Feminism In Ancient Greece Essay

Juno, the queen of the gods, is fueled by her rage and fear to harm and change the wheels of fate however she can so that her beloved Argos would not be taken by the Trojans, “This was Juno’s fear...They festered deep within her, galled her still...the Trojan stock she loathed...Her fury inflamed by all this” (Virgil, 48, 28-36). While Juno’s emotional actions affect the other characters, Dido’s emotional actions resulted in her death. After being abandoned by her beloved, Aeneas, Dido was furious and wounded, “So, driven by madness, beaten down by anguish, Dido was fixed on dying, working out in her mind the means, the moment” (Virgil, 144, 594-596). Rational, only in appearance, Dido tells her sister, Anna, to go build her a “pyre in secret, deep inside our courtyard under the open sky” to “obliterate every trace of the man” (Virgil 144). Anna does as her sister tells her to and is deceived by what the pyre was really meant for.

Kreon -the king of Thebes- was furious and sentenced her to death Later, he changes his decision but it is too late as she has taken her own life. These young, brave women are obviously similar while maintaining differences in their deaths. Iphigeneia at Aulis and Antigone are very important writings in Greek Literature. Both involve a young women who dies in hopes of helping others. Antigone and Iphigeneia believe that they are dying for noble causes.

The reason for this is because the men felt emasculated by these two women's actions. Women usually are the most unfortunate roles in Greek tragedies. As women, particularly as mothers, family is the most important factor of their lives. While men are after honor and glory in warfare or in politics, women are after honor and protection for their families. In Agamemnon, Clytaemnestra encountered a situation no woman should ever have to face: she had to welcome the murderer of her daughter, who was also her husband, back into her home (Agamemnon, Lines 897-899).

In analysis, the value of women in these two societies was greatly influenced by their role and contribution to society. Women in Sparta were valued more because they gave birth to potential warriors and since Sparta was a militarized state more warriors were needed. Spartan women hired lower class women for the chores. In Athens, women were less valued because household role such as taking care of the house, chores, and cooking were not equally important to society as men.

Armand is very unhappy as he thinks that Desiree has had an affair with one the slaves, he forces her out and wants nothing to do with her. Desiree becomes very distressed and cannot live without Armand, so decides to kill herself and her baby. ====================================================================== We find out that Desiree had a hard life because she was abandoned as a child, and her past could have affected her decision to commit suicide, as she has been left before and cannot bear to be left again. Desiree loves Armand so when he tells her to leave and take the baby with her she is uncontrollable this leads to a hidden twist to the story, the eventual death of Desiree and her baby. This totally shocks the reader, as it is completely unexpected.

When hearing an ill-fated prophecy from the prophet Teiresias, Creon changed his mind and went to bury Polyneices and release Antigone from her captivity. Once Creon got to Antigone’s stone confinement, he found that she had already killed herself, and saw that Haimon was already beside her. Haimon was sprawled next to Antigone, while he grieved for the loss of his betrothed. Consequently, Haimon pulled out his sword and impaled himself because he didn’t want to live without Antigone. After Eurydice (Haimon’s mother and Creon’s wife) heard the news of her son, she also committed suicide.

It is for this reason that she is willing to destroy herself and Creon to fulfill her duty to both her immediate family and the Gods above. Antigone’s desire to bury her brother proves her devotion to her family. She is a young girl who wants to respect her elders. In Ancient Greece, many girls were married off at a young age, and Antigone is not married. She is also not like a typical girl because she tells Ismene “From mine own He has no right to stay me.” (Sophocles 3), which refers to Creon.

For example, banned bride abductions in Central Asia have continued to occur, and the women who resist abduction, risk death, or becoming ostracized from their country (Werner 2). “Suicide Note” by Janice Mirikitani is a poem that attempts to capture the thoughts and feelings of a young girl before she tragically commits suicide. The speaker is an Asian American female, and so is the author. Addressed to her mother and father the note reads, “I apologize for disappointing you. I’ve worked very hard” (Mirikitani line 7).

Pericles’ ideal of Athenian womanhood brings us to understand that in his opinion women were weak, nonexistent and vulnerable people in a society greatly guided by men’s wisdom. Even though many women did act just as Pericles described them to be, others refused to let men oppress or control them. Hera, Jocasta and Antigone are perfect examples of women that contradicted Pericles’ ideals of Athenian womanhood. In the Iliad one of Homers’ greatest works women are often depicted not only as inferior to men but as objects of possession. The story begins with a dispute over Chryseis a daughter of a follower of Apollo who has been taken captive by Agamemnon as a war trophy.

Some claims about communication difference by this myth are that communication and language matter to women more compared to men, men talk less than women, men are less verbally skilled compared to women, goal of men to use language is about getting the things done but women consider making connections and links with people, facts are covered more in men’s talk whereas women talk regarding f... ... middle of paper ... ...ts. This is the reason the facts from nowhere are included by writers in their publications and blindly the people believe them. The meta-analysis by Hyde is a worthy inclusion since it is based on facts and negates the myths which people believe in. In my opinion, there are much less differences than are exaggerated by the majority and also by media-producers. Saying that women talk more than men is another notion which is popular and accurately opposed against in the article.