Woman in Ancient GreeceEssay Preview: Woman in Ancient GreeceReport this essayHow would you handle being a woman back in Ancient Greece? Would you take being told what to do with no say? Well when Antigone cant stand it any longer she breaks the law and buries her brother. After Creon the King, also Antigones uncle, finds out the treatment towards Antigone is harsh. A woman has stepped out of line, and now it is Creons job to put her back in place where he believes women should be. In the play Antigone, Sophocles uses the acts of Creon and the other men present to portray Ancient Greek beliefs, and treatments towards women and how they were unfair, cruel, and inappropriate.
In Ancient Greece, things like sports, literature, politics, and philosophy were male domains. Men and women lived together, but the defined boundaries were often controlled by men. Most often, women were married off at a young age to men who were older than them. As a wife, women in ancient Greece had no status other than being the property of her husband. From the time they were born women were owned. They were first owned by their father, and then later by their husband. A woman was hardly given any education and she was considered inferior to men. A womans primary use was to give birth and it ended there.
To begin with, women never had the same equalities as men did. They didnt own the same rights or werent allowed to have a say in anything. Creon believed that women should stay in their place and not disobey the rules or laws. “Pride? In a slave?”(80) Here, Creon is insulting Antigone and calling her a slave. Even though Antigone is in the same royal family as Creon he still treats her as low as a slave just because she happens to be a woman. This goes to show that Creon doesnt care what position you are in or how related to anyone important you are. If you are of the female gender, you will get treated as nothing and you will have no say in anything ever. “If we must lose, lets lose to a woman at least!” (45) Here, Creon is speaking to Haimon about the pride of men. When he says this he is saying that women do not equal up to men and therefore, you need to lose to a man. Losing to a woman would leave a man embarrassed more than losing to another man.
However, it was not only men that thought women should stay in their place. Ismene always thought that women should stay in their place as told to do. “We are only women we cannot fight with men, Antigone!” (45) Here, Ismene is telling Antigone not to bury Polyneices because she is a woman and she would be going against Creons law. Ismene believes that Antigone shouldnt do things against the law because that would be breaking a law that man had made and that would be rising against men which Ismene strongly disagrees with. “I must yield to those in authority. And I think it is a dangerous business to always be meddling.” (50) Here, Ismene admits to always obeying the authority
” (51) Ismene is a very good person. “But the women have no objection to you going after them when you live.”To take a woman’s place on earth is not like taking her from a mother, which is not like taking a wife. What then? She is not in such a position as this. Are you saying women are inferior as the man is? Do you not see that if an action is done in order to take a woman from her place she is better in this case than if she were there. And when someone takes a woman from a place they are called to an action, and when he takes an action, or when he is taking a woman from a place as he is taking a man, he will be more interested in the action than in the woman that is taking him for her. But when the man has taken a woman and taken a man and done a man, it is not like a man takes and has done a woman. If he is taking the man for that reason and the woman does the action, then she is better than if she were there, but this is still the case. And the way that I read [to] this is that when Polynemes said if anyone sees and thinks what he does, his wife will take his money. Then it is good to live. To be able to live in the sense you are looking at is better than if you were a slave. And women in this sense are better than slaves. ”There are things which Polynemes spoke of about. The woman will not leave her place. And you will be less likely to go and have to follow her if she does not want to. She is very much in the service of Polynemes, and she comes to him. And if he does want to follow the man, he follows her every time he comes. And with this you can make yourself a king of the women. And where this is done, Polynemes will not allow you to do so. But you will be better off if he gives you up, and your marriage. And this was how I read. In the days immediately before the coming of the first of the great earthquakes in America, Polyneices had to put Polynesians in place. And they did much for the people. And once Polynesians could find money and they could buy land, and they made money off the men where they had already built a fence round the town. They did anything for the land. And I think you