek myths, shows that all evil comes from woman. Aphrodite, Gaia, Rhea, and Pandora cause the ancient Greek men to be suspicious of women because of her mischievous and wild behavior.
In the Iliad we saw women as items of exchange and as markers of status for the men who possessed them (Chryseis and
“A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view” (Ibsen). This saying also applied to the times of the Odyssey, an epic constructed by the blind, eight century B.C.E. poet, Homer. As one of the few representatives of ancient Greek social order, the blind, Homer witnessed women as substandard to men, regardless of their actions; many of them existed as seductresses, prostitutes, or slaves. He engraved into his poem women’s roles; the roles of women, as mothers, wives, seductresses, and goddesses are exemplified in this epic, when shown in comparison to the men of that era.
...herself as a man and has misogynistic tendencies. Fortunately, the role of women in society today has changed very much from the roles that they played in classical mythology. Women are now seen as being able to play any role they desire, whether it is the role of a housewife or the role of a workingwoman with a successful career. It is no surprise that achieving the roles that women play today took such a long time when for so long even in mythology women’s roles in society were constantly pushed in the direction of domestics and when for so long women were portrayed as less then pleasant creatures. The fact that these sorts of roles were pushed on women in the Greco-Roman society was proof enough that it was a patriarchal society. It is astoundingly wonderful that the roles that women play in modern society have evolved so much since the times of classical myths.
Greek women, as depicted as in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of man and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was by far more impressive than what men did.
Since the beginning of human civilization, women have often occupied inferior roles in society while the dominant role has been played by men. In Homer’s The Odyssey, gender roles in Greek society are emphasized, showing how men controlled society while women were undervalued and constantly disrespected. Although it may be argued that Homer poses some rather feminist views, it is evident by several elements that The Odyssey is a misogynistic text. First, women in the Odyssey were continually oppressed by men, never having true free will.
There isn’t enough literature from this time period from the lower and middle classes of society, and the view of women we have comes from writings of the upper class males. As much of an enigma that the women of Athens were, it is clear that “women were for the most part legal nonentities,” (O’Neal 117) that were denied any association and participation in the intellectual life of their city. The women were not involved in getting an education, and never learned to read or write. O’Neal writes, “The principal spokesmen of fifth century Athens, Pericles and Thucydides, disdained Athenian women.” (O’Neal 117) Based on their writing, and on surmountable evidence, it can be assumed that women had only two roles in Athens - a wife, or a mother. A girl was ideally married at 14 or 15 years of age, and there was necessity that the bride was a virgin, otherwise she was shamed and sold into
Women had very few rights, they lived as prisoners, serving men 24 hours a day. Women were sheltered from society, restricted to their husbands and their husbands houses, crying out for help and justice but there is no one to there to hear their screams. In the play Antigone when the title character had to sneak out of the house to meet up with Ismene. Ancient Greek men ruled a lot like over protective fathers with teenage daughters. Men were also scared of women gaining confidence and begin thinking on their own or worse taking action or speaking out against men, like in the play Antigone where Antigone confronts Creon by burying Polyneices after Creon strictly stated that no one bury him. If someone were to bury him, the whole Polis would stone them to death. When Creon found out that someone buried Polyneices, he did not even consider that it could have been a women that did it.
Women in ancient Greek times did not have equal or political rights. Athena and Antigone, who were both very heroic women went above and beyond the stereotypical woman. In society today, women are still not looked as an equivalent to men. Athena and Antigone share the Greek heroic traits of honor, perseverance, and of living in a higher class. In Sophocles’ Greek tragedy, Antigone, and Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, the female characters, Antigone and Athena are not solely traditional female characters, instead, they embody the heroic characteristics, honor, perseverance, and high social standing.
We know that Haemon’s love for Antigone is the most pure, because he simply loves her to the point where he takes his own life and willing to talk to his father as a result of it. Haemon love of Antigone is tragic because it result in the death of mother, his own and Creon’s revelation knowing that he pursued the wrong choice in this situation of Antigone. Haemon has a sense of devotion and emotion through his love, however, this transcendent temporal conditions surrounds
Although ancient Greece was a male-dominate society, Sophocles' work Antigone, portrays women as being strong and capable of making wise decisions. In this famous tragedy, Sophocles uses the characters Ismene and Antigone to show the different characteristics and roles that woman are typical of interpreting. Traditionally women are characterized as weak and subordinate and Ismene is portrayed in this way. Through the character of Antigone, women finally get to present realistic viewpoints about their character.
For centuries women have fought to obtain basic civil rights and today, they are still fighting to obtain equal rights. From the right to vote to their right to birth control, women have always been trying to assert their own independence in order to expand their freedom. While much progress has been made, there is still room for improvement. However, the evolution of women’s rights and the role of women is mirrored in literature and can be used to illustrate the progression throughout history. Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex is no different. Through the character Jocasta, Sophocles creates a counterpart to Oedipus and uses her to reveal the oppression of women by contrasting her and Oedipus’ relationships and reactions to the prophecy. Throughout the play Oedipus Rex, Sophocles illustrates Jocasta’s vulnerability and supportive nature in order to women as fragile, doting, and obedient wives and mothers to facilitate the necessity of self-assertion.
The poem “Iliad,” by Homer, is known for its violence between men during a war, but under that violence, is the different type of women who play a significant role in the poem (Homer 189). This poem’s narrative seems to show a male dominated world between the Greek commanders. This male dominated world cannot happen on its own, thus the different background roles of women are needed in order to make sense of all this rage. As the University of Michigan article How Do Women Make Their Way Into This Cycle states, “They are seen as the objects of both lust and domesticity, yet they are also used to excuse war, cause conflict, and display the power of men” (www.umich.edu). The focus in this poem steers towards the rage between the men, but this rage most of the time is inspired and initiated by a woman. The women of Iliad play a significant role in the poem such as war prizes, male hero partners, and women gods.