Degradation of Women Viewed from Modern American Context On Tuesday, February 6th, the Crockett House Firm charged the epic poem, The Odyssey, for representing the degradation of women, specifically, women being objectified and misrepresented. The Crockett House Firm wants these charges to be judges from a modern, American cultural context. The Crockett House firm is the prosecution and finds The Odyssey guilty of the charges. The Griffin House Firm is the defense for this trial and finds The Odyssey not guilty.
The Homeric Hymns portray Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis and Hestia as strong females who uphold their own beliefs; challenging the “typical” gender stereotypes of the time period. Women in antiquity were expected to follow and uphold certain societal rules, most of these rules emphasized the gender stereotypes that women were perceived as being. The use of the goddesses powers challenge these societal rules and ideas about women. Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, and Hestia are portrayed in the Homeric Hymns in contrast to ancient stereotypical roles of women being confined to the household; as a result this contrast emphasizes that women can showcase strength, intelligence, and power within society. A women’s life in antiquity was constricted by
In “The Odyssey,” Homer provides a rather large cast of female characters, especially by comparison to the rest of Greek culture. In Homer’s depiction of women, most are characterized positively. The reason I say this is because even the “evil” goddess characters are characterized beautifully. Circe, Calypso, they are all characterized as beautiful characters, rivaled only by the Goddess of Love and Affection, Aphrodite. By comparison to the rest of Greek society, however, Homer was praising women beyond standards.
These figures were simplified resemblances of the female body that contained abstract and geometric lines, shapes, and projections. The Statuette of a Women which can be found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York was just over two feet tall. However, some of their sculptures were life size. These sculptures were made of marble and found around burials. Because of the location the sculptures were found, it has been inferred that the figures were used for rituals and related or a fertility or female deity.
The Dogon tribe believes that women must be over power by men but men still need them. Since men were known to be more arrogant and dictatorial and had complete power of women which allowed them to have a secured over the women as they wear the women mask that give them terrorize for the men. This made men take on the roles of women and they do all the hard labor for women. There mask look like the depicts a woman’s head with beauty. It was known as the Satimbe Mask which it presents for the women.
Unimportant or Powerful In a book about the Rights of Women, Mary Wollstonecraft stated, “I do not wish [women] to have power over men; but over themselves” (GoodReads). Women may often get overlooked or be seen irrelevant, but in reality, women do have power. They may not have the power over men, or over other people, but in The Epic of Gilgamesh, the readers see examples of how women obtain their own power. Gilgamesh, the main character of the epic, is two-thirds divine.
Different societies view women in different lights. Therefore, a woman’s position is greatly different from one society to the other. The societies in question do not necessarily have to exist at the same time. Even in the same time frame, two societies could exist, where one treat women as equals to men, and another that treats women differently than men, whether better or worse. The societies in question are: Mesopotamia, Greece, China, Rome & Europe, and this essay aims to study different societies’ viewpoints on women, and to compare and contrast them against each other.
Creation myths are types of narratives that cultures or groups throughout time use to explain how the world as we know it began or how it became what they knew of it back in their time. With various groups in society throughout time we are now able to look back at several different aspects and outlooks through these creation myths that still live in some way, shape, or form. However, the creation myths we observe in the class have evidence that dates back to the time of their telling whether it be through text or hieroglyphs. With several ways to observe these creation myths an interesting way would be by comparing and contrasting the views and beliefs held by groups through time and how they shift. A genuinely intriguing topic of discussion is the role of women in the creation myths and
In ancient times, there is a general sense that women were simply items and slaves to their husbands. Ancient Greece specifically has a renowned reputation of favoring men. Men possessed the dominant role in public affairs and events while most women were pressured to stay at home. Very few records extensively discuss women; the records focus mostly on men. Despite the lacking records, it is certain how ancient Greeks viewed their women and their relationships with their male counterparts.
Many stories in ancient Greece have shown the power of men and the role of women has gotten down. However, Athena has been one of the only goddess that was known for her intelligence, courage and wisdom. Because of her qualities and virtues, she is known as one of the most important deities among the twelve gods of Mount Olympus and was appreciated by the ancient Greek world. Athena is known as the grey-eyed goddess and this is because of her wisdom, practical skills, and intelligence. (EXPLAIN)
The theme of the abandoned woman in the mythical Greek-Roman stories reoccur a figure of the heroine who fell in love with a stranger, it helps him in a difficult task, being somewhat less than the duties that bind the family and their homeland; then follows it, often far away, only to be betrayed and abandoned. In the Mythology, here are three different famous heroines abandoned: Dido, Medea and Ariadne, women united by the fact that she loved so much that then the men have abandoned. As well, I will discuss the characters of Agnes from Matthäus asimir von Collin’s Der Tod Friedrichs des Streitbaren, Gretchen from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, and finally Donna Elvira from Wolfgang A. Mozart and Lorenzo DaPonte’s Don Giovanni. Dido, Queen of Carthage , was in love with the hero Aeneas and was totally under the thumb of his love, the grip of the "furor", the passion of love that led her to think only of his relationship with Aeneas and cancel itself both as a woman that as queen. In Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas “Thy hand, Belinda…When I am laid in earth” comes near the end of the third and final act of the opera.
Presentation of the Research Question Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, pre-birth by removing the fetus from the uterus. It is one of the most controversial issues in America today. Pro-life and pro-choice are the two sides to supporting the cause of abortion. Pro-life believe all abortion should be illegal no matter the case and pro-choice believe women should have the choice to choose whether she wants to end the pregnancy or not. Abortion should be illegal in the United States under all circumstances because it is immoral and while women should have a choice, the choice should be to have safe sex, not to end an innocent life (Karstadt).
For instance Lady Reason states, “Believe me, despite what you’ve read in books,you’ve never seen such a thing, because it’s all pack of outrageous lies” (785). Lady Justice is presented with a container of gold given for rewards to those who have remained loyal, and righteous. Not to mention, Lady Rectitude who holds the rule that separates right from wrong, in other words good from evil. Each tool is used to represent what was expected of women as well as to help build the kingdom of women. In the same manner, The goddess are the personification of wisdom, morality, and good behavior.
Over generations, the role of women in society has shifted and changed immensely, improving upon many aspects of rights and values that women have. The changes occurred gave women opportunities to provide ideas, to have the same rights as men, giving women freedom, leading to many contributions of many significant and valuable events. But from current roles of women being equal to those of men, how women stood in ancient society significantly differs and contrast with ours today. Throughout history, the role and significance of women were always outweighed by the dominance and influence of men. The role of women in ancient times varied throughout, depending on the place and area in the world, in which women had different roles and impacts on their own society.
The goddesses in the Hindu mythology are seen as immensely beautiful forms who are also the epitome of serenity. They are considered the divine feminine form. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous goddesses who are not serene. There are those who are peaceful but there are also the angry ones.
