In the characters of Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Antigone
>and Medea, the ancient Greek playwrights Aeschylus,
>Sophocles, and Euripides offer four distinctly different
>views of the roles which women played in Greek society.
>While women definitely played a role which was subservient
>to the one played by men, it is obvious from these
>characters that women were seen by the ancient Greeks as
>capable of being strong, intelligent, resourceful, loyal,
>and heroic. These characters also show the modern reader
>that women represented something powerful to this society
>which was to be feared and, hopefully, kept under control.
> Clytemnestra and Medea personify all of the negative
>qualities attributed to women by the ancient Greeks.
>Medea, despite her despicable crime, is actually presented
>in a more favorable light then Clytemnestra; however, both
>women are presented as victims of their pride which seems
>to be the worst sin as far as the Greeks were concerned.
> Jocasta and Antigone represent the positive virtues
>of loyalty and devotion to the gods. Jocasta is the weaker
>of the two, and, frankly, Antigone is almost too good to
>be true in her example of heroic virtue and devotion to
>the gods. Together the four present an intriguing picture
>of womenÃs role in ancient Greece that belies their
>subservient political status and demonstrates that women
>had a profound impact on that society.
> Clytemnestra is the wife of Agamemnon who has been
>off fighting the Trojan War for ten years. The goddess
>Artemis had left the fleet organized by Agamemnon without
>wind, stranded, and unable to proceed against Troy unless
>AgamemnonÃs daughter Iphigenia was sacrificed to her.
>Agamemnon was faced with the decision of abandoning his
>war against Troy or killing his own daughter. He chose to
>kill his daughter, and Clytemnestra has been waiting ten
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