In the book the Oresteia by Aeschylus gender plays an important role throughout the story as the themes of vengeance, and family ties are brought to light. Aeschylus’s portrayal of Clytemnestra and Electra shows the roles women upheld in Greek society as well as their wide variety of feelings when compared to men. These two women are at opposite ends of the spectrum showing the reader how one woman may run the house and everything in it, while one suffers silently.
Aeschylus begins by portraying Clytemnestra as Agamemnon’s faithful wife brought only to a murderous rampage by the news of her daughter’s murder, but indeed she was stricken with the curse of jealousy and had a yearning so strong to maintain power she killed the father of her
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three children with no remorse. This spirited queen acting as a regent for her husband as he was off in battle at Troy became rather familiar with the throne and the power that came along with it. On her power trip, Clytemnestra became engaged in an affair with Agamemnon’s cousin, Aegisthus. Thus the new couple planned Agamemnon’s demise as soon as he returned so they could maintain their reign of power over the people of Argos. Clytemnestra shows the more emotional side of womankind when she learns of Agamemnon’s new mistress Cassandra. She immediately is overcome with feelings of loss, pain, and jealousy for she kept up his kingdom for several years and he brought home a new woman which enraged her further and ensured her murderous plans. Clytemnestra shows more emotion than does Agamemnon when she welcomes home her husband after ten years pleasantly even though her actions are fake she expresses an array of emotion all while Agamemnon has one single emotion, blind arrogance. Blind arrogance to all he has coming for him. Clytemnestra has spent years plotting his death becoming furious with him while he is at war and oblivious to his unhappy bride at home. She easily adds Cassandra to the plan while he was preoccupied at battle with many other things on his mind but his wife and children. Agamemnon carelessly sacrifices his daughter on a whim to save himself which further illustrates his careless arrogant attitude with little emotion towards the death of his daughter. Clytemnestra doesn’t show much remorse or despair toward Iphigenia’s death, but she uses it to add to the list of reasons why Agamemnon should be killed. Clytemnestra starts the story playing the part of the queen who obeys her husband and turns a blind eye to his other lovers but soon enough her plans of evil are exposed and she is standing over Agamemnon and Cassandras’ dead bodies drenched in their blood. On one hand this is typical of Greek society because the women were expected to mercilessly follow their husband’s commands and live out their lives devoted to caring for their children. On the other hand Greek women were wily and loved power just as much as the next man, although she was not rightfully queen, Clytemnestra was a strong woman whose people liked her rulings. Credit is given to Clytemnestra when she stands up for herself, she was in the shadow of Agamemnon for quite some time when she had had enough and took matters into her own hands. She proved that not only men were able to have other lovers and plot murder all while being a successful ruler to her people. Clytemnestra also displaces the social norms further when she and Aegisthus take over Argos, she uses him as a pawn. She never really needed him in her life he just helped her commit double homicide and stuck around for the benefits afterwards but he was never really truly needed, if she wanted Clytemnestra could have proceeded with her plans on her own. Clytemnestra was not even by today’s standards an average woman compared to the picturesque house wife who wove things and raised good soldiers, she cared little about her family or there outcome but instead focused on herself which is both a positive and negative in terms of character strength. Clytemnestra could have had a more maternal bone in her body and taken care of her children but she chose to focus on her own personal success which takes courage especially the way she achieved her own success. The tables begin to turn on average Greek life when Clytemnestra banishes her only remaining daughter, Electra, to slavery of her own house. Electra, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra suffers great loss throughout this story as she loses her sister, her brother returns but has been absent from her life for a great time and leaves her again, she loses her father, and she loses her mother as well. Electra has a reverse Oedipus complex which begins when her father is murdered and comes to light when Orestes returns and she is instantly drawn to and attached to his presence. Shortly after her father’s murder Electra has a feeling of hate and revenge towards Clytemnestra and Aegisthus which leads her to encourage Orestes to avenge their father’s death. Through the character Electra Aeschylus presents the weakness of womankind. Electra is on good terms with the men in her existence, she adored her father, and very much loved and obeyed her younger brother. She does hold a deep hatred and grudge towards Aegisthus for killing her father, therefore she has no problem plotting revenge against him and her mother. Electra was a part of an arranged marriage which would sever her ties to the house and her family but she did nothing to actively prevent this from happening to herself. Under Greek law Electra would have been under her father’s power until she was married off but Clytemnestra has sped along that process to rid herself of her daughter who remains obsessed with her father’s memory. The strengths Electra possesses are that of a traditional Greek woman, she does as she is told and is loyal and devoted to her family. She also adds to the emotional assumption associated with women when she remains hung up on her father’s death, needing revenge, as well as becoming dependent and needy for her brother when he makes his grand return to Argos. Electra has proven to be a weak character when she does not speak up for herself, she gives into all of Clytemnestra’s orders, quickly becoming just another house slave with little to no objection. The last time Electra is seen in the story is when Orestes directs her to return to the house and she listens without hesitation, further proving that her loyalty is to her family but also that she will not defend herself and is much more traditional Greek woman needing a man to speak for her or protect her than her mother ever proved to be. The two women main women in this story, Clytemnestra and Electra foil each other when Electra is shown so weak and obedient it adds strength and power to Clytemnestra.
