Uncontrollable Urges: Women’s Frightening Presence in Classical Athenian Drama and it’s Reflection on Athenian Society

Type :

Presentation

Pages :

7 pages

Format :

.doc

Published date :

05/22/2008

Category :

Philosophy & literature

Sub category :

Literature

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Summary :

Introduction
Aristotle: Women are capable of virtue
Their political clout or social control
The great contradiction with women
Man's ambivalent feelings about women
Medea's most well known monologue
The opening of the play
Conclusion
Works cited

Abstract

In classical athenian society, anxiety about gender roles abounded, as women were regarded dichotomously as pillars of purity as well as receptacles and originators of filth, both moral and physical. Many ancient sources, often funerary monuments or epitaphs, praise individual women for their virtue, chastity, and obedience, but beneath these affectionate words lurks a darker perception of women. In addition to ideals of what a good woman and wife should aspire to be, ancient literature offers a laundry list of traits and habits that betray women's inferiorities and inherent dangers. The strict control that men maintained over their wives and daughters was only secondarily aimed at representing their legal interests; more importantly, men wanted to ensure that women could not break out of their boundaries and destroy the existing social structure: "it did always seem a terribly dangerous possibility to the Greeks that their women might get out of hand and become a threat, endangering male order, life, and sanity." athenian drama often addressed these topics of female nature and female boundaries in both tragic and comedic forms