Greek Femininity Essays - Argonauts, Women And Death,

Greek Femininity Greek Ideas on Gender Roles Throughout history, the roles of women and men have always differed to some degree. In ancient Greece, the traditional roles were clear-cut and defined. Women stayed home to care for children and do housework while men left to work. This system of society was not too far off the hunter gatherer concept where women cared for the house and the men hunted. Intriguingly enough, despite the customary submissive role, women had a more multifaceted role and image in society as juxtaposed with the rather simple role men played. Morals for the two were also different. Men obviously had the upper hand with women being the traditional passive. For an example, it was quite acceptable for a man to commit adultery- however a woman was to remain chaste. The only exception to this was if the lover in question was a god. For some odd reason, it seemed that men were allowed to be philanderers while their wives stayed at home. This is evidenced in the Odyssey quite well- Odysseus the hero is free to sample all the pretty ladies he cares to, whereareas Penelope his wife is expected to fend off all the suitors at home. Predictably, Penelope melts into his arms when she realizes it is her long lost husband without pausing to consider what he has done in his absence. This reaction portrays the unequal morals of Greek society regarding gender. Euripidess Medea portrays women who are not quite as lucky as Penelope: Oh, unfortunate one, Oh cruel! Where will you turn? Who will help you? What house or what land to preserve you from ill can you find? Medea, a god has thrown suffering upon you in waves of despair. In this play, Medeas husband Jason has left her and their children to fend for themselves while he cavorts with his new princess bride. Generally speaking, there is nothing Medea can do and the attitude conveyed by the Corinthian women thoroughly explains this. As shown, women were considered naturally submissive as in most other old cultures. This is somewhat understandable as women were the ones who bore children and men provided for the family unit. As time progressed, this stereotype was over emphasized into what is portrayed in these plays and poems. Despite this submissive image, Greek women were not considered na?ve, but a pleasurable if a bit foolish kind of a creature. In Aristophanes play, Lysistrata, this concept is amply portrayed. Most of the women are portrayed, as impulsive individuals while men are carnal gluttons. Notwithstanding this facet of their image women could also be wily as Medea and Lysistrata: What is more, you were born a woman, And women, though most helpless in doing good deeds, Are of every evil the cleverest of contrives The deceitful female is epitomized by the character of Aphrodite in Euripidiess Hippolytus. Due to having her altar neglected (as in the case of Psyche) she plotted to bring ruin to Hippolytus and all those who loved him. At the end of the play, Artemis plots revenge against Aphrodite (also called Cypris) saying: Hush, that is enough! You shall not be unavenged, Cypris shall find the angry shafts she hurls Against you for youre your piety and innocence Shall cost her dear. Ill wait until she loves a mortal next time, And with this handwith these unerring arrows Ill punish him. Thus it is not only the mortal women who are vindictive, but it is the very nature of womankind To be passively wicked. One of the few exceptions to the image of the submissive Greek woman were the Amazons. The Amazons were a race of mythical warrior women who were completely dedicated to their work. When they reached maturity, they burned off one of their breasts to make archery easier, and dominated what men they kept. Their male children were killed and only the girls were kept. Artemis the huntress and her followers also defied traditional imagery. Yet no non-virgin was a part of Artemiss coterie which excludes the majority of women. However independent, even the legendary Amazons were defeated by a man. In the labors of Hercules, one of his tasks was to fetch the girdle of the Amazon Queen. Hercules was received unusually well by

Denial of Rights in 1984 essays

Denial of Rights in 1984 essays The novel 1984 touches on many disturbing aspects about the denial of a person's natural rights. As citizens of the United States, we are granted certain rights, which neither the govern-ment nor anyone else can take away. Most nations and governments all over the free world share many of these same rights, which are the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In Orwell's novel, the Outer Party, which is the government that the people of Oceania live under, has taken away all their rights, especially their natural rights. The right to life has been taken away because a person's life must be dedicated to the Party. A person is created and born for the Party, works for the Party, and dies for the Party. An individuals liberty is taken away as the Party denies the privacy of thought or action. The right of a person pursuing happiness is taken away when all forms of pleasure such as games, sex, and laughter are forbidden. The Outer Party promotes hate and unhappine ss among its people, so it may achieve its ongoing drive to maintain POWER. The Party deprives its citizens of a full happy life. A person does not choose what they do for a living. A person does not choose whom they associate with. The only way anyone be-comes married is determined by the Party so the couple may produce children, so those children will grow up to live for the Party. All the children of Party members grow up learning how to defy and betray everyone on behalf of the Party. When the protagonist Winston, was in the Min-istry of Love he discovers that a co-worker and neighbor of his, a man by the name of Parsons, had been turned in for thought crime by his own daughter. This is a quite disturbing incident be-cause Parsons was proud of his child and happy that he had been sent to the Ministry of Love before he had committed any other thought crime. Parsons is a prime example of a citizen whose entire life was dedicated to the Pa...

The impact of Storytelling on Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The impact of Storytelling on Leadership - Essay Example Many people have perfected the art of storytelling and have become more widespread and more powerful than data and figures. In the contemporary society, all human knowledge is based on the stories that people listen to in their daily life. The human brain can be said to consist of the cognitive memory that helps people to understand and remember stories. According to Kouzes and Barry (10), storytelling has various impacts on the leadership of any organization in that stories teach people on different lessons. Stories help people learn on how to tackle the daily challenges that arise on a daily basis. Leaders are forced by circumstances to make critical decisions under instances of extreme emergencies for example the firefighters or critical care nurses who are required to make decisions in the shortest time possible. Under the emergency situations, leaders do not use the universal classic model for decision making but instead they use a non-linear approach that entails the use of intuition, and mental motivation (Fog 49). Kouzes and Barry (19) points out that through storytelling, lessons learnt from highly complex and the most challenging situations are passed down to other people. Stories that are meant to transfer knowledge are supposed to be true and objective since its main objective is to transfer knowledge to the audience and not generating any action. In this context therefore, stories that are meant to teach the audience tend to elaborate on the drawbacks of ignorance and cause the people make right decisions when seeking knowledge. Glassner (9) affirms that stories are usually effective tools that can be used in education since listeners can easily become engaged and therefore be able to remember. The audience become engaged and therefore is able to create new perspectives thus inviting new perspectives thus inviting new perspectives that can help individuals to transform their lives.