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Essays 9n role or position of women in old testament
An essay on the position of women in the old testament
An essay on the position of women in the old testament
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With great power you can become a villainess and a Heroine. There are two great stories about women from the Old Testament that give good instances of greed and selflessness with power. Athaliah – Queen of Judah during the reign of King Jehoram, and later became sole ruler of Judah for five years. II Kings, II Chronicles[23][24]
Athaliah is thought to be the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel. She was married to Joram King of Judah. When Joram died, her son Aziah became King and she became an extremely powerful woman. As the mother of the King her influence out-ranked any of the wives and mistresses of her son.
Only one year after becoming King of Judah, Aziah was assassinated while he was visiting his Cousin in Israel. Jehu
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Mordecai's ancestor Saul had been an enemy of Haman's ancestor Agag, King of the Amalekites. Therefore, Mordecai considered Haman an enemy. Mordecai had refused to bow to Haman, this was a serious insult and infuriated Haman. Haman found out that Mordecai was a Jew, their conflict escalated into a nation-wide massacre against the Jewish people. Haman told the King that the Jews must be eliminated for the good of the Kingdom and the King agreed. At that time the King did not know his much-loved queen and Mordecai who saved his life where Jews. Mordecai told Esther that she was the only one who could save the Jewish people. Esther instructed Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Susa and hold a fast on her behalf for three days and her and her maids would do the same. She told Mordecai that after the fast, she would go to the King even though it was against the law. Queen Esther went into the court and when the King saw her, he was charmed by her surprising entrance. She asked him and Haman to attend a banquet and the King excepted. While the King and Haman was at the banquet they were asked to attend a second banquet. The night before the second banquet, Ahasuerus could not sleep. He asked his servant to read the records from his reign. He remembered that Mordecai had not been rewarded for the good deed he had done for the King. The King asked Haman how to reward an outstanding servant and Haman
Aunt Esther is a completely different person compared to Michael, she is lonely and she like it that way and she is always on the phone when Michael comes home. She really didn’t want to take in Michael, but her sister died and she is fiercely loyal to her family. A example of this is whenever Michael comes home for school she quickly changes the subject on the phone. In paragraph 1-10 they are in a fight, Aunt Esther says to Michael, “you hate it here,” she said, “and you hate me.” Michael claims that he doesn’t hate her and that it not her fault. This proves that Aunt Esther does not get along with Michael in the beginning because he won’t share his true feelings and how sad he his about his parents
Some women are known for the deeds of their sons or husbands, but never for a heroic deed of their own, their personalities, and what they do themselves. It seems the only accomplishment women could achieve was being beautiful. Theseus "had no joy of"(195) the princess Ariadne because she died before this was possible. Homer makes it sound as if Ariadne's life was useless because she did not give Theseus pleasure. The only woman we hear of for a different reason is Klymene, and we only hear of her because she "betrayed her lord for gold."(195) This is the only time we hear of a woman for something she did, and once we do, it is a negative remark. Penelope, Odysseus' queen, is paid attention to only because of her position. Because she has a kingdom, she has suitors crowding around her day and night. Being a woman, Penelope has no control over what the suitors do and cannot get rid of them. The suitors want her wealth and her kingdom. They do not respect her enough to stop feeding on Odysseus' wealth; they feel she owes them something because she won't marry one of them. One of the suitors, Antinoos, tells Telemakhos "...but you should know the suitors are not to blame- it is your own incomparably cunning mother."(21) Even Telemakhos doesn't respect his mother as he should. When the song of a minstrel makes her sad and Penelope requests him to stop playing, Telemakhos interrupts and says to her, "Mother, why do you grudge our own dear minstrel joy of song, wherever his thought may lead.
In classic works being a strong woman seems to run hand in hand with being manipulative. Medea lied and cheated friends to try to acquire time in order to get what she wants. In this case what she wants is revenge agents her ex-husband. She tricks a friend to give her asylum in Athens after she has committed her insane task. Medea even goes so far as to be able to con Kreon, the king himself into giving her an extra day. This unwittingly gives her exactly what she needs. Antigone tries her hand at manipulation but is not as successful as Medea. Antigone tries, with no avail, to persuade her sister, Ismene, to help her give their brother Polyneices a proper burial. In this way they are more like foxes, cunning but not always getting it right. Their deceitful nature is their strength.
In historic Greece, the characteristics of a hero were for the most part left only for men to achieve. Heroes were viewed as those who were kind to friends, vicious to enemies. They were also men who risked their lives regularly everyday, fighting for not only their country, but also treasures such as women, gold, and armor, among other things. Women, however, rarely accomplished such things, for what made a good woman was her obedience to her husband, her loyalty to her family, and, for the most part, other functions that a housewife is usually considered to perform. In order to win renown, however, a woman was forced to commit actions normally left to men. Antigone, Electra, and Medea, do not attempt to be what was considered a “good” women in ancient Greece; rather, their actions become masculine, instead. This is why they were known in the ancient world.
A good example of the typical type of role a woman would play in classical mythology is the myth of Pandora. Pandora was the first woman to be created; Hephaestus created her on Zeus’s orders. Pandora was only created as a part of Zeus’s plan to punish Prometheus for stealing the secret of fire from Olympus and showing it to the humans. Pandora was given all of the “seductive gifts” by the Olympians upon her creation . Athena gave her the ability to weave and create needlework. Aphrodite gave her beauty and lust. Hermes gave Pandora a shameful way of thinking and a deceitful nature; he gave her a predisposition towards lies and crafty words. Pandora was then dressed and adorned beautifully, along with h...
