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Name: Sarah Omar Mphil: English Literature Classical Drama Assignment Professor: Sir Shafaat Yar Khan

Contrast between Shakespeare and the Greek Women Roles

The role of women in ancient Greek life was considered to be insignificant compared to that of Greek men. And yet, in tragedies, women were often written as major characters, revealing insights on how women were treated and thought of in society. Many well-known Greek plays contain several well-written, complex, female characters. Each female character takes upon herself, the role of villain, the role of victim, and the role of heroine.

One of the most recognizable female characters in history is Clytemnestra who is also one of its most noted villainesses, due to her partaking in the murder of her husband Agamemnon and his female consort, Cassandra. It is in the play Agamemnon that Clytemnestra is first seen and her crime is committed. Moreover, she is depicted as a brutal, treacherous woman. Throughout the play, Clytemnestra is spoken of with a bitter tongue and a fearful heart. The citizens and the audience are made well-aware of how she welcomed her husband home, led him across a crimson carpet, "like a sea of blood," and ripped away his life in a gory bath.

Clytemnestra was certainly a villainess, but several underlying themes of the play also suggest that she both victim and heroine, as well. She suffers a variety of grievances and hardships throughout her life, there by justifying her actions. For instance, Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter Iphigenia, to appease the goddess Diana, in order to win a war. She

murdered her husband, partly, to avenge her daughters wrongful death at his hands. Secondly, after the conclusion of the war, Agamemnon brings a female prize to her home. Cassandra is another piece of her husbands betrayal and innocent or not must be destroyed. Thirdly, in the second play of the Orestia trilogy, Clytemnestra, herself, is murdered by her children.

If Clytemnestra is the most notable Greek villainess and Cassandra the most sympathyworthy victim, Antigone is the greatest heroine. The play bearing Antigone's name opens with Antigone and her sister Ismene learning of their brothers' deaths in battle, and the decree that one brother is to be given a ritual burial and the other left unburied. Antigone takes it upon herself to bury her brother, committing "a holy crime." Her sister declines involvement in the "crime" by citing, We who are women should not contend with men; we who are weak are ruled by the stronger. . . Pardon me if I obey our rulers since I must". Antigone is one of few women who openly rebelled against her fixed position in life. Throughout the play, Antigone remains true to a heroine's qualifications by: Admitting her involvement in the "crime"; Refusing to allow her sister to share the blame; Reacting to her death sentence without anguish or desperation, but with indifference; Choosing to take her death into her own hands. Instead of rotting away in a cave, as was her punishment, she chose to hang herself from the ceiling of the cave.

Later in the play, her role in the "crime" is revealed as questionable. The guard who found the buried body tells Creon, the ground was unbroken, there were no tracks of any kind, and the body was lightly covered with dust, "as if a pious hand had scattered it. It was only after the body had been buried and unburied that Antigone attempted to bury the body herself. Antigone became a victim when she was charged for "reburying" a man, convicted and left to die in the confines of a cave. This conviction labeled Antigone as a villainess. She defied the view of

women in her society. It wasn't her crime that repulsed her people, it was her gender. "The people approve of what she did, but they do not approve of the fact that she did it" (qtd. in Ferguson 178). While Shakespeare being a controversial playwright in his time , stage plays werent considered appropriate past time for the women. However during his life time there was a rising socio-political turmoil in the country. Moreover he decided to adapt female characters and show them in a favorable light on stage and created female heroines which provoked many audiences during his time. In fact his inspiration for female heroines was drawn from Queen Elizabeth I who inspired Shakespeare and the other women, by fighting against the misogynist attitude in the society. In the case of Ophelia in the play, Hamlet, represents the character of a young, naive and innocent girl who comes from a noble family of Denmark. She is a daughter of Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain of Claudiuss court. It is evident that she is not familiar with matters of state and she spends her spare time by doing the needle point and by gathering flowers. In general, she does not talk too much and when she does, the audience has the impression of the intention that she hides her feelings. Therefore, it can be supposed that Shakespeare wanted the readers to think about the complexity of her character and not just to get the clear character description through long dialogues. Nevertheless, even these few words help to understand her personality. Although at first glance she seems angelic and very fragile, sometimes her sexuality breaks through the surface. However, she symbolizes a mentally weak woman who is not experienced at all, and her inability to make a personal opinion leads to the fact that she is easy to manipulate.

Ophelia finds herself in a position of a single woman within a patriarchal society which is the main reason why she is often pulled apart by orders and suggestions proposed by her father, brother, the King and Hamlet. Her personality is torn to pieces by two commands: the need to obey her father and the voice of the heart that belongs to Hamlet. At the