Lysias' "On the Murder of Eratosthenes" offers a striking glimpse into the social expectations and household responsibilities that women in classical Athens had to deal with. The narrative highlights the important but vulnerable position of women in a society dominated by men while providing insights into the legal, social, and moral frameworks that govern Athens society. Women are portrayed in the story as necessary but submissive members of the family, whose value is determined by how well they uphold their husbands' honour and conformity to social norms. In this patriarchal setting, women are portrayed as morally inferior and vulnerable due to the harsh consequences of adultery. Women were presented as integral to the home, in charge of …show more content…
1.6). The 'Standard' is a 'Standard'. This emphasises the notion that women should be effective homemakers who are committed to their families well-being. Women were mainly kept in their own spaces, out of the public eye, and the division of the household into men's and women's quarters highlights the segregated nature of Athenian domestic life (Lys. 1.9). The 'Standard' is a 'Standard'. With the birth of their child, Euphiletos's confidence in his wife rose, implying that motherhood elevated a woman's standing and responsibilities in the home. However, this trust is also brittle, reliant on her following her assigned role. The story takes a sharp turn when Euphiletos describes how Eratosthenes seduced his wife. According to him, this happened during a funeral, which was one of the few public events where women were allowed to be seen (Lys. 1.7-8). The adage is a syllable. This emphasises women's precarious position in a patriarchal society by showing how their limited public presence made them vulnerable to male …show more content…
According to Athenian law, adultery was grounds for harsh punishments, such as the husband's right to kill the adulterer if he catches them in the act (Lys. 1.30-31). The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid This law is a reflection of the societal perception that women are their husbands' property and that their adultery directly compromised his honour and the integrity of the home. The fact that Euphiletos chose to murder Eratosthenes rather than accept money in the settlement, which had become customary, emphasises the seriousness of the crime and the high regard for matrimonial loyalty. Furthermore, the speech refers to women's limited agency. Rather than actively taking part in the affair, Euphiletos' wife is portrayed as a submissive character who is corrupted and seduced (Lys. 1.18–20). This representation is consistent with the general cultural trend that regards women as less morally strong and more susceptible to deception. The slave girl's interrogation, during which she is coerced into confessing under duress, emphasises the lack of agency that women and female slaves experienced in the home (Lys. 1.18-19. The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary' of the To comprehend these portrayals, one must
In her essay on, “Athenian Women,” Sarah Ruden points out that Aristophanes in Lysistrata portray women as supportive of Athenian institutions and eager to save them. But she cautions, “To do this now they must flout law, religion, and every notion of public decency – and this is definitely no reflection on women’s attitudes, but mere satirical farce and fantasy” (Ruden 107). An important element of “satirical farce” in this spirit would be a heavy use of repetition to make people laugh at the weakness being satirized. One example would not be enough, and the audience might not be amused by less than three or four examples. So in important episodes that fill out the action of the play, we have 4 examples of women beating guards,
For some odd reason, it seemed that men were allowed to be philanderers while their wives stayed at home. This is evidenced in the Odyssey quite well- Odysseus the?hero? is free to sample all the pretty ladies he cares for, whereas Penelope, his wife, is expected to fend off all the suitors at home. Predictably, Penelope melts into his arms when she realizes it is her long-lost husband without pausing to consider what he has done in his absence. This reaction portrays the unequal morals of Greek society regarding gender.
nature, and women's legal rights. & nbsp; Albeit in Lysistrata the women were shown as revolutionaries rising up against the men, women in classical Greece were never like that. Aristophanes created the play as a comedy, showing how the world might be in the times of the Peloponnesian war if women tried to do something. It was the women's job to stay home and tend to the house, and never leave, unlike they did in the play. women were shown as revolutionaries rising up against the men, women in classical Greece was never like that. & nbsp; The activities of women in Classical Athens were confined to "bearing children, spinning and weaving, and managing the domestic arrangements. No wandering in the beautiful streets of them. " The suppression of women went so far as to divide the house into separate areas for males and females. While the women stayed home, the men were usually out fighting, and when they weren't. fighting, they were entertaining their friends and having sexual favors.
