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Women in Literature In all times women played a great role in the lives of their societies and cultures. As the world developed and progressed, women were given more and more rights, and consequently had greater impact on the course of events around them. The greatest writers of the present and the past gave their close attention to the characters of the women in their works. Considering the examples of Medea of Euripides and Ophelia of Shakespeare, I will examine the role of the woman in the literature and their particular treatment within the societies of ancient Greece and Middle Ages England. Euripides, who wrote his Medea in 431 B. C. , showed his interest in psychology in his many understanding portraits of women.
Euripides choice of women support characters such as the nurse and the chorus is imperative to the magnification of Medea's emotions. The very fact that the nurse and chorus are female deepens Medea's sadness, impassion's her anger, and makes the crime of killing her own children all the more heinous. Medea's state of mind in the beginning of the play is that of hopelessness and self-pity. Medea is both woman and foreigner; that is to say, in terms of the audiences prejudice and practice she is a representative of the two freeborn groups in Athenian society that had almost no rights at all (Jugas, 79).
Euripides could not have chosen a more downtrodden role for Medea. Here is this woman who has stood by her man through thick and thin. She has turned her back on her family and killed her own brother while helping Jason capture the Golden Fleece. Oh my father! Oh, my country! In what dishonour I left you, killing my own brother for it. (Medea 164 - 165) Despite all of her devotion to her husband she has fallen in love with someone new, Glauke.
The Nurse and the Chorus understand and sympathize with Medea as only other women could. Euripides develops the heart of Medea's character by the sympathetic approach of the Nurse... calling out on her fathers name, And her land, and her home betrayed when she came away with A man who now is determined to dishonour her. Poor creature, she has discovered by her sufferings What it means to one not to have lost ones own country. (Medea 31 - 35) The Chorus are sympathetic to Medea's heartache also, and offer a more simple and acceptable approach to help Medea deal with her troubles. Suppose your man gives honour To another womans bed. It often happens.
Dont be hurt. God will be your friend in this. You must not waste away Grieving too much for him who shared your bed. (Medea 153 - 158) The truth of the matter is that in Athenian society during this time it was acceptable for men to take new wives on a whim, and getting mad and upset were the only choice, or result of the lack of choice, women had. We women are the most unfortunate creatures. (Medea 229) A man, when hes tired of the company in his home, Goes out of the house and puts an end to his boredom And turns to a friend or companion of his own age. But we are forced to keep our eyes on one alone. (Medea 242 - 245) Medea's tears soon dry with the thoughts of revenge. After Kreon grants her one last day before exile, Medea uses her cleverness to produce plots of revenge...
he has given me this one day To stay here, and in this I will make dead bodies Of three of my enemies, -father, the girl and my husband. (Medea 369 - 379) Medea never lets societies norms of a female discourage her from doing the justice she sees fit. Weak and submissive are not something shes going to settle for. Medea talking about herself... You have the skill. What is more, you were born a woman, And women, thought most helpless in doing good deeds, Are of every evil the cleverest of contrivers. (Medea 404 - 406) Her rage empowers her with liberation and free thought that far surpasses the women of her time. Although the Chorus never adds to Medea's frenzy directly, they add fuel to the fire of the audience and evoke a certain You go girl!
attitude that makes the justification of Medea's actions seem limitless. It is the thought of men that are deceitful, Their pledges that are loose. Stories shall now turn my condition to a fair one; Women are paid their due. No more shall evil-sounding fame be theirs. (Medea 409 - 413) Chorus develops a protectiveness of Medea, and quickly sides with her in scolding Jason. Jason, though you have made this speech of yours look well, Still I think, even though others do not agree, You have betrayed your wife and are acting badly. (Medea 564 - 566) Medea soon loses her supporters and crosses the line with the plot to kill her own children.
I weep to think of what a deed I have to do Next after that; for I shall kill my own children. My children, their is none who can give them safety. And when I have ruined the whole of Jasons house, I shall leave the land and flee from the murder of my Dear children, and I shall have done a dreadful deed. (Medea 775 - 780) The killing of Glauke and Kreon loses significance with the Chorus who are dreadfully anticipating the harm of Medea's children. Euripides uses a female chorus to signify the atrocity of a mother killing her own children. The Chorus no longer sympathizes with Medea, yet still blames Jason for the events, which have taken place.
