Skip to main content

Deja Vu Feminist Views ///// Isabelle Ferguson

Feminism is a common word in today’s world, but everybody has their own view of what the “feminist image” is. Orestes' trial had me bouncing in my seat, mainly due to the judge and prosecution. Two types of feminism stuck out to me this week in Athena and the Furies, which paralleled some forms of feminism in modern times.

    Athena represented the “independent woman” feminist attitude. We know that she is a fierce warrior, battle tactics being one of her many specialties. Athena states she prefers “the male in all respects-except for a mate...” in line 736-737. She doesn't have a mother (Aeschylus, line 665), so she is a daddy's girl. The independent woman needs no man, strives to be successful in a man's world, and, not yet mentioned, surrounds herself with powerful women. Athena sees the power the Furies hold, and offers them a home in her kingdom (line 833). This brings us to the second type of feminism

The Furies may have seemed to be the more radical force while reading “Neither Apollo nor Athena’s strength might serve to save you, from your fate... (Aeschylus, line 298).” However, the Furies fight for women. Their main argument was for Clytemnestra being a mother, and they want justice for her spilled blood. They really reminded me of the more docile feminist belief in supporting and defending your sisters, no matter if they are a house-wife, governor, or pop star.

These are just my observations, what are your thoughts?


I commented on Lily Caswell's and Abigale Bell's posts.

Comments

  1. Caroline TuckerSeptember 21, 2020 at 8:53 PM

    These are great observations. I did not notice the types of femininity they showed. It is interesting to me that Aeschylus and authors before him would write some female gods as independent. Would they not want the women to see that example and go against the code for women that was set up by society? I want to know how many women stepped out of their position in society because of Athena and the Furies.

    ReplyDelete
  2. abbieheddenSeptember 22, 2020 at 9:25 AM

    I have lots of views on feminism, and there's far too much to tackle in a comment, but I can't help but see the image of Cher in Athena's place. Yes, this is an "out there" comment, but bear with me. Cher was interviewed on the news and said "I love men like I love dessert. I don't need dessert, but my life is the better for having it!" I think Athena probably had a similar view.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Word Painting in Vesta—Lily Caswell

  Word painting in Weelkes’s As Vesta Was from Latmos Hill Descending is quite interesting. And because that is a really long title, I’m calling it Vesta from now on. Word painting is basically when the melody matches up with the lyrics. So in Vesta, when it says “ascending” and “descending”, there are obviously scales going up and down. The madrigal was written for six voices to sing unaccompanied, so when they start to come together, it matches with the lyrics; so if the lyric says “two by two”, there are only two voices; “three by three” there is another voice added, and so forth. All the parts combine in exclamation before Vesta before it is left “all alone” to the highest soprano. All the way to the end of the piece, word painting continues when shouts of “Long live fair Oriana” with the bass sustaining long notes. Word painting in and of itself is a highly interesting topic because a musician takes the words of a poem or a sonnet and writes a melody line that pertains to cer...
4 comments
Read more

Honor and Gain; Which Do You Seek?

 Pericles.... thanks? I can only imagine that's what the family and friends were thinking after they heard his historic funeral speech honoring the departed. What do I mean? Well, Pericles briefly mentions the men who have fallen at the beginning of his speech, but then goes on to discuss how great Athens is, and how the contributions the city has made to the world are unmatched.. why? I understand that he is also commending the citizens of Athens and empowering them to continue to make their city greater, but I thought this was supposed to be a funeral speech about dead war heroes, not about Athens. Another thing I found interesting is what Pericles said on page five about honor: "For it is only the love of honour that never grows old; and honour it is, not gain, as some would have it, that rejoices the heart of age and helplessness" (Thucydides, page 5). Have you ever watched a show or movie, or read a book, about a duel between two men? There is always an unspoken agre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Aristotle Might Not Like Me...Or Jesus//Haylee Lynd

      Aristotle says that the man who does not get angry at the things he should be angry at "is thought unlikely to defend himself; and to endure being insulted and put up with insult to one's friends is slavish" (Aristotle 41). While he states that passivity is preferred to excessive anger, he still gives great criticism to it.  In contrast to Aristotle, the man who Christians believe to be the most just is Jesus who states in Matthew 5:39-40, "...do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well." Essentially, arguing that one is not to respond in anger when insulted or hurt, to not defend one's self. Most individual's are unable to achieve this. Our natural instinct is to defend ourselves, especially in physical cases. However, Christians strive to be like Jesus in this way. I would also argue that it is a very admirable wa...
2 comments
Read more