In areas where Clytemnestra contrasts Agamemnon (she is strong and demanding and he is arrogant and complacent), Electra strengthens and adds authority to Orestes (encourages him to fulfill the plot against Clytemnestra and Aegisthus). Electra merely provides information for Orestes while Clytemnestra is the brains behind her operation and does her own dirty work. These two women, one bore the other, became such different people. Clytemnestra had this thirst for power hurting any and every one in her way. Meanwhile Electra wanted justice for all who had been harmed by her mother’s selfish ways. Electra helped to accomplish the will of Apollo who took action through Orestes and her own agenda was finished by Orestes as he murdered Clytemnestra and Aegisthus to avenge Agamemnon’s unjust murder.Clytemnestra and Electra are opposite characters who are related but have no similarities. These two women accomplish their own agendas, each leading to their own individual success stories. Unfortunately for one death was imminent but her plan to reign as queen was fulfilled and she needed very little help along the way. The strength that comes from Clytemnestra is uncharacteristic of the times but showed the reader that even in times of timidity for women it was acceptable to a certain degree to be successful and that getting a man’s job done was something women were capable of doing. Electra’s reserved attitude and presence comes from a more accurate portrayal of the Greek Hellenic woman. She obeys her father and she respects and loves her family, most of all she is loyal to justice. These two characters are very different and represent very different eras of women, Clytemnestra a more feministic, outgoing, and care free woman; whereas Electra is quiet, dutiful, and outspoken. They have different views
regarding the men in their lives, Clytemnestra frequently expels them from her life and Electra respects and obeys the men in hers. The emotions these women demonstration are also different in terms of mind set. Electra is very sad and emotional towards the death of her father but very spiteful and vengeful towards her mother and Aegisthus. Clytemnestra is hateful towards Agamemnon and resentful towards her children. The pair both display a wide variety of emotion throughout the story resulting in the outward actions of their thoughts, meaning the murder they both either commit or help to commit. The themes of family ties and vengeance were portrayed multiple times throughout the story many of those instances were by these two women alone. The two showed that through family ties vengeance is sometimes created and feelings of hate or of love become relevant and whether or not one chooses to act on those feelings is what determines those characters strength of character.
How much control do women have over their emotions in the Aeneid? In his poem, Virgil frequently shows women in situations where irrational thoughts lead to harmful choices. Specifically, Virgil presents women as being easily influenced by their emotions. Consequently, these characters make decisions that harm both themselves and those around them. Throughout Aeneas’s journey, divinities such as Juno and Venus are seen taking advantage of the emotions of different women, influencing these characters to act in ways that ignore important priorities. Not only does Virgil present women as completely vulnerable to their emotions, but he also shows the problems that arise when these women engage in decisions where they put their own feelings ahead of their people. Virgil explicitly shows women neglecting important responsibilities when he describes passages concerned with Dido’s affair and her death, the Trojan women burning their own ships, Queen Amata’s opposition to Latinus’s proposal and her tragic death.
There is a distinction between men and women within the Oresteia that presents a detachment within the house of Atreus and in turn Athens. However, the three plays of the Oresteia provide a conclusion to the battle of the sexes. Characters within the play show their side of misogyny or misandry. It is quite obvious that the women are misanadvertising, while the men are misogynists. This division between men and women within the Oresteia reflects the division within the household, but is overcome through women rather than 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).
