How Does Euripide Present Gender In Athenian Society
This essay will explore the aspect of gender in Athenian society, particularly how it is presented in Euripides’ Heracles and Medea. Focusing on the main characters of each play, Euripides’ treatment of his characters will be discussed and how each complies and/or differs to Athenian society gender expectations.
A comprehensive and unbiased view on gender in 4th and 5th century Athenian society is almost impossible to find. This is because there were no woman writers in this time period and very little written by the lower class. This means we have a slightly skewed view on gender coming from upper class male citizens. This must be taken into account when discussing how characters conform to these views, as they may not give us the full picture.
Women and men in Classical Athens had vastly different expectations and purposes placed upon them. The ideal woman was modest, chaste, willingly submissive to the male …show more content…
In the opening of the play the nurse tells the audience of what preceded the story telling that Medea was passionately in love with Jason causing her to make rash decisions such as engineering the death of Pelias, adhering to Jason’s every whim, having children and, trying her hardest to fit in with the citizens of Corinth (8-15). In this way she is observing Athenian expectations as this suggests that she is being subservient to her husband. This position as an ordinary wife is supported by her first monologue in she talks about what women must go through to secure a husband and how she is stuck inside after the fact (230-245). However in contrast to the Corinthian wives, Medea married for love, which as far as scholars are aware was rare given the Periklean citizenship law. Along with this Medea would not have provided Jason with a dowry as she killed her father and brother, who would’ve provided it, and because of this it is argued that she is not legitimately married to
A comprehensive and unbiased view on gender in 4th and 5th century Athenian society is almost impossible to find. This is because there were no woman writers in this time period and very little written by the lower class. This means we have a slightly skewed view on gender coming from upper class male citizens. This must be taken into account when discussing how characters conform to these views, as they may not give us the full picture.
Women and men in Classical Athens had vastly different expectations and purposes placed upon them. The ideal woman was modest, chaste, willingly submissive to the male …show more content…
In the opening of the play the nurse tells the audience of what preceded the story telling that Medea was passionately in love with Jason causing her to make rash decisions such as engineering the death of Pelias, adhering to Jason’s every whim, having children and, trying her hardest to fit in with the citizens of Corinth (8-15). In this way she is observing Athenian expectations as this suggests that she is being subservient to her husband. This position as an ordinary wife is supported by her first monologue in she talks about what women must go through to secure a husband and how she is stuck inside after the fact (230-245). However in contrast to the Corinthian wives, Medea married for love, which as far as scholars are aware was rare given the Periklean citizenship law. Along with this Medea would not have provided Jason with a dowry as she killed her father and brother, who would’ve provided it, and because of this it is argued that she is not legitimately married to