Since women technically had no power without the help of a man, she had to be sly and crafty to get what she wanted. The perfect example of this is the teller of all these stories. Shahrazad the Vizier’s eldest daughter, willingly chooses to become the King’s next bride to be. “‘Give me in marriage to this King: either I shall die and be a ransom for the daughters of Moslems, or live and be the cause of their deliverance.’”. (pg19) Shahrazad tricked the King into keeping her alive by telling him stories and stopping in the middle of it to survive another night. Her plan works and not only is she spared but thanks to her, the king realizes that women are eloquent, and that they can be trusted. She also saved the lives of other girls since the king no longer needs a new woman every night. In The Tale of Al- Haddar, the barber’s second brother is tricked into shaving his beard and dye his eyebrows by a beautiful woman. This demonstrates that one should not to conclusions, even if it is a pretty
The final virtue a true hero must epitomize is power. While power does not always represent the most heroic qualities in the women of Yvain and The Magic Ring, there is no doubt that power gives women leverage in regards to the men of these stories. For example, in the story of The Magic Ring, the character Gerda represents ungodly power, but nevertheless, her powers still give her leverage over the men of The Magic Ring. For instance, “But, meanwhile, Gerda held out her beautiful hand, with the green branch, towards him, and, as if drawn onwards by irresistible attraction, he advanced, till at last he suddenly made his appearance amid the fiery circle beside her, and, with smiles of confidence, made signs to his comrades that they should join
ate Musala’s legs, however he wants to wait to see Judah first. Judah arrives and Musala tells him that his family is not dead and that they are in fact in the valley of the lepers. Musala then died in front of Judah. When Judah goes to the valley of the lepers he sees Esther, he gets angry with her for lying to him. She explains their plea to her.
In Euripides' Medea, the main character of the same name is a controversial heroine. Medea takes whatever steps necessary to achieve what she believes is right and fair. She lived in a time when women were expected to sit in the shadows and take the hand that life dealt them without a blink of their eye. Medea took very radical steps to liberate herself and destroys the life of the man who ruined hers. She refused to accept the boundaries that a patriarchal society set upon her. Medea was a very wise and calculated woman who was brave enough to leave her homeland, along with everything she knew and loved, in order to follow her heart down the path of what she expected to be eternal happiness.
The stories about women in the bible illustrate the importance of their role and contribution to society. Women were slaves, concubines, and child bearers; they were also wives, matriarchs, and prophets. Although, some women had less important titles than others each served a purpose. Even if the Bible does not explain God’s relationship with women as with Moses and other prophets, it illustrates the love and dedication women had for Him. The scriptures describe brave, nurturing, and God fearing women whose decisions impacted the existence of the Israelites.
In The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the main character Erendira is the definition of a survivor. She had to enter into the world of prostitution because she owed money to her grandmother for a simple accident. It was necessary for her grandmother to be killed in the conclusion of the story so Erendira could escape and start a new life. This just shows that a normal girl can turn into a sex slave literally over a course of a day. And the returning of the character Medea, In Medea written by Euripides, Medea betrayed her own family to be with her lover Jason but Jason shortly betrayed Medea by separating from her and their children. Also, by trying to marry another woman. In result, Medea killed her two children to rid herself of the remembrance of Jason. It was the only way she could get revenge on her past lover. It was the only way to free herself of the horrific memories she has put on herself. This exhibits that even a princess can be swindled. As
According to Webster’s dictionary, the definition of ‘villain’ is “a character in a story, movie, etc., who does bad things” (Merriam-Webster). In John Webster’s play, The Duchess of Malfi, the plot line revolves around a duchess and her two brothers. The Duchess of Malfi is a very twisted and complicated story where the characters are not as they seem. One of the most significant parts of the story line is that the characters that appear to be the villains are not actually the villains. This makes the story complex, but eventually ties it together in unexpected ways. When first reading the play, it is easy to come to the conclusion that the duchess’s two brothers, The Cardinal and Ferdinand, are the villains. However, the Duchess lies and manipulates those closest to her for her own selfish gain. The Duchess is deceitful when she hides her marriage and hides her children even though she knows the drama it will cause in her family, which makes her the true villain in The Duchess of Malfi.
There are many examples of woman’s negative influence in the Old Testament. In Genesis 19:30-36, Lot's two daughters made their father drunk with wine on two successive nights. Each daughter committed incest with her father, and became pregnant.8 This is illogical, if Lot was so drunk he probably could not have performed physically and it occurred over two separate nights. He could have been unwitting the first night but not the second. Again in Judges 16, Delilah seduced Sampson in order to find out the secret of his great strength. This ultimately led to Samson's death.8 1 Kings 11 describes how Solomon's many foreign wives and concubines convinced him to worship other gods and build Pagan temples. This led to his downfall.8 The moral to these stories seem to be that women are responsible for the mistakes and men are easily corruptible by women.
Shrewd meaning sly, sneaky, or tricky, but could these traits be used to save the day? In Aziz and Aziza, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and Wife of Bath’s Tale the role of the female character helps create a plot and theme for the entire story. In these styles of writing, women are seen as sneaky and that they should be trusted because they are meant to cause trouble. Throughout all the stories, the woman leads the plot and is not seen as a supporting character. The shrewd woman plays an important role in using her cunningness to get out of trouble and creating a theme of cleverness to save the man in trouble.
In contrast, Queen Amina was the Twenty Fourth Habe of Zazzau and was known for her deep interest in warfare. She built walls around conquered territories, many of which people see today(“Amina of Zaria”). In Yemen, Queen Asma Al-Sulaihi and her daughter Arwa were significant historical figures.