Through society's repetitional assignments of stringent labels that isolate individuals utilizing gender and harmful characteristics, virulent exchanges between masculine and feminine persons become the norm. Literature such as Homer's Iliad, Lucius Annaeus Seneca's Medea, and Geobee Layman's Mighty Be Our Powers provide thoughtful depictions of this dilemma by centering their stories around gender dynamics. The early establishment of the harsh atmosphere between Zeus and Hera, the distinct contrasting of Medea's sadistic nature to Jason's collected demeanor, and lastly, Daniels's ability to employ manipulative tactics to maintain sole control over Leymah all exhibit the clear connection between the damage of cemented labels and subsequent …show more content…
Furthermore, his authoritative stance gains support through the notable influence he holds, as the "nod" of his "head" is "among the immortals" "the strongest pledge," and no "promise of" his "can be revoked, mislead, or remain unfulfilled, once" he nods "in assent to it." Book 1, pg. 524-527. Here, using carefully chosen words and strategically formulated sentences, Zues illustrates his strength and trustworthy nature and establishes his commitment to care for the people he rules over. All these qualities then combine to establish Zeus as a powerful, compassionate, and honorable leader. Despite being Zeus's counsel over his rule of the mortal men, Here's status is greatly undermined by society's unfair judgments of women that rule her actions and behaviors as inferior to men. Here, the female protagonist is placed into situations that characterize her behaviors as rash and being directed by emotion rather than concrete argument. Together these factors hold the ability to inflict unnecessary chaos, and this probability causes her character to become defined by damaging …show more content…
Furthermore, the mocking tone that Here adopts in this interaction with Zues indicates that her speech is being fueled by emotion as opposed to logical reasoning. Marking her character as emotional, unreliable, and argumentative, factors which cause her to lose her argument and make her actions adopt a childlike manner. Zeus' role as an ultimate leader leads him to desire sole control over situations, and when he perceives Here to be undermining his rightful authority, he pursues threats of violence to remind her of her place. As a masculine character in western society, Zeus strongly feels the need to be viewed as superior, especially over the women that reside around him. This attitude comes straight from his society's disproportionate outlook of women's capabilities against their male counterparts. Zeus, feeling the urgency to re-establish sole dominance of the decision, sternly states to Here that she has no reason to know his rationale behind this choice, and moreover, to "sit down, keep quiet, and be obedient to my orders, for all the gods on Olympus will avail you nothing when I come close and lay invincible hands upon you" [book 1,
In the 1930s, who would have perpetrated violent acts against women in the name of sexual gratification yet still hold expectations that women take care of them? By making men in general the placeholder for “you” in the poem, it creates a much stronger and universal statement about the sexual inequality women face. She relates to women who have had “a god for [a] guest” yet it seems ironic because she is criticising the way these women have been treated (10). It could be argued, instead, that it is not that she sees men as gods, but that it is the way they see themselves. Zeus was a god who ruled Olympus and felt entitled to any woman he wanted, immortal or otherwise.
Before Athena, goddess of wisdom, came to visit him, he struggled emotionally and acted more like a boy than a man. Soon, though, through faith in the gods, he would become a man even though he had no father to guide him along the way, and “by the end of the epic, he is confident and cunning, like his parents, practicing prudence and restraint in order to defeat the suitors” (Course Hero). This shows that Athena’s talk with him began to lead him in the direction of maturity. In his speech at the assembly, he said that what the suitors were doing was wrong.
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).
I am happy with her strength and that of her brother, Zeus. They are happy and yearning: yearning to conquer the world. I am sure they are ready, but I do not believe that I am. Perhaps my time has come when I should no longer fight, but submit to the ways of the world. My body grows tired.
Due to traditional stereotypes of women, literature around the world is heavily male-dominant, with few female characters outside of cliché tropes. Whenever a female character is introduced, however, the assumption is that she will be a strong lead that challenges the patriarchal values. The authors of The Thousand and One Nights and Medea use their female centered stories to prove their contrasting beliefs on the role of women not only in literature, but also in society. A story with a female main character can be seen as empowering, but this is not always the case, as seen when comparing and contrasting Medea and The Thousand and One Nights.
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.
...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.
