The Importance of Gender in Aeschylus' Oresteia
Gender is made explicit as a theme throughout the Oresteia through a series of male-female conflicts and incorrectly gendered characters dominated by the figure of Clytemnestra, a woman out of place. This opposition of gender then engenders all the other oppositions of the trilogy; conflicts of oikos and polis, chthonic and Olympian, old and young can be assigned to female and male spheres respectively. In this essay I will look at how the polis examines itself in terms of gender by focusing on the Eumenides' exploration of the myth of matriarchy, issues of the conflict between oikos and polis and the use of speech within the polis. I will then look at how these themes are brought together in the trial and the play provides an image of resolution. Many of these issues are set up in the opening speech of the priestess Pythia as already resolved and are then reconfirmed by the trial itself and closing images order.
The myth of matriarchy, despite the study of J. Bachofen is not a provable historical reality. It can be seen as the result of a combination of male anxiety and a myth being used to define society and justify male-female relations within it. The Oresteia includes and alludes to several myths of rule by women as a means of informing the main action within the trilogy and giving it wider significance.
The opening speech of the Eumenides is a prayer uttered by the priestess Pythia, which gives a history sanctuary at Delphi. The myth Aeschylus has chosen to use here is not the standard one of Apollo's battle with the serpent, or Poseidon or Herakles but seems to be motivated by issues of gender. The myth charts a transition from female to ma...
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...s 'Never pollute / our law with innovations' (Eum. 706-707) could be taken either way.
4. See Lardinois (1992). The physical proximity of the theatre and this cult would also emphasise the link.
5. Although it is still slightly dubious and is clamped down on from the early sixth century onwards (See Bremmer 1994).
6. See Goldhill (1992).
7. See Winnington-Ingram (1983).
8. Although skill at public speaking would always have dubious Sophistic associations.
9. Athens and Argos had recently made a treaty (461/460) and this adds further political significance to the play and could explain a shift from the house of Atreus being situated in Mycenae to Argos.
10. And indeed Clytemnestra could be seen as a physical agent of the principle of revenge in her killing of Agamemnon.
11. See Parker (1996).
12. See Zeitlin (1996).
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In this essay I will examine the war-of the-sexes taking place in The Eumenides, the final play of The Oresteia. The plot of The Eumenides pits Orestes and Apollo (representing the male gods and, to a certain extent, male values in general) against the ghost of Clytemnestra and the Furies (equally representative of female values.) Of more vital importance, however, is whether Athene sides with the males or females throughout the play.
Though complex and brilliantly written for its time, the plot of Alfred Hitchcock’s film, Vertigo, is only half of the genius behind it. Alfred Hitchcock’s unique presence as an auteur is truly what sets his films apart. There is symmetry to his shots that give the film an artistic feel, as if each frame were a painting. Many times, within this symmetry, Hitchcock places the characters in the center of the frame; or if not centered, then balanced by whatever else is adding density to the shot. For example, as Madeline sits and looks at the painting in the museum, there is a balance within the frame. To counter-act her position to the right of the painting, Hitchcock puts a chair and another painting on the left side, which is visually pleasing to the eye of the audience. The use of red and green not only adds a visual effect as well, but later serves as a clue that Madeline is not actually dead, when the women who looks like her is wearing a green dress.
The book then talks about viewpoints of women, both real and those who face tragedy. Women during this time were very secluded and silent, but the heroines contradicted that. This chapter talks about the images of women in the classical literature in Athens, and the role they had in society. Many tragedies were ones that formed by mythes during the Bronze Age. It showed the separation in what made women heroic, rather than average. While viewing other Scholarly sourcese, Pomerory writes her own theory, she used others
Clytemnestra is portrayed in the Oresteia as a heavily emasculated character, with male traits such as ambition, cunning and strong manipulation of language, and a lack of the traditional female traits of submissiveness and modesty. She seeks to defend
Vertigo boasted several different themes. However, the “Ideal Woman – Lost” theme was the most prevalent (“Handout #1”). This theme was brought on by an obsessed “everyman” type. Jimmy Stewart, otherwise known as Scottie in the film, played this “everyman” type whose personality was maliciously twisted into an overly obsessive man. His cause for obsession was a beautiful, young woman played by Kim Novak, known as both Madeleine and Judy in the film. Madeleine drew Scottie in so deep, that he literally became a different person. This film mirrored Hitchcock’s personal feelings and was considered to be his favorite film.
