Sabiqun Nahar
173013008
ENG 332,Greek tragedies
12/04/19
Place of women in greek society
Women had no rights to take decision of their own in greek society. Before marriage they
were suppressed by their fathers and after marriage by their husbands.They had to take care of
household and were not allowed to indulge themselves in public life. They were not given
importance and respect like men were given.
In the play Agamemnon we could see that the men controlled the entire life of women
in greek societies as read in the play Agamemnon,. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter
Iphigenia in order to please the Goddess Artemis. He does this to bring back his brother’s wife
Helen who ran away with the prince of Troy and to sail to troy to win the trojan war. He chose
his sister-in-law over his own daughter. He tricked Iphigenia by saying that she would be
married to Achilles. She had got no chance to protest for her life. Clytemnestra, mother of
Iphigenia, was completely outraged by Agamemnon’s such injustice towards their own daughter
and she took revenge with Agamemnon. Agamemnon had killed Clytemnestra’s first husband
and bought her forcibly. She made Agamemnon walk in the crimson silk so that gods become
angry on him.She took help from a man named Aegisthus who was her lover and plotted to
murder Agamemnon with him. Clytemnestra turns out to be a murderer of her husband to give
justice to her daughter Iphigenia. This is what happens when a woman is not treated in the right
way.From here we can understand the status of the women in gGreek society. They were
controlled by men. Men used them just to fulfill their desires. Men could have relationship with
other women but women were expected to stay loyal towards their husbands. But Clytemnestra
had to choose the path of betrayal and disloyalty because she was really frustrated with the
injustice act of her husband. She chose to punish him herself. Clytemnestra was killed by her
own son Orestes for killing his father Agamemnon even if Agamemnon did wrong.
Cassandra was also a helpless woman portrayed in the play. She got a gift of seeing future from
God Apollo. She was given this power because God Apollo admired her and wanted her to
devote her whole life to him but later she refused to do so and then god apollo cursed her that no
one would believe in her prophecies. She was raped by Ajax as she had tried to stop the greeks to
destroy Troy with an axe and a burning torch in her hands. She was given such disrespect even
being a supplicant. She was taken captive as a slave by Agamemnon as he won the Trojan war.
On those days if any king used to win a battle women were gifted to them as a trophy.
Cassandra was killed along with Agamemnon by Clytemnestra because she had seen
Clytemnestra killing Agamemnon and was a second woman in Agamemnon’s life. A woman
became another woman’s enemy that too because of a man. Such things would never happen if
women were given freedom to take their own decisions.Whereas in Agamemnon we see
unfaithful and helplessness in the roles of the women, in the play Sophocles Antigone, we can
see Antigone has a brave lady who considered doing the right thing. She believed men impose
their powers considering the women weak. She decided to go against her uncle Creon’s law. He
said that one of the brother’s would not be buried who battled to get the power to defend Thebes
but she found it wrong to do so and went against Creon’s law. She buried both her brothers with
honour. Creon gave her harsh punishment of burying her alive but still she raised her voice
against the wrong and injustice. On the other hand her sister, Ismene was portrayed as weak and
coward in the play. Antigone set an example for being courageous women at ancient times and to
bring equity in men and women.
Finally, we can say what was the women’s place in greek society. Most of them were used for
being weak and treated badly and also killed for raising voice against men's decision. The men
imposed their powers on the women and controlled their lives.
There are problems with coherence. I don’t think you have actually understood the assignment
and just have taken random information to meet the word limit. I would suggest that you sit with
the essay and the relevant texts again and see how you can improve it.
Grade: B minus
Work cited
The Women of Agamemnon -." Study Guides and Book Summaries.
https://freebooksummary.com/the-women-of-agamemnon-
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/agamemnon/themLitCharts. “Gender Roles Theme Analysis.” LitCharts,
www.litcharts.com/lit/agamemnon/themes/gender-roles.
es/gender-roleshttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Cassandra-Greek-
mythologyhttps://ivypanda.co“The Role of Women in Sophocles ' Antigone [FREE Sample!].” IvyPanda,
ivypanda.com/essays/the-role-of-women-in-sophocles-antigone/.
m/essays/the-role-of-women-in-sophocles-antigone/
