Euripides Attitudes Towards Women

The role of women and the general attitudes towards the female sex were less than equal in the Greek world. One of the most prominent attitudes towards women during this period was summarized perfectly by a character in Euripides’ play, Melanippe. In his play, the character remarks, “except for my mother, I hate the whole female sex.” This feeling of deep respect for mothers but total disrespect for all other women is seen throughout Grecian society. For example, Apollodorus convinces the jury to award him damages from Polycles by making an emotional appeal to the courts. He begins his plea with a histrionic account of his mother’s sickly and near-death state, then, almost as an afterthought mentions his wife and children. He states, “my mother lay sick and was at the point of death while I was away. I was home for only six days when, after she had seen and greeted me, she breathed her last. She often sent for me before this, beggin me to come to her by myself.” Apollodorus seems to dramatize and attach guilt to his mother, while those same
feelings are not shared for his wife, as he provides a quick, “my wife was in poor health for a long time.”
The idea that mothers were the most respectable women could be linked to a passage from Xenophon’s Memorabilia in which Socrates states, “the mother conceives and bears her child in suffering, risking her life.” In this way, women have the opportunity to show their honor as a man would show his in war, politics, etc. And, since the attainment of honor was so highly valued in the Greek world, this could be the reason why mothers were respected. The process of pregnancy and childbirth could have been comparable to men going to war in respect to manifesting a sense of honor. The woman would suffer a great deal in order to ultimately produced a healthy and beautiful child, just as a man would suffer through the perils of war in order to conquer a new land. As a result, it can be assumed that women were not highly respected, if at all, unless they were mothers in the Greek world.
Although the title of mother was valued, women who were lacking that title were thought to be evil; hence the attitude remains, “except for my mother, I hate the whole female sex.” This culture’s deeply embedded misogyny is exposed throughout a multitude of works.
One sample comes from the poem, “On Women” by Semonides of Amorgos. He states, “One from a wicked vixen he created, expert in every trick.” Women were viewed as cunning and evil while also tempting and not to be trusted. As such, the term Kalos Kakos, roughly translated to “the beautiful evil” was often used in referring to women. In this way, a paradox in viewing women is created and helps to explain Semonides of Amorgos’ attitude towards women in his play. For, with the exception of Oedipus and perhaps a handful of other men, the mother was a woman that was not tempting and could be trusted, unlike the rest of the female sex that were
devious.
A female character in Melanippe laments upon this view of women, saying, “how then can it be just that the female sex should be abused? Shall not men cease to blame all women alike if they meet one who is bad?” Her statement reinforced this view towards women was not shared by only one group of people, but, rather the whole society. Whether she was a mother, a housewife or involved in religion, women’s roles were primarily kept in the private sphere of society, most probably due to these shared societal attitudes towards women. Since the general position in the Greek world was one of misogyny, men were the only ones allowed to participate in official, important, public spheres like politics, economics, etc; while women were forced into the private and domestic areas of society. The only exception to the domestic life being that women played an important role in religion according to a female character in Euripides’ Melanippe. Also in Melanippe, Euripides explains the importance of having a female involved in domestic affairs as he states, “households where there is no wife, are neither orderly nor prosperous.” If the woman of the house did her job well, she was more respected than the woman who failed to do so, but still not as revered as a mother. Perhaps this feeling stems from Plato’s The Republic as he states, “each sex has its special virtue.”
Perhaps it is the case that Plato’s statement is at the root of the strong division existing between the sexes in the Greek world. It would seem as though the thought that women and men were only able to perform certain, unrelated tasks directly influenced the narrow roles of women that were also deemed as respectable. This idea most likely produced the misogynistic attitudes that are inescapable within the primary sources.