Aeschylus begins by portraying Clytemnestra as Agamemnon’s faithful wife brought only to a murderous rampage by the news of her daughter’s murder, but indeed she was stricken with the curse of jealousy and had a yearning so strong to maintain power she killed the father of her
Aeschylus' The Oresteia features two characters burdened by seemingly hopeless decisions. First is Agamemnon, king of Argos, whose army was thwarted by the goddess, Artemis. Agamemnon was faced with the decision to call off the army's sail to Troy, and thus admit defeat and embarrassment, or to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to satisfy Artemis whom had stopped the winds to delay Agamemnon's fleet. Second is Orestes, son of Agamemnon, who was given the choice by Apollo to avenge his father's murder, thus committing matricide, or face a series of torturous consequences. Although both Agamemnon and Orestes were faced with major dilemmas, their intentions and their characters are revealed through their actions to be markedly different.
The thesis of the Oresteia proves to be the sacrifice of Iphigenia, for it is with the death of a woman that the tables of the curse on the house of Atreus start to unfold. The sacrifice of Iphigenia becomes the start of the continued curse within this particular generation of the house of Atreus. Agamemnon, a misogynist, did not value the life of his innocent daughter over the spoils of men. It is significant that an innocent woman, ready for marriage, an act that brings together two households, was not married but instead murdered. Her sacrifice shows a separation between men and women along with failure within the household.
In conclusion, it becomes obvious by these three plays that for a woman to achieve kleos in ancient Greece, she usually had to become more man-like in her role. The murders committed by Electra and Medea, the bravery of Antigone—all three of these were fulfilled by what would have normally been considered a man’s role. A woman could rarely be considered a hero unless she became like a man in her actions. Otherwise, she would be only a simple woman.
...m, Hitchcock makes his cameo appearance wearing a grey suit and carrying a bugle case and strolls across the screen from left to right just before Scottie arrives at Elster’s shipyard. In conclusion, Vertigo, fifty six years later, is now considered an iconic classic and one of the best films ever made.
Vertigo is an Alfred Hitchcock film that was made in 1958. It stars James Stewart as Detective John Ferguson and Kim Novak as Madeleine Ellester and Judy Barden. In Vertigo, John Ferguson has a fear of heights that results in the death of his partner. Due to this situation, he leaves the police force and became a Private Investigator. Ferguson is contact by Gavin Ellester an old college buddy. Gavin asks Ferguson to follow his wife who he believes has gone mad. Gavin believes his wife Madeleine is being possessed by her great grandmother Corlata Valdez. He explains why he has come to this conclusion and fills John Ferguson in on all the details of the case. Mr. Ferguson questions the integrity of the story, but still accepts the case. When he starts to spy on Madeleine, he begins to notice changes in her personality and similarities to Corlata Valdez's past.
This complication presents another challenge to the Athenian masculine identity and conceptualisation of gender. In Pentheus, femininity represents weakness, submission, madness; in Dionysus, femininity is power. Dionysus’ use of femininity is what destroys Pentheus, dressing him in women’s clothing (Euripides, Bacchae 915) and, even earlier, capturing his intrigue with his own feminine disguise (Euripides, Bacchae 455). Pentheus and Dionysus’ roles switch with Pentheus’ madness; Dionysus as the Stranger first appears as the subjugated, passive actor of the two, in the traditionally feminine role once he is captured, and his appearance reflects this (Euripides, Bacchae 450). Pentheus appears in the active, masculine role, having captured and restrained Dionysus, cutting his hair and interrogating him, even cutting his hair in an attempt to strip him of some of his feminine beauty (Euripides, Bacchae, 455-510). With Pentheus’ madness, however, these roles are reversed, though Dionysus still appears feminine – this enduring quality a sign of femininity as power in his case – and Pentheus appears similarly, though this symbolises his passivity. It is notable that, alongside being presented as feminine in appearance, Dionysus appears multiple times in the play in
The purpose of this speech is to inform you with the history behind The Great Pyramid of Giza.
The pyramids of Egypt are fascinating, however, they remain to be a mystery. The well-built architecture is located in Giza, Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile River. The pyramids of Egypt are the oldest and only surviving member of ancient wonders. It is also the pride and one of the most important factors in Egyptian culture.