The Role of Gender in Cultural, Social, and Political Circumstances - Term Paper Example

Gender Roles in Oresteia An Assignment Submitted by Gender Roles in Oresteia The role of gender in cultural, social, and political circumstances is depicted well in various Greek literatures and the one taken for analysis is the Oresteia. This trilogy play consists of the Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. These Greek literatures provide an insight into how the gender identity is construed and what kind of gendered representations of men and women were established during that period. This would help in tracing the social and cultural construction of gender differences right from the period of Antiquity to the present. The analysis focuses on these three works in regard to their depictions of gender roles and normative behavior of the characters. Moreover, the discussion provides a comparative study of the three works, stating the similarities and differences of gender role as well as the ways in which the characters are constructed in these works. The importance of the theme of gender role for ancient Greeks and the modern audience is also discussed elaborately. Oresteia, written by Aeschylus in 458 B.C., is a Greek tragic trilogy about the curse of the House of Atreus and the subsequent acts of vengeance and the wrath of Gods. The first play, Agamemnon details the returning of the King of Argos, Agamemnon from the Trojan War and the subsequent murder of him by Clytemnestra, his wife and Aegisthus, her lover. The primary motive for the murder is partly for sacrificing her daughter and partly because of her adulterous relationship with his cousin. The second play, The Libation Bearers portrays the revenge of Agamemnon’s children, Electra and Orestes against their mother for his death. When Orestes slays Aegisthus and his mother Clytemnestra, he is guilt-wracked and maddened by the incarnations of the Furies as a result of his mother’s curse. The final sequel, Eumenides is the trial of Orestes for his matricide, in which jury is organized by goddess Athena. The story ends with the acquittal of Orestes by Athena. The entire trilogy revolves around a series of retributive blood shedding acts, which is resolved and supplanted by the jury of Gods. The gender roles are made explicit in the play through a series of male-female conflicts and gendered representations of characters. The theme of gender roles is particularly visible through the character of Clytemnestra, a woman of inappropriate or misapplied feminine nature. She is regarded as revulsion mainly because of her strong persona and manliness. On mentioning her, the book states, “spoken like a man, my lady, loyal, full of self-command” (Aeschylus, 2011). She argues in favor of acts although it might be against the cultural assumptions. In that direction, she admits her to be not a “witless woman” but the one with a “fearless heart”, who does not care for the approval or blame of the society. Similarly, in The Libation Bearers, Clytemnestra is portrayed as a tyrant ruler, who oppresses the people of Argos and enslaves everyone. She is portrayed as a complex, powerful, and emotionally-charged character, but tragically flawed because of her revenge against her own husband. So, Clytemnestra is the ultimate representation of power and strength in a society that embraces patriarchal norms. Oresteia shows ample evidences for gender rivalry and gender identity. In The Libation Bearers, when Orestes is pursued by the female deities, the Furies, he is saved by the male deity, Apollo. Through this, the author portrays the male deities to be superior in holding the power to deliver humans from evil. However, in Eumenides, a female deity, Athena gives the final word of acquittal for Orestes and also pacifies the Furies, contrasting the power of deliverance by female characters with that of male characters. So the author seems to shift between portraying power of male and female roles, consequently disrupting the male-centered society. Aeschylus provides a gendered representation of woman in contrasting manners. In one instance, he depicts the female character as an order of justice and subjective power, at the same time, to be an object of subjugation as well. So, female characters in the work are depicted in varying levels from being oppressive and gentle to forgiving and revenging, pacifying and powerful, as well as evil and good. Oresteia describes a system of masculine power and patriarchy that does not accept the woman on power. For instance, in ‎The Libation Bearers, when Orestes tries to seek revenge against his mother, he views the city to be under the hands of a subordinate power. He mentions the city under the rule of a woman as desolated, bereaved, and deprived, stressing the fact that man should be holding the power and not a woman. Hence, his reclamation of the throne after killing her was justified as a deliberate act of men patriarchate. Aeschylus also shows clear distinction in the position of men and women in the society. For instance, in The Libation Bearers, the vulnerability of women is shown through the character of Electra in contrasting ways. Though Electra is subversive, she takes a masculine role for her revenge. Unlike Clytemnestra, she aims at upholding and restoring the patriarchal order that perished after her father’s death, and so acts as a refutation to the society’s expectations of a woman. “Electra’s resistance is extremely paradoxical. She rebels against the current social order—which is controlled principally by a woman—in favor of a past traditional patriarchal rule” (Nickerson, 2012, p.32). As a result, she plays a resistive feminine role against the authority but at the same time is loyal to the rightful patriarchy. The male-female conflict is obvious throughout the works in such a way that it is stimulated by the hierarchization of values in the civilization, placing male over female in the social structure. In the trilogy, the socially-constructed male-female conflict seems to subsume the conflicts arising in divine and cultural structure. This is particularly marked in the confrontation between the Furies and Apollo in the Eumenides, in which theological and juridical concerns are identified with male-female dichotomies. Likewise, Agamemnon shows the conflicts arising between Agamemnon and Clytemnestra as the central cause to all subsequent disputes and vengeance. Moreover, the male power versus female power is the central issue for discrepancy, with Agamemnon versus Clytemnestra in the first play, and Clytemnestra versus Orestes in the second play. For both the ancient Greeks and the modern audiences, Aeschylus’ depiction of male-female interactions reveals the progressive nature of women as well as their higher social goals. It also admits the mastering of female subordination among the social structure in the literatures of twentieth centuries, in contrast to the Greek literary works. Oresteia marks the pattern of social development which rose from the original structure of matriarchy to the patriarchal order or today. Moreover, patrilineal succession is reaffirmed throughout the work for all the social, political, and personal affairs. Likewise, though the work shows female and male characters at varying degrees of goodness and evil, it supports male cause for justification. Thus, “Oresteia with its devaluation of the cause of the female and its support of the cause of the male in the trial scene became a key piece of evidence for the overthrow of women’s original rights” (Goldhill, 2004, p.89). Aeschylus is keen in advocating the importance of male over female. This is evident from the play’s subtle proclamation of the superiority of men in the patriarchate society. It is evident in the trilogy that every retribution, vengeance, curse, or conflict stems from a female character and serves as the catalyst for the consequent events in the story. Despite showing women as the main object of inquiry, Oresteia holds an equally privileged position for them, in respect to their social roles, status, functions and significations. Moreover, Aeschylus is focused on the control of women as a social and cultural prerequisite to construct a civilization, and so demands a subversive nature for female characters over male. In that sense, he stands forthrightly with the misogynistic Greek thought through his combative dialogues within the male and female characters. References: Aeschylus. (2011). The Oresteia: Agamemnon, the Libation-Bearers & the Furies. Lawrence L. Rosa. Goldhill, S. (2004). Aeschylus: The Oresteia. Cambridge University Press. Nickerson, B. (2012, March 22). Rebellious performances: an examination of the gender roles of Clytemnestra and Electra. Retrieved from http://digitool.library.colostate.edu/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=171681 Read More