The Oppression Of Women In Ancient Greek Society

Medea was mistreated and oppressed due to her gender in ancient Greek society. She suffered immensely due to the unjust and debilitating circumstances from the social structure. As a result of her gender, she was belittled and undermined immensely. In Ancient Greek society, while men were attributed with positive masculine characteristics, the connotations correlated with women were degrading and restrictive. They were believed to be emotionally unstable, insecure, treacherous, spiteful, passive, and helpless. In contrast to men, women embodied a villainous persona, whereas men were portrayed as heroes and protectors. Evidently, society molded a certain mentality into the minds of the people in which women were constructed in a way to prevent
Due to her assistance and knowledge in witchcraft, the dragon was able to fall asleep and then Jason was able to slay the dragon with no issues. Due to her help, Jason was able to complete the final task of the quest to obtain the golden fleece. In addition, Medea instigated the murder of King Pelias by encouraging and manipulating his daughters to engage in patricide. She tricked them into committing such a heinous act by promising them that she would restore his youth if they killed him. Worst of all, she also betrayed her country for Jason and even went as far as to murder her brother and cut him into pieces to throw into sea. She did this to distract and prevent her father from being able to catch up to them. Yet, still he refused to recognize the role she played in his success. She did everything for him, but it was not good enough for him because she was a woman and thus, inferior regardless of her sacrifices. Essentially, in the patriarchal society she lived in, the male figure served as the head of the household and was meant to provide dowry and
Evidently, despite all she did for him, he refused to recognize her sacrifices and see how she played an important role in allowing him to become a hero. He dismissed the significant role she played in assisting him obtain the Golden Fleece in a ruthless and inconsiderate manner due to her gender because men like him considered women to be weak and inferior compared to them. Essentially, he minimized the actions and sacrifice she made by disregarding it as the will of the goddess of love, Aphrodite instead of providing her with the proper recognition she deserved. Jason even said, “In the first place, you have your home in Greece, instead of in a barbarian land. You have learned the blessings of Law and Justice, instead of the Caprice of the Strong” (Euripides 50). He made it seem as if she was lucky that he married her and brought her to this new place where law and justice existed because she was born in a barbarian land. He alluded that she should be grateful for being able to become enlightened and for being able to spend time in