In which they were Peace, empowerment of women and also sexual humor. Throughout the story it is seen that women are mainly the one’s who are making peace with war. Their takeover of Athen’s Acropolis was the key goal in the story. War in Greece was represented as a way that men could have power and the quest for peace was the key thing. But in order for the war to end Lysistrata influenced all the Greek women that she could to abstain from having sex with their husbands/lovers forcing the men to give authority over to the women. Another theme that was in this story was the empowerment of women. During the society in which the story took place, one can see that during that time period men had all the power and women were mostly housewives obeying the husband at all times. It was a good thing that Lysistrata changed this rule of freedom because if it weren’t for her, women would have barely any freedom. She basically used reverse psychology to get what she wanted in order to over throw the men. Sexual humor was also another theme that was presented in the poem. In the book it can be seen that there were a lot of scenes that had sexual humor, whether it be what they said or what they were doing. Sexual references are through out the play between the women and the men during, before and after the
In order to support the patriarchal nature of Athenian society, every aspect of their society emphasized the power and significance of males. The oikos, or the household, was the basic foundation of the society with many oikoi coming together to form their polis, Athens. Each oikos consisted of a man, who was the head of that oikos, and everybody else that lived in his household, including his wife, children, and slaves. Since the society greatly stressed masculinity, this was also central to the oikos as well. Adultery’s threat to Athenian society is represented in Lysias’s speech, On the Murder of Eratosthenes. Adultery was seen as a social rather than a personal issue and a more atrocious crime than rape because it demasculinized men and
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.
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).
Lysistrata, on the contrary shows women acting bravely and even aggressively against men who seem resolved on ruining the city- state by prolonging a pointless and excessively expending reserves stored in the Acropolis. The men being away at war would come home when they could, sexually relieve them selves and then leave again to precede a meaningless war. The women challenge the masculine role model to preserve traditional way of life in the community. When the women become challenged themselves they take on the masculine characteristics and defeat the men physically, mentally but primarily strategically. Proving that neither side benefits from it, just that one side loses more than the other. It gives the impression that the women are heroes and the men are ignorant, which contradicts what Euripides said but is chiefly written to entertain.
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.
The women were the only ones able to bear children. Also, if they were forced to stay in the house, men could have greater control over their wives, and not have to worry about them having affairs. The second important trait was virginity before marriage. Its importance to the Greek culture lies in the fear of a woman’s power. The men of the society felt it best that a woman remained a virgin until she was married; however this same attribute was not required of a man.
Despite the male dominant society of Ancient Greece, the women in Sophocles’ play Antigone all express capabilities of powerful influence and each individually possess unique characteristics, showing both similarities and contrasts. The women in the play are a pivotal aspect that keeps the plot moving and ultimately leads to the catharsis of this tragedy. Beginning from the argument between Antigone and Ismene to Eurydice’s suicide, a male takes his own life and another loses everything he had all as a result of the acts these women part take in. The women all put their own family members above all else, but the way they go about showing that cherishment separates them amongst many other things.
…First, we must buy our husband at a high price and take a master over our bodies, an even more painful evil than the other. Here the stakes are the highest: do we take a bad man or a good one? A woman can’t get divorced and keep her good reputation, as she has no right to refuse her husband…” (Euripides, 2007, p. 21).
Aristophanes stereotypes women as bickering, self-centered, unintelligent people in the beginning. They are sex driven and selfish. Lysistrata is upset that the women are late for the very important meeting "Here I've called a meeting to discuss a very important matter, and they're all still fast asleep" (180). Calonice sums up what women are thought to do all day, and also what they represent to their households; "The women! What could they ever do that was any use? Sitting at home putting flowers in their hair, putting on cosmetics and saffron gowns and Cimberian see-through shifts, with slippers on our feet?" (181). It is in fact these very frivolous ideas that are used to bring peace to the two cities. Throughout the play Aristophanes begins to knock down ...
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.
“Lysistrata” is a tale which is centered around an Athenian woman named Lysistrata and her comrades who have taken control of the Acropolis in Athens. Lysistrata explains to the old men how the women have seized the Acropolis to keep men from using the money to make war and to keep dishonest officials from stealing the money. The opening scene of “Lysistrata” enacts the stereotypical and traditional characterization of women in Greece and also distances Lysistrata from this overused expression, housewife character. The audience is met with a woman, Lysistrata, who is furious with the other women from her country because they have not come to discuss war with her. The basic premise of the play is, Lysistrata coming up with a plan to put an end to the Peloponnesian War which is currently being fought by the men. After rounding up the women, she encourages them to withhold sex until the men agree to stop fighting. The women are difficult to convince, although eventually they agree to the plan. Lysistrata also tells the women if they are beaten, they may give in, since sex which results from violence will not please the men. Finally, all the women join Lysistrata in taking an oath to withhold sex from their mates. As a result of the women refraining from pleasing their husbands until they stop fighting the war, the play revolves around a battle of the sexes. The battle between the women and men is the literal conflict of the play. The war being fought between the men is a figurative used to lure the reader to the actual conflict of the play which is the battle between men and women.