Women In Greek Mythology

Women’s oppression and misrepresentation, not a new topic for anyone living in the 21st century, has always come with great controversy and debate. One would think that after all of women’s great accomplishments, women and men would finally regard one another as equals. But misogyny and sexism, so deeply rooted in many people’s brains, proves harder removed than thought. These ideas go back as far as anyone knows and one can clearly see all the way through time. We especially see this in Greek mythology, which has a very distinct way of portraying women. “Woman’s work” would make a man feel “degraded by this servitude” (Hamilton 175) simply because he thought a woman should have done it. Atalanta, a great hero, and Ariadne, a wily young …show more content…
“Ariadne was among the spectators, and she fell in love with Theseus at first sight as he marched past her” (Hamilton 157). Ariadne falls in love with Theseus instantly, but, safely assumed, Theseus makes no notice of her until she offers him her knowledge of the Labyrinth. Her life has never meant as much as it does now that she has a man that needs her help. Ariadne, not easily fooled, “told him [Theseus] she would bring about his escape if he would promise to take her back to Athens and marry her” (Hamilton 158). Theseus could not have competed his quest without her help, and knowing this, promises marriage in return for her guidance. Once Theseus successfully completes his quest and leaves for Athens, Ariadne, not even credited for her part in Theseus’ quest, is left behind by him. While two separate stories explain her final predicament, one can assume that the wise hero, Theseus, simply forgetting her is not plausible. If he could defeat the Minotaur and save countless future victims from death, he should remember to retrieve his betrothed from her sleep. Ariadne and all women, used simply as tools for Theseus and other men in Ancient Greece, are carelessly discarded once they finish with her. Ariadne, heartbroken and horribly distressed, turns towards Dionysus for …show more content…
Hercules, outraged, vows revenge on the man he sees as who put him there, King Eurytus. But King Eurytus only enslaved Hercules as punishment for killing his son, something it seems Hercules has forgotten. Hercules, blinded by his utter rage at the simple task of weaving a cloth, cannot see past his own sexism. At this point, Hercules has already completed the Twelve Labors, all of which seem more unfair than simply doing “woman’s work.” “Woman’s work”, apparently more outrageous than retrieving a three-headed dog from Hell itself, clearly shows the debasement of women in Ancient Greece. Hercules’ outrage at his simple punishment causes him “to punish King Eurytus… capture the King’s city and put him [King Eurytus] to death” (Hamilton 178). An innocent man, killed because of Hercules’ embarrassment and shame at equating himself with a woman, literally loses his life over a simple punishment that he did not even set forth. The amount of shame brought on by participating in a “woman’s work” pushes Hercules towards murder, a horrible extreme. For Hercules, he would rather not exist than exist as a