The cyclic thread of vengeance runs like wild fire through the three plays in Aeschylus’s Oresteia. This thread, with its complexity of contemporary and universal implications lends itself quite well to – in fact, almost necessitates – deeply interested study. While a brief summary of the Oresteia will inevitably disregard some if not much of the trilogy’s essence and intent, on the positive side it will establish a platform of characters, events, and motives with which this paper is primarily concerned. As such, I begin with a short overview of the Oresteia and the relevant history that immediately precedes it.
Aeschylus' The Oresteia features two characters burdened by seemingly hopeless decisions. First is Agamemnon, king of Argos, whose army was thwarted by the goddess, Artemis. Agamemnon was faced with the decision to call off the army's sail to Troy, and thus admit defeat and embarrassment, or to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to satisfy Artemis whom had stopped the winds to delay Agamemnon's fleet. Second is Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who was given the choice by Apollo to avenge his father's murder, thus committing matricide, or face a series of torturous consequences. Although both Agamemnon and Orestes were faced with major dilemmas, their intentions and their characters are revealed through their actions to be markedly different.
In conclusion, it becomes obvious by these three plays that for a woman to achieve kleos in ancient Greece, she usually had to become more man-like in her role. The murders committed by Electra and Medea, the bravery of Antigone—all three of these were fulfilled by what would have normally been considered a man’s role. A woman could rarely be considered a hero unless she became like a man in her actions. Otherwise, she would be only a simple woman.
Medea and Lysistrata are two Greek literatures that depict the power which women are driven to achieve in an aim to defy gender inequality. In The Medea, Medea is battling against her husband Jason whom she hates. On the other hand, in Aristophanes' Lysistrata, the protagonist Lysistrata plotted to convince and organize the female gender to protest against the stubbornness of men. In terms of defining the purpose of these two literatures, it is apparent that Euripedes and Aristophanes created characters that demonstrate resistance against the domination of men in the society.
Euripides and Sophocles wrote their own versions of the Electra story. The basic plot is as follows: Agamemnon is killed by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus after he returns from the Trojan war to reclaim his sister-in-law Helen from the Trojans. Electra and her brother Orestes. plot to kill their mother and her lover to revenge his death. Both authors wrote about the same plot, but the story built very. differently. Sophocles focused on Orestes, and Euripides focused more.
In Aeschylus’ Agamemnon there are many different opinions about what kind of king and commander Agamemnon was. Some argued that he was good, while others dispute that his motives were wrong. Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, gained a strong hatred for him, after he sacrificed his own daughter so he could go to war. Many believe that this was not necessary and could have been overcome. The chorus seems to agree with this to an extent, and feels that Agamemnon could have prayed and requested that he not sacrifice his daughter.
“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.
Aristophane’s Lysistrata is a flawed classic filled with the power struggle between man vs. woman. It is entirely focused and written from the male perspective, in which male-privilege dominated and disregarded the women’s outlook entirely. This “classic” is full of misogynistic perspectives, and should be disregarded as a great piece in Athenian literature.
"Power and Women in Lysistrata: Character Analysis of Lysistrata." Article Myriad. Web. 25 Mar. 2011. .
Centuries of traditions has enabled men and women to define gender roles in society. Although some critics declare gender roles do not exist today, others believe they do. In society, men and women are defined by gender roles throughout their activities and emotions. A doctor is typically portrayed by a male while women rear the children and cook for the men. However, although still in existence, today these roles are less obvious but tend to have similar meaning when compared to the past. In ancient Greece, women suffered great hardships. Currently, females work, vote, and run for office. In comparison to ancient Greece, these activities are a phenomenal leap from being under the direct supervision of a male husband.
In Aeschylus’ The Agamemnon, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra are both faced with difficult decisions, in which they thought they made the correct choice. Aeschylus states through the Chorus how Agamemnon and Clytemnestra were prideful in their decisions and this is why they are not just. Agamemnon chose to kill his daughter and Clytemnestra kills her husband out of selfish desires. Aeschylus gives his point of view through the Chorus telling of the unjust actions of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon.
After Agamemnon’s death, Aegisthus is next in line to become king and Clytemnestra is his queen. Her desire for power is hidden by her claims of justification. She challenges anyone to take her power. “[H]e who conquers me in fair fight shall rule me” (45). She threatens the Chorus to a fight for power. She knows she has all the power now the king was dead and she is his queen. Clytemnestra is aware she killed him for his power, but her arrogance makes her put the deed on the curse of the House of Atreus and vengeance for