Jerry Thomas
April 22, 2013
Professor Vredenburg
Myths of the Greek World
#3 Assignment In our society the roles and equality of men and women are treated as equal. The norms of men and women have changed through history in the U.S. and in countries around the world. Particularly in the eyes of Greek culture, there are many differences in how they portray men and women. They express their views through their stories of Greek mythology. This is best expressed in the Greek plays and stories such as Sophocles’ Antigone and Oedipus the King. In the story of Antigone and Oedipus theKing, male are predominantly superior to women, yet some of the women in the stories transgressed their roles in society to their own.
The roles of women in Greek society were very similar to the roles of women all around the world. Their role in society was to be the care takers and was known as nothing more than a child bearer and object of sex. They were portrayed as weaker and obedient to men. In Sophocles play of Antigone, Antigone’s sister says, "We who are women should not contend with men; we who are weak are ruled by the stronger. . . Pardon me if I obey our rulers since I must" (Sophocles, Antigone 61-66). This shows us how typical women act and believe in Greek society. In Oedipus the King, the inferiority of women is shown through the portrayal of Jocasta, being shown as the weaker sex. As we have learned from history, in these Greek plays, the women were played by men, showing that they did not trust women because of the presumed inability to do so or they believed that they were not mentally capable. This is shown in the line "Go, one of you, and bring the shepherd here. Let us leave this woman to brag of her royal name."(Sophocles, Oedipus the King, 749), as said by Oedipus. This line suggests that women of high power just brag about what they have, even though they are