Womens Roles in Aeschylus and Euripides
Women's Roles in Aeschylus and EuripidesDue to the fact of similarities between authors writing in the same place and time, we often make the mistake of presuming their viewpoints are identical on the given subject. It would be a mistake to expect Aeschylus' Agamemnon and Euripides' Medea to express identical views on the subject; each author had a unique way. The opinions of these two writers on this subject are actually different. Aeschylus' plays revolved around ethics, and commonly he presented as objectively as possible, by asking the audience to judge the ethical questions for themselves. Agamemnon is not really about Agamemnon as much as is about Clytemnestra, his wife. Clytemnestra tells us early on that she has suffered terribly in her life, and mentions the loss of her daughter Iphigenia. Aeschylus has making us sympathize with Clytemnestra. After Agamemnon arrives, Clytemnestra treats him almost like a god, insisting on wrapping him in a huge royal robe as he descends from his chariot. Agamemnon protests that this kind of welcome is unnecessary, but Clytemnestra is insistent, and he finally gives in. Clytemnestra, however, has an another motive; she uses the huge robe to make it difficult for him to fight
In the opening speech the Nurse warns us that Medea is dangerous; she is not presented like a suffering creature as much as the wrong woman to mess with. One cannot sympathize with these acts; they are all out of proportion to Medea's reasons for doing them; and they clearly show Medea to be out of her mind. Bibliography Maynard Mack, and Editors. The reason why we can forgive Clytemnestra but not Medea is based in the innocence or guilt of their victims. Don't go anywhere near, but be careful Of the wildness and bitter nature Of that proud mind. New York: Norton and Company, 1998. " (Norton, 644)In the very next speech Medea curses her children, she is not a nice woman. Euripides knows that most of the women of his people are not like that, but he is clearly responding to what he senses is the "other". against her; as Clytemnestra later confesses, "Our never-ending, all embracing net, I cast it/ wide for the royal haul, I coil him round and round/ in the wealth, the robes of doom" (Norton, 559). Killing a king is a very public act, and Clytemnestra makes no effort to hide what she has done. Unfortunately, in Athenian society Age, there would seem to have been many people who agreed with Euripides than with Aeschylus. And under her circumstances, we completely sympathize with her desire to kill the man who separated her of the daughter she loved. Run away quickly into the house, And well out of her sight.
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Acceptance Essays
