Greek Gender Roles

Gender roles are indicators of how a society is structured, based on the expectations of men and women. In ancient Greek Theater, this divide of male and female expectations often comes to the forefront, going as far to be the center of the conflict as is the case with plays such as Medea, Agamemnon and Lysistrata. Characters of each gender were written to fill the set expectations, with characters defying such expectations being seen as shocking and unexpected. In particular, most of the surviving sources from the period are written from male perspectives, so what remains is how male writers reinforced their idea of a woman (Blundell). Tragedies and comedies offer different versions of this idea, but in both main genres the act of breaking …show more content…
Aeschylus’ Agamemnon introduces the audience to Clytemnestra early on, eagerly plotting the murder of her husband Agamemnon. Clytemnestra’s motivations are more closely tied to expected qualities of a woman, as she acts in revenge of her daughter Ipathegeneia’s sacrifice but that does not make this desire feminine. Seeking revenge itself is characterized as being bloodthirsty and vengeful, which are two traits a woman is not supposed to possess but here Clytemnestra does. The male dominance is presented right at the start with Cassandra being introduced as Agamemnon’s spoil of war and that she is to simply be accepted as a member of their household. Even in the face of something Clytemnestra takes to be an insult she is meant to graciously accept that this is happening and not react. Clytemnestra is to be a good wife, even as Agamemnon essentially takes a second one in front of his first with no moral qualms about doing so. This ends up being the deciding factor to her response and marks the beginning of Clytemnestra’s revenge. Under the guise of offering a welcome to her husband after his return from the Trojan War, she sets in motion the end of her husband’s fate seemingly by tempting him into a prideful act, and while Agamemnon fears retribution from the Gods he does not seem to expect that anything will come from his wife. The idea of baiting the Gods is a farce however, when Clytaemnestra goes on to derive pleasure from the murder (Kun). The level of bloodthirstiness is confirmed when Clytaemnestra goes on to include Cassandra in her revenge slaying even though Cassandra has had no part in any of Agamemnon’s actions. Beyond Agamemnon’s expectations, even with Cassandra’s prophesies and hearing noises from the palace after Agamemnon is brought inside, the wise men of Argos seem to refuse to believe that something has happened