Pericles's Athens:
With both of the Greek plays Lysistrata and Medea, we see that a women is treated as far less than equal to a man in every way, and are always looked upon as their husband's property. In both plays, the husbands see their wives as liabilities, and they also see their wives as only useful to doing the chores around the home, and of course, to bearing them children. When Medea is betrayed and cheated on by her now ex-husband and father of their children, Jason, she says, “But I, without a city, am alone, Ill-treated as the property of a man Who took me from a foreign land as spoil.” (32-33). To a woman in ancient Greek times, bearing her husband sons to continue the family line, and being owned by him was the whole meaning of her life. Medea pushes this property belief further, and refers to her ex-husband Jason's newest bride as “your newly-captured girl.” (43). In Lysistrata, the Greek woman character, Calonice states that a woman's life belongs in the family home when she says, “...women who dwell in the retirement of the household...” (3), stating that this was the woman's only place that she could be in charge.
In both of the plays, men often talk down to the women, further proving the fact that at this time a women was viewed to have a worth so much less than a man's. The Chorus of Old Men say in
Lysistrata that they take care of their women, and that the women live off of them, “Here we have the women, who used, for our misfortune, to eat our bread and live in our houses...” (14). In many times throughout the play Lysistrata, women are often called 'insolent', and this is one of the most common insults in the play. Both the Chorus of Old Men and the Magistrate in Lysistrata depict women to be these awful creatures that deserve to be called nasty things such as, “...you dirty slut, you!” (17), and
“Poor, miserable wretch... you fill me with pity.” (43).
In ancient Greece, women were also viewed to be much less intelligent than a man, and this is seen in both of the plays Medea and Lysistrata. When Jason goes to his old home to explain what he has done, he says to his now ex-wife Medea, “You have a subtle mind,” (40), telling her that she cannot comprehend that his betrayal was actually a good thing for her and for the family. Jason again tries explaining to Medea that she will not be able to understand the good that he has done for both her and their children by saying, “Will you not learn to change your prayers and show More wisdom?” (42).
This idea of a woman's stupidity is again pronounced in Lysistrata, when the Chorus of Old Men also say that women are unintelligent wild beasts and cannot comprehend words, “...what use of words?
They are of no avail with wild beasts of this sort.” (21). The Chorus Old Men in Lysistrata are very mean to the women, calling them nasty things, like 'creatures' saying, “Oh! The impudence of the creatures!” (23). Medea herself, after coming up with the insane plan to murder the newest bride to her ex-husband Jason, calls him to her and says, “And I the foolish one...You men need not to be like us in our own faults Or match our foolish actions with your own.” (52). Medea tricks Jason into trusting her again by agreeing with his earlier statements that she is foolish and unintelligent, and because of this, he unknowingly accepts poisonous gifts meant for his bride that ultimately causes the death of both the
Hayley Gilmor Humanities Mid Term Essay
Professor Atwater
Princess and the King Creon.
Some of the men within the Chorus of Old Men in Lysistrata depicted women as evil enemies to the gods. They make this point when they state, “These women, these enemies of Euripides and all the gods, shall I do nothing to hinder their inordinate insolence?” (15). The Chorus of Old Men pronounce their belief that the women are enemies to the gods yet again by saying, “stirred up these women, enemies of the gods, to seize upon or treasury and the funds whereby I lived.” (29). When the same Chorus of Old Men retell a 'fable' to the women of a man named Melanion, “...who hated the thought of marriage so sorely that he fled away to the wilds. So he dwelt in the mountains, wove himself nets, kept a dog and caught hares. He never, never came back, he had such a horror of women.”
(34), they are saying that in their anger and rage at the sexless marriages to their wives, they are now feeling the same way towards the women. Jason also makes this notion when he says to Medea, “In you all things are evil.” (67).
As it is widely known, women of that time had very little, if any, say in how their husband's took control of their bodies, and it was normal for a husband to use his wife's body however he pleased.
Jason tells his ex-wife Medea, “You women have convinced yourselves that all Will come to you if you do will in bed,” (41), telling her that it takes more than just good sex to keep a huband happy to come home to his wife. In Lysistrata, when the women speak of how they will withhold their sex from their husbands to stop the war, Lysistrata speaks upon the subject of the husbands potentially raping them,
“...there's no satisfaction for a man, unless the woman shares it.” (9). And we see the issue of sex again in Medea, when Medea says to her cheating ex-husband Jason, “Your wanting other beds could be excused.” (39), that she could have understood if it was just a lusting after the Princess that drove him to beget her and their family.
In the play Lysistrata, the Magistrate is on of the evil old Greek men who wouldn't listen to the women speak, nor would he take any of their demands for peace seriously. The Magistrate says, “May I die a thousand deaths ere I obey one who wears a veil!” (23), stating that he would rather die than give in to the women and their demands for peace . In ancient Greek times, as low as the women were on the respect totem pole, they were still above any foreigners from outside the Greek boundaries. When the Greek women get together in the beginning of the play Lysistrata to discuss their plan to obtain peace from the war, they call upon the Spartan woman Lampito, who's country the Greeks were currently at war with, and subtlety the Greek women make fun of Lampito to her own face. Lysistrata herself says, “How well and handsome you look! What a rosy complexion! And how strong you seem, why, you could strangle a bull surely!” (5), saying how she looks very manly and unlike the other
Greek women.