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Such an action was a reflection of the perseverance and determination to cease power, not plainly for herself, but for her son, which was not a common action displayed by many Roman women at the time. This further emphasises how important, influential…
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In novels and play writes such as Barbara Kingsolver’s, The Poisonwood Bible and Euripides, Medea, the theme Role of women arises: women in many societies are subjugated and displayed as the inferior gender, when they are truly the strongest; they carry all the pain and suffering of society, the wars and the deaths; thus they are the pedestal that keeps everyone up. In order to reveal theme Kingsolver and Euripides make use of literary devices such as symbolism, imagery and diction. Using all three literary devices Kingsolver reveals that women such as Orleana believe that they are just rag dolls that are pulled, pushed and just there, even so realize how strong they really are; that if it was not for them their children would not be able to live. Medea on the other hand represents all the pains and struggles of women and is attempting to inform all women that they have the power and must stand up for themselves.…
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In the play, Lysistrata, the women of Athens learn of Lysistrata’s plan to withhold sex in an effort to bring her husband back from war. The Athenian women decide to unite and implement Lysistrata’s plan in an effort to regain their own husbands and sons. In Aristophanes’ work he demonstrates his view of women as being cunning and resourceful beings yet at the same time comedic without even trying: The women make meeting to conspire plans, the women make themselves luscious to attract the males of the community, and the women work together as one to achieve a common goal. The Athenian women are seen by the males of the Greek society as stay at home mothers: cooking, cleaning, and offering sex. The stay at home mother is not considered to possess the…
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Plato’s Republic provides insight into what Socrates believed to be the ideal society. However, Arlene Saxonhouse critiques the way he portrays women in his society, saying that he “turns women into men.” Saxonhouse goes on to explain that what Socrates does to women, he also does to philosophers by turning them into politicians. I agree with Saxonhouse’s criticism because she exposes the inconsistency in Socrates thinking, however I feel that she does not give enough notice to the overall capabilities of women in politics.…
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Portia, Brutus’s wife, is a great example of a character who merely struggles to free herself. She is literally under the power of Brutus. In the play Julius Caesar, women are looked down upon. In other words, women are looked at and treated differently from men. Portia has an…
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Females instead of being given their own unique name such as in our day, were instead given the feminine version of the family name. For example, in the case of Gaius Julius Caesar his daughter would have the name Julia, and if he had a second daughter she too would be named Julia. Gender as in most societies in this time period carried over to politics. Only men were allowed to hold political office and vote and suffice it to say a women’s power depended on the position of her husband. However, there were circumstances in which women were able to play a backstage role in politics as shown by Livy in the stories of the Tarquin kings and Tanaquil who had a profound influence on the reign of her husband and was even able to determine his successor Servius after Tarquin’s murder. This is reiterated with the story of Tullia and the murder of her husband, sister, and king in order to promote her former brother in law now husband to the position of king (Livy 1, 47). However, this type of influence on political events by women was not typical, in fact rape in this society was even seen as eventually leading to good things as evident by the stories of Rhea Sylvia, Lucretia, and Virginia in Livy’s…
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‘What writers tend to demonstrate in texts which explore relationships between men and women, is that women have always been relatively powerless and the victims of society’s double standards’ Compare and contrast the extent to which this interpretation applies to your chosen three texts.…
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2. Aristotle describes the life of a good person as pleasant in itself. It contains adventitious charm and virtuous actions. This is a definition of Mama’s life. Mama very rarely gets angry, rather helping others with a kind word or act. She has raised her children very well, they offer to help out by doing odd jobs when money is tight, although they don’t necessarily realize how tight things truly are. Not only is Mama’s life pleasant, but she does everything she can to ensure that other’s lives are pleasant, as well. Mama is willing to do anything she needs to in order to keep her word, including posing as a cleaning woman in order to keep a promise to her baby. The most important example, however, is Mama’s admittance to Katrin that she had no desire to be rich. She likes the way her life is, and is happy just the way things are.…
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In his letter 6.16, Pliny the Younger tells the story of the demise of his uncle, Pliny the Elder, to his historian friend, Tacitus. Throughout his story, Pliny makes his uncle seem like a larger than life hero who can do no wrong. Pliny the Younger uses a laudatory and slightly boastful tone to show his respect and reverence for his uncle, who Pliny believes should be immortalized in history forever.…
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In ancient Greece women were viewed as many things. They were not viewed as equivalent to males by any means. Women were portrayed usually as submissive domestic, and controlled. They played supporting or secondary roles in life to men, who tended to be demanding of their wives, but expected them to adhere to their wishes. In the tragedy Medea, written by Euripides, Medea plays the major role in this story, unlike most Greek stories with women playing only minor roles, but she also demonstrates many behavioral and psychological patterns unlike any other Greek women. In Euripides' Medea the main character, Medea, Displays many traits that breakdown traditional Athenian misogyny by displaying her as proactive in taking her revenge, having cruel and savage passions, and being a very manipulative women.…
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This suggests that women of the society in Ancient Greece would be devoted and dependent on their husbands, but were also given options to pave their own paths. If tragedy were to strike, women would be able to…
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The status of women has raised and women have gained more freedom overtime as we can infer from the story. For different generation, Roman stands for different meaning. “To our grandmothers, Roman fever; to our mothers, sentimental dangers—how we used to be guarded!—to our daughters, no more dangers than the middle of Main street.” For Grace and Alida, “sentiment danger” means dangers of love so that they were not allowed…
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However, even with disadvantages in status, citizenship, and education, women were sometimes able to influence the political system. In China, women of the imperial family often played an important role in politics, usually listening behind a screen so that they didn’t distract the men from negotiating, but telling their husbands their opinions later that night. In Rome, women weren’t allowed in places of political debate, but there were several notable women who gained a reasonable amount of power from affecting politics in the only ways available to them: birth, marriage, or murder. A legendary example would be Tullia who lived in circa 500 BC. She was the daughter of a very early Roman king, but conspired with her husband to kill her father. After she ran over her father in a carriage, her husband became the next king of Rome. (Padgett) There are various examples like this throughout Roman history: women whispering and plotting where men paid no attention, but forever changing the history of Rome with changes in kings and…
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History can be found written from 3500 BC in Egypt but dates back from much farther back in time. It has been around since the beginning of mankind, in the beginning many scientists and theologist argue about. Whether a person believes humans came from evolution or a God, everyone knows there was a first. A first human whom taught his mistakes, lessons, and culture onto the next which would become history.…
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“The Odyssey” by Homer is an epic poem about Odysseus’ return to his wife and son in Ithica after the Trojan War. Women play an exceptionally large role in this epic poem. Odysseus’s son, Telemachus attempts to gain authority in the presence of the suitors but it is difficult. Especially once he goes on his own journey under the guidance of Athena. Throughout the epic poem however, the women play their roles as mothers, servants, seductresses, some are a combination. These ones can be seen as women in power because they use these tools in order to control men.…
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