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Euripides was born in the era of 484 B.C in Phyla which is an area in the Attica. Euripides was born of a merchant father and a mother who came from quite a respectable background. In the year 455 B.C, Euripides brought on his first play production in Athens. Later on, in life Euripides married a woman called Melite, and the two moved to Asia Minor. From there he moved to Macedonia where he died at the age of 47. Throughout his life, Euripides produced 92 plays, and only 18 are well known in the current world.
This paper is supposed to provide the historical and the thematic context for the purpose of the future production about the women The Women in Troy.
Euripides and Women
Euripides was a figure that can be said to have been quite misogynistic or feminist in his works. However, other scholars seem to believe that this is not the case. Sarah B. Pomeroy is one such believer who states, “I can scarcely believe that so subtle a dramatist as Euripides, who called into question traditional Athenian beliefs and prejudices surrounding foreigners, war, and the Olympian gods, would have intended his audience simply to accept the misogynistic maxims.
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“ She followed all my directions. It was really easy to contact her and respond very fast as well. ”
Rather, he uses the extreme vantage point of misogyny as a means of examining popular beliefs about women” (Pomeroy 107). What Euripides seemed to believe is that he did what the Greek playwrights practiced whereby he questioned what he understood, he explored the major themes and brought up questions regarding the world he existed in.
The Trojan Women
This publication was first published and brought on stage in the year 415 B.C in Greece. With this production, there were three others that sought to compete with it - Alexander, Palamedes, and Sisyphus. However, none of the last three has managed to survive today (Fitts 122).
Sparta
In the publication of the Trojan Women, there have been numerous locations that have been mentioned therein. The areas that have been mentioned are those where the Trojan Women were shipped to. Below is an ancient map belonging to Greece which aligns the travels that these women underwent.
Women in Athens
The publication of the Trojan Women includes the royals, the slaves and some free women belonging to troy. Through the Euripides production, there are quite a number of facts and fabrications that are related to the representation of the Women in ancient Greece. The truths point to the lives of these women and some assumptions that the male counterparts had of these women. Euripides had the following ideas of women and the various models they form in the play.
Rights
The women belonging to Athens had no rights, as they were not citizens. These women were not included in the census. However, they were recognized as natives from Athens in case they were not born there. The main reason for this distinction was so that their sons could gain some form of citizenship. In Athens, for a child to be considered a citizen, both parents had to be able to prove that they too are citizens. If this were not possible, the women were expected to depend on the citizenship of their male counterparts.
At this time, there were three categories of women:
Courtesans
These women were considered as the prostitutes who belonged to Athens. There is some confusion amid these women and the slaves. Some women were considered as the slave women of Athens. The common prostitutes, however, were slaves that were maintained by brothel owners. Furthermore, there were other courtesans, who were regarded as freed slaves who worked in prostitution to combat their poverty. These women were never respected. Most of the Trojan women who were in captivity ended up within these brothels working as slaves. The theme of suffering without relief was further extended to this respect for the Women of Troy.
Concubines
Concubines can be defined as “any woman living with a man on a more or less permanent basis who had not been given to him by the process of engue [marriage]” (Blundell 124). In The Trojan women, Kassandra is fated to be a concubine belonging to Agamemnon. This issue causes Hekabe some emotional hurt. Agamemnon chose this concubine “as his special prize” (Euripides 14). This title is made as it is an honor, but to Kassandra’s mother, the fate of a concubine is considered as worse than that of a slave. The upper-class males of this society find it a common habit to keep concubines who had a lesser status than that of the wives. The concubines were well cared for by the male owners. Euripides projects the view of concubines as an extension of his beliefs regarding the value of virginity and the demining of the captives from all wars.
Wives
Most women in Athens had become quite dependent on their male counterparts. In the course of the woman's life, they were passed on from one man to another. It first begins with the passage from their father. Through marriage, the same women inherited to their husbands. In the case of the death of her husband, the Athenian women were passed down to their sons. However, in a case where the woman had not borne a son, they were returned to their father or their male guardian (Blundell 114). In short, any male party that was close to the women in respect of being a relative was responsible for caring for her when the need arose.
Marriage
Right before attaining puberty, the women were married off. This means that these women’s first marriage was roughly at the ages of fourteen and eighteen years. The main reason as to why this was practiced was, the society believed that women became uncontrollable after puberty. Any woman who rejected her husband was punished. According to The Trojan Women “But I have only contempt for the woman who / rejects her former husband and / opens her arms of love to a newcomer. / Not even a young mare, / torn from its running mate, will / easily bear the yoke” (Euripides 35).To this end, the women were expected to be submissive and obedient to their husbands at all times. According to Pericles, “Your [a man’s] greatest glory is not to be inferior to what god has made you, and the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you” (Rabinowitz 7). In the case of The Trojan Women, Andromache certainly fits this description. Contrary to the habits displayed by Andromache, Helen is a beauty who clearly displays the behavior, regarded as uncontrollable as she is seductive, crafty, promiscuous, disloyal and quite argumentative. In some manner, Helen is similar to goddess Aphrodite.
Slaves
The slaves played a significant part in this society. They were helpful when it came to the economic and social events and participation. In Greece, slavery “originated in the general practice of kidnapping of human beings… in… war which permitted the victor… to carry off the women and children as booty, and use them as servants at home or to trade them as living chattels” (Pohlenz 3).
According to this play, Euripides brings a contradiction of the Trojan women. At one point he uses the women as the main characters of the play and the main subject to this play. However, on another look, the play was cast within, and was subject to “predominant masculinity of Greek culture” (Rabinowitz 1).
Therefore, this play brings forth some idea of the woman as a respected character, yet woefully misrepresented. There are those characters who become the amalgamation of the male gender notion. These women were like Helen and Hekabe. Therefore Euripides uses women as tools which bring forth some insight into the world of the Greek thinking in the period of the fourth century. The insight provided may not necessarily bring forth truth regarding the social conditions and the manner of thought s of the Greek women, but it sure does bring forth some credible ideas regarding the perceived relationships, social situations, and Greek life. In summary, it brings to mind the manner in which the Greeks perceived themselves
The Life of Trojan Woman. (2022, Jan 21). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-life-of-trojan-woman-essay
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