You too, O wretched bridegroom, making your match with kings, You do not see that you bring Destruction on your children... (Medea 964 - 966) Euripides role of female characters to sympathize with Medea's heartache in the beginning, and magnify the unscrupulous murder of her children in the end is brilliant. The reason for the female support is evident. If the Nurse or Chorus had been a male servant or a mixed crowd in society the plot of the play would have been lost. Medea is a woman suffering from a broken heart, and it seems only fair that she be given sympathy and judgment from peers who can relate. Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned! Not much changed since Euripides wrote his Medea, in the times of Hamlet, men were still the dominant sex.
Women of this period were usually subject to whatever faults men could place on them instead of themselves. With Shakespeare being a man of this time it is reflected in his plays. Hamlet with the character of Ophelia is an excellent example. Ophelia plays a very delicate and somewhat mysterious role. Her part can be compared to the flower, which only rarely, in the sun, shows his existence and beauty. Most of her deeds and behaviour in general are very much influenced by the views of men around her, usually it were Polonius and Laertes who determined her actions.
In part, her brother suggests Ophelia to stop any interaction with Hamlet. He says that Ophelia should be feared of this relationship. A key player in the game of deception is the Kings advisor, Polonius - a man with power and less conscience than the King. As fate has it, Hamlet is in love with Polonius daughter (who is Ophelia). Because of Hamlets displeasing mood Polonius worries for his daughter and so tells her be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence; set your entreatment's at a higher rate (lines 121 - 122), commanding Ophelia to stay away from Hamlet. And when her father joins brothers talks, Ophelia without further questioning agrees to finish relations with Hamlet and put an end to all of it.
Through no fault of her own Ophelia has added to Hamlets increasing stress, and as typical Shakespeare tells it, puts her to blame for part of his mental breakdown. I believe that the above situation serves a good example of the cultural traditions of those times, when the words and orders of men meant much to women who simply feared to disobey males. Ophelias easy rejection of Hamlet puts him through a period of contemplation of life. His loss of her tenders makes him question: To be, or not be: that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles... (lines 57 - 60) This depression that Hamlet goes through slows down the action of the play, stifling his resolve to kill Claudius.
This is something Ophelia can be blamed for, and the first of many direct mistakes the female character in this play make to cause unrest in the state of Denmark. Throughout the play we see signs that Claudius is guilt-ridden about the murder of his brother. In a prayer / soliloquy he tells us that if he could only give up his crown and Queen, he would repent and plead guilty: Forgive me my foul murder? That cannot be, since I am still possess Of those effects for which I did the murder, My crown, mine own ambition and my queen. (lines 53 - 56) Again, through no fault of her own, Ophelia is at the centre of a situation, which brings about unrest for others. If Ophelia were to not be so dense, she might catch on to some of the misgivings Claudius has led her to believe.
Is a woman not partly to blame when her charms and affections cause men to do crazy acts of lust? With more on his mind than he can handle, Hamlet is again to be courted with dishonesty and beguile. Polonius convinces Ophelia to allow him to spy on a conversation held between the two after an incident with the King. Ophelia, of course does not apprehend that Polonius is only out for himself and not trying to help Ophelia or Claudius and allows Polonius to oversee the mother-son discussion. This scene is where Polonius is given away hiding behind a curtain and Hamlet kills him. Had Ophelia given some thought to what she was aiding, Polonius might not have died.
At the end of the play, with Polonius and Ophelia dead, there is not much time left before the rest follow. All these rotten incidents came about from Ophelia and Gertrude playing her charms in the wrong places with Hamlet. Hamlets soliloquy at the beginning of the tragedy sets the standard for the entire play Frailty, they name is woman! (line 146), and this is so through-on and through-out the rest of the story. Though both, Medea and Ophelia, were put in somewhat similar situations of obeying the things men say and do, Medea managed to show her personality.
She did not completely fail to resist the unfairness of males behaviours, while Ophelia suffered because of her inability to stand for what she loved and believed in. The difference between these women is the characters each one of them has shown. However, we can forgive Ophelia being so soft she was too young to have the distinct thoughts of hers. Medea is different for she was an experienced woman, who has lost everything she could, and at some point understood that there is nothing for her to have hold of, therefore, she became free to act as she thought to be right. Having examined the works of Euripides and Shakespeare I can say that the characters of women are more complicated then those of men. Women have much more worries and sufferings in the both works, and I think that their role is major in both of the writings, and societies they represent.
Bibliography: Euripides. Medea. London: Penguin Books, 1977. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet.
London: Penguin Books, 1986. Jugas, Joseph. Social Role of Women, B. C. to Renaissance. Dublin: Dublin Publishers, 1989.
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