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Greek women in the odyssey
Greek women in mythology
Greek women in mythology
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Amongst the drama Iphigenia among the Taurians, roles of genders have been used and manipulated either in favor of one of the characters or against them. One example of how gender influenced a better outcome in an episode is during Iphigenia’s conversation with the Chorus right before her escape with Orestes and Pylades from land of the Taurians. In this episode, Orestes and Iphigenia are talking about how to escape and making sure that no one would discover their plans. When reasoning that talking the Chorus into staying back and covering for the runaways, Orestes made a point to Iphigenia that “a woman’s tongue has the power to move pity (1052-1053).” Iphigenia makes Orestes’ observation evident in her pleading speech to the Chorus when she said, “ O dear women, I look to you. All of my fortunes lie in your hands. You can determine whether I shall find success or utter ruin, losing my fatherland, my dear brother and my dearest sister. (1054-1075).” Iphigenia’s gender played a role in this that could be compared to a certain type of ancient Greek “girl code” on line 1061 by saying, “We are women, and as women, sympathetic to each other and totally reliable in keeping matters which concern all of us to ourselves.” On line 1076, the Chorus agrees …show more content…
to help and held to their words as best as they could. The Chorus tried to mislead the Messenger into thinking Thoas had left and was not in the temple following Iphigenia’s orders. This sort of loyalty also goes back to the “girl code” type of idea. Helping a girl out is a key common courtesy in generations today and is shown in this text to be prominent in ancient Greek culture as well. King Thoas, ruler of the Taurians, is suddenly caught between his own desires and a divine intervention with the goddess Athena shortly after the previous episode. When information from the Messenger that Iphigenia’s true plans were to take the prisoners and the image of Artemis along with herself back to Greece, Thoas became enraged. He sends orders out to the entire city to join an army against the runaways, forcing townsmen totake care of the prisoners and once-trusted traitor back to the city to receive punishment for their attempts of betrayal. When gathering his forces, the goddess Athena provides a miraculous interruption by showing herself above the temple of Artemis. In short, she tells Thoas to not interfere with Iphigenia and her family’s travels as well as letting him know other gods such as Poseidon agreed to help with their journey back to Greece in favor of the goddess. After Athena spoke, it was as if Thoas had a major change of heart. He quickly ordered his makeshift troops to retreat and not follow through with his orders, as if all of his anger had left. His course of action dramatically shifted because of the fear of displeasing the goddess. He then shows his “yes-man” characteristics on line 1474 when he says, “Athena, queen, it is a perverse man who hears the words of the gods and disobeys them”, making it known he would never intervene on a gods’ plan. After considering the play as a whole, Iphigenia shows that she is not like anyone else in her family.
She shows that she has personality traits that are unlike her parents and siblings that, hopefully, will end the cycle of revenge, plotting, and violence. Unlike her family, Iphigenia shows compassion and selflessness when faced with the dilemma of having to kill off both Orestes and Pylades, even before it was revealed they were related. Unlike her father who was ready to kill her for his own needs, Iphigenia worked very hard on trying to find a way to save everyone she could. Showing this side of her made it evident that she would start to turn around her family’s legacy and create a new tradition of a positive
behavior.
Over the years she has harboured ill feelings concerning her husband Agamemnon because he killed her husband and then begged her father for forgiveness. Eventually Iphigenia decides that she wants to sacrifice herself for glory and Greece. Glory is what stems all of the events throughout the movie. Greece is going to war against Troy because Helena left her husband. Greece wants a glorious win over Troy and are willing to sacrifice Iphigenia for a possible upper hand. Agamemnon is willing to sacrifice his eldest daughter so that he can be the great military leader that he once was. Iphigenia is willing to die with the belief and hopes of being immortal in the history of
In this essay I will examine the war-of the-sexes taking place in The Eumenides, the final play of The Oresteia. The plot of The Eumenides pits Orestes and Apollo (representing the male gods and, to a certain extent, male values in general) against the ghost of Clytemnestra and the Furies (equally representative of female values.) Of more vital importance, however, is whether Athene sides with the males or females throughout the play.
There are many different facets to the nature versus nurture argument that has been going on for decades. One of these, the influence of nature and nurture on gender roles and behaviors, is argued well by both Deborah Blum and Aaron Devor, both of whom believe that society plays a large role in determining gender. I, however, have a tendency to agree with Blum that biology and society both share responsibility for these behaviors. The real question is not whether gender expression is a result of nature or nurture, but how much of a role each of these plays.
Over the course of time, the roles of men and women have changed dramatically. As women have increasingly gained more social recognition, they have also earned more significant roles in society. This change is clearly reflected in many works of literature, one of the most representative of which is Plautus's 191 B.C. drama Pseudolus, in which we meet the prostitute Phoenicium. Although the motivation behind nearly every action in the play, she is glimpsed only briefly, never speaks directly, and earns little respect from the male characters surrounding her, a situation that roughly parallels a woman's role in Roman society of that period. Women of the time, in other words, were to be seen and not heard. Their sole purpose was to please or to benefit men. As time passed, though, women earned more responsibility, allowing them to become stronger and hold more influence. The women who inspired Lope de Vega's early seventeenth-century drama Fuente Ovejuna, for instance, rose up against not only the male officials of their tiny village, but the cruel (male) dictator busy oppressing so much of Spain as a whole. The roles women play in literature have evolved correspondingly, and, by comparing The Epic of Gilgamesh, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and The Wife of Bath's Prologue, we can see that fictional women have just as increasingly as their real-word counterparts used gender differences as weapons against 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. Before we delve into the traits of individual characters, it is important to understand certain assumptions about women that prevailed in the Homeric Age. By modern standards, the Ancient Greeks would be considered a rabidly misogynistic culture. Indeed, the notoriously sour Boetian playwright Hesiod-- who wrote about fifty years before Homer-- proclaimed "Zeus who thunders on high made women to be evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600).