According to Ovid, Zeus "acted, however, with very little wisdom for the Father of Gods and Men..." (80) when he wraps the earth in darkness. Though Ovid implies that Zeus makes an illogical decision, Ovid's statement is subjective. Sure, because of the strange occurrence, Hera takes notice; but Zeus also buys time. Time is essential to think properly, and Zeus uses his time to conjure the brilliant idea of transforming Io into a heifer. Hera should have been fixated, almost mesmerized when she saw Io, as the cow is sacred to her. Zeus’ thought process is legitimate and cohesive, after all, Hera’s doubt should have been assuaged. Nonetheless, Hera still suspects infidelity. Even so, Zeus does not lose his cool and kept calm. He let Hera have her way and gave the heifer willingly. Later he craftily has Hermes free Io. Zeus is known for his rashness, but betrays that stereotype again by waiting patiently and using a vessel so that he would not be found guilty. Zeus really thinks his plan through, for he accounts for the consequences of being caught and or
Just as this genre exemplifies the masculine ideal, it also promotes the feminine ideal, largely by casting female characters who do not meet this ideal in an antagonistic light, and thus maintains the male-dominant system of the societies which produced these works. This paper therefore argues that female characters in epic poetry, namely The Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer’s Odyssey, and Vergil’s Aeneid, play the role of an antagonistic “Other” group by employing their agency to act beyond the established gender roles of their societies, thereby disrupting the social order and creating obstacles for the male protagonists.
Zeus was known greatly for his numerous affairs with many different types of women. It didn’t matter if this woman was helpless or sick; if Zeus wanted her he would deceive her into sleeping with him. “Zeus had relationships with more than 115 females, starting with his first wife, Metis, whom he swallowed when it was prophesized that she would bear a child more powerful then Zeus”(Web). No mortal man would even dream of having this many relationships even when not married. Zeus is supposed to be the ruler of gods, a role model, and he can’t even stay faithful to his own wife. People are supposed to worship this sleaze bag of a god and obey him at will.a People were right to disobey him, for ...
Even though Zeus is the god of morality, law and order, he shows very little restraint for his carnal instincts. This weakness for his pure carnal needs is evidently shown in the myths about his extramarital affairs with mortals, nymphs and even other goddesses. One of his extramarital ...
The struggle for control over birth transcends centuries and continents. Gloria Steinem, a women’s rights advocate of the 1990s describes how “the traditional design of most patriarchal buildings of worship imitates the female body” in order that “men [can] take over the yoni-power of creation by giving birth symbolically” (Steinem XV). The struggle for control over the power of procreation between the sexes existed in Ancient Greece. It is apparent in the Theogony, an account of the creation of Greek deities, composed by Hesiod sometime between the eighth and seventh centuries. The Theogony depicts how males attempted to subvert control of procreation by monitoring the womb, through force, and by undermining mother-child relationships. The Theogony also describes how women combated the subversion through willpower, deceit, and forming mother-child bonds to preserve the female power of birth, the unique power to control what is created and influence the actions of that creation.
Most people would define a great female protagonist as intelligent, strong minded and willing to fight for what she believes in. Both Bernarda Alba from Federico Garcia Lorca’s The House of Bernarda Alba and Medea by Euripides fit this description. One is a tyrannical mother who imposes her choices on her five daughters, the other is arguably the strongest non-Olympian woman in all of Greek mythology. If we take a closer look, we notice that these two characters have many things in common. From their positions of strength, to the masculine aspects of their personalities; from the way they deal with situations to the part they play in the deaths of their children. In this essay we will attempt to seek out their similarities, as well as discover how two playwrights, who wrote for distinct audiences millennia apart, could have created two women so alike.
Donald Trump said, “I support health care for people. I want people well taken care of. But I also want health care that we can afford as a country. I have people and friends closing down their businesses because of Obamacare”. Clearly, Trump is not a believer in Obamacare since it has hurt so many small businesses from being able to grow; however, he thinks that healthcare is an important program that should be there. Donald Trump is not the only person with an opinion of Obamacare, especially since it has been a hot debate ever since the Obama administration introduced it. Obamacare is technically the Affordable Care Act of 1020 and the Patient
Even in today’s society, gender roles play a part in how people view the world. Although more important than the gender roles are the emotions that antagonize the psyche of the human. Medea shows how jealousy can lead to revenge and influence bad decisions and ruin or even end lives. Ironically, the decisions she makes to kill her children, leaves Jason helpless much like a Greek wife during this time. She removes the opportunity for him to voice his opinions, needs, and desires. This flip of traditional gender roles shows how gender roles are not a reliable way to view a society.