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Ancient greece and gender roles
Ancient greece and gender roles
Role Of Women In Ancient Greece
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Ancient greece and gender roles
Ancient greece and gender roles
Role Of Women In Ancient Greece
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Unspectacularly, the Jeffers adaptation of Medea is quite a disappointment painting Medea as an animal with no “reason” or human-like thought in regards to her decisions. “QUOTE”. Consistently compared to animals, Medea rarely gains the respect as the incredibly intelligent human-being that Medea should have. On countless occasions, Medea remains seen as an animal, including, “I shall not die perhaps as a pigeon does. Nor like an innocent lamb, that feels a hand on its head and looks up from the knife to the man’s face and dies – No, like some yellow-eyed beast that has killed its hunters let me lie down” (Jeffers, 28.)
After reading the ancient Greek plays consisting of Antigone and Medea, I felt that both main characters held strong ideas and arguments. From Antigone, one can visualize a strong-willed and intelligent girl (Antigone), who placed immense love and trust in her family regardless of their misguided actions. It is through this love of hers that she decided to disobey the edict placed by the new ruler, Creon, regarding the improper burial and humiliation of Polyneices (her brother). As a result, her attempts to give proper burial to her brother lead to her arrest, imprisonment, and death. Meanwhile, Medea presents readers/viewers a powerful, godlike woman (Medea) who was betrayed by the man for whom she sacrificed everything.
I want Medea to be justified in her actions, but I want this to be something that could happen to anyone. I don’t want her actions to be considered ‘what women do.’ There is also this theme of feminism and standing up for women in general. She criticizes men while using her wit to maneuver the situation properly. Medea is a cunning woman confined to this world dominated by men.
She voices women’s loss of power over their bodies and economies. And how they became trapped in the their own household. Medea explains, “With an excess of wealth it is required/ For us to buy a husband” and notes to not take a “master” is worse (L 232-234). Here she passionately speaks out against the injustices she faces as a women.
In Euripides’ Medea women are treated better than they are in other Greek stories. Women in mythology are commonly portrayed as devious, manipulative, deceitful, and
Euripides forwards Medea’s revenge through her use of Rhetoric in her dialogue. Rhetoric is language used intended to persuade or influence another person’s decisions or ideology. Medea’s use of Rhetoric conveys her cunning and deceitful nature in the play: she appeals to the ethical standpoint of the all-female Chorus, she appeals to the emotion of Creon to persuade him and Aegeus for her own advantage. Jason’s use of Rhetoric against Medea is exposed by her argument on the ethics of marriage that he has tarnished. Medea uses Ethos, the persuasion through ethical arguments, to appeal to the female Chorus who live in a patriarchal land.
Medea is a story set thousands of years ago, but its themes are as relevant today. Medea's behavior exemplifies how people with psychological scarring due to sexism and isolation may resort to harmful measures they believe are justified to atone for the suffering they have caused
Also women did not really have a say in what could happen in a situation because the men had to speak for them. Women had to be loyal to the husbands or there would be a consequence for there actions. An example for this is when Jocasta and Laius were deciding to expose Oedipus on Mount Cithaeron. Laius took the newborn Oedipus from Jocasta 's arms and sent him with someone to be left out and to be exposed. Mothers have a strong connection with their children, so it must have been very difficult for Jocasta to watch her baby be exposed.
Paul Vu Dr. Elizabeth C. Ramírez THTR 475A.03 2 May 2017 Macbeth and Medea: Breaking Expectations Macbeth by William Shakespeare and Medea by Euripides are known for their powerful critiques on the social expectations of women. Women during the time of Elizabethan and Greek theatre were often stereotyped and considered the weaker sex. Men were depicted as strong individuals who supported and protected women. However, both Shakespeare and Euripides broke expectations by portraying strong and iconic female characters in their respective plays. The idea of a strong female character was often unheard of during the time of Elizabethan and Greek Theatre.
CONCLUSION RESTATE THESIS And so Medea is a weak person, who becomes empowered when she realizes she need to get revenge but can only get revenge if she manipulates the situation enough . AMPLIFICATION Medeas power is limited but all women in this society limited because of the patriarchy. CLOSURE In the last lines of the play jason goes on to say that he is driven away only because she kills the kids, OTHER POSSIBILITIES
Revenge can cause more damage than the original injury. Even in old Greek days people used revenge to hurt one another. In the ancient Greek tragedy Medea, a young woman named Medea gave up her family, home and country to be with a man named Jason. As they moved on in life, Jason then decided that he would leave her and his children for the princess, a royal bed. This caused Medea to be vengeful and go out on a rampage.
If a woman ever slept with another man, she would be divorced, her children would be taken away, and she would be left with no money or estate. However, if a man were to sleep with another lady, no harm would come to his reputation or his possessions. These ideas and societal norms from Homer’s era all align with the themes of women in The
Medea was treated unfairly in the patriarchal society that she lived in and due to the circumstances she was forced to abide by, she sought to achieve her own form of justice. Women were mistreated and regarded as inferior to men. In fact, Medea mentioned how women were like foreigners forced to abide by their husband’s laws and remain subservient. Essentially, women were treated as outsiders and were thought to need constant protection from male figures. So, when the King of Corinth kicked her and her children out of Corinth and Jason left them, she wanted revenge since she felt she had been wronged.
She describes the world to be unjust, especially to women. Medea believes that women are looked as inferior to men, and even so, men are quick to display their unlikely maltreatment. To her, women have little to no say in their marriage, their bodies, and general society. Medea’s outlook of women is first conveyed through this quote, bringing upon the theme of the state of women within Greece. This quote reveals the state of women within Greece, a leading theme of the story.
MEDEA, Euripides In the ancient era was the theater plays and a very central part of the future society. Usually written the dramas and love stories. A classic piece of antiquity is Medea, written by Euripides. The play 's fable is that a woman who learns that her husband has been cheating on her.