In Homer's composition, The Odyssey, the roles women play are very significant. The best examples of the true nature of women occur when Odysseus encounters Circe and Calypso. These two characters illustrate the thoughts and feelings of how women how a woman feels and how they think. As the quote states, Circe and Calypso illustrate how women really can be crafty, intelligent, sneaky, disloyal, and cruel. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win.
Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The women in “The Odyssey” dictate the direction of the epic. Homer the blind creator may have contrived the story with the aim to depict a story of a male heroism; but the story if looked at from a different angles shows the power women have over men. The Sirens and women that posses the power of seduction when ever they are encountered take the men off their course, and lead many to their death. The power women in the Epic pose can be seen from the goddess all to the wives. From The nymph Calypso who enslaves Odysseus for many years posses all the way back to Penelope who many argue is of equal importance to
Gender Matters is a collection of various essays on feminist linguistic texts analysis, by Sara Mills. Mills develops methods of analyzing literary and non-literary texts, in addition to conversational analysis based on a feminist approach. The author draws on data from her collection of essays gathered over the last two decades on feminism during the 1990s. The essays focus on gender issues, the representation of gender in reading, writing, and in public speaking. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of feminists’ analysis of sexism in literature and the relation between gender and politeness. The article is informative for my research paper, as my topic is going to cover language analysis of the text and who women reading and writing differs according to the discourse analysis within linguistic, psychology, case studies audiences and surveys. The book would be helpful, particularly the last three essays that discusses gender, public speaking, the question of politeness and impoliteness in public speaking. Mills’ analysis is not complete without including the idea of global notions of both women and men, to see whether women and men write and read in the same way globally. Therefore, an update would enrich the book’s discussion section. Although, Mills addresses the class and race theme in language and public speaking, I will only look into the role of language that plays a part in doing or reducing gender in literary, non-literary texts and in conversation.
...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.
“Gender,” throughout the years has been defined and redefined by societies, and individuals. “Gender roles,” have, and still do contribute to these definitions. Literature contains prime examples of how gender roles were perceived in different time periods, showing readers the views of an author through the characters and their traits. Sophocles’ Antigone is a Greek tragedy, that heavily depicts the gender roles found in ancient Greek society, also providing insight into what would be seen as “normal” and “abnormal” behavior in relation to gender in Greece. In the play, Antigone, a daughter of the late King of Thebes, Oedipus, becomes distraught when she learns that her two brothers have killed each other, and furthermore, that her uncle and newfound king, Creon has forbidden the burial of one of her brothers.
The Role of Women in Greek Mythology In learning about the feminist movement, we studied the three articles, discussed and reviewed the different authors perspectives on the topic, and learned how important the role of woman in Greek mythology is. In presenting the feminist theory to the class, we analyzed the three articles, Women in Ancient Greece; Women in Antiquity: New Assessments; and Women in Greek Myth, and discussed how although the three articles provided different views on Feminism in mythology, they all essentially are aiming to teach the same basic concept. In order to understand the feminist theory, we have to understand the notion that although myths are invented and that they involve fantasy, the concept of mythology does not necessarily imply that there is no truth of history in them. Some of the humans may have lived while some of the events may have taken place. Most importantly, the social customs and the way of life depicted in the myths are a valuable representation of Greek society.
In Greek classics, it is common knowledge that in that era women and men were considered unequal. Men were superior, and in most cases women were not even fit for citizenship. It is in this atmosphere and time period that Aristophanes wrote Lysistrata. The play itself is supposed to be a comedy, although the actions of the women do not seem amusing. Instead, the women’s actions, especially the main character Lysistrata, seem incredibly brave. Lysistrata rounds up her “troop” of all the women in Athens and a Spartan woman. They take charge of the acropolis and refuse to settle for anything less than a peace treaty to end the war. The only problem with this is, in ending the war, they will be bringing back the men from their duty and end up in the same social caste system as they were from the beginning. Aristophanes seems to make the point that – the only power women hold is their sexuality (Rex Par. 7). The Athenian women can withdraw from their husbands for however long they like, they still end up givi...
"Power and Women in Lysistrata: Character Analysis of Lysistrata." Article Myriad. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. .
When we are first introduced to Iphigenie, she laments her life as a woman, and contrasts it with the life of a man. Goethe's Iphigenia in Tauris abounds with references to gender roles: behavioral norms considered appropriate for an individual based on their gender. However, while Iphigenie is portrayed as the epitome of a feminine being (compassionate, gentle, pure/devout, honest and effective at communicating1), her interactions with the male characters challenge the construct of traditional gender roles. Instead of being limited by her femininity, Iphigenie proves herself to embody characteristics that are considered quintessentially male traits (assertiveness, rationality, and resolve2) to a greater extent than the male characters in the play. Thus, Iphigenia in Tauris can be read as an argument against the idea of strict gender expectations.
First, one can see the importance of the sacrifice of one life in order to save many more. In the Grecian tale, Iphigenia is forced by her father and the multitudes of Grecian soldiers to sacrifice her life in order to appease the god that controls the winds. Her inner struggle consists of the desire to live verses the knowledge of the fact that if she doesn’t die, her family will be executed along with her. Iphigenia must decide which is more important in the grand scheme of things. Her decision to die is only made because she realizes that she is the sacrifice for the ones she holds dearest to her heart, her own family members. This devotion to her kindred is her reason for willingly giving her life. As Achilles speaks with Iphigenia about her decision, he notices the nobility and courage that she is putting forth in order to make such a huge sacrifice. This courage is much like the courage that is shown in the sacrifice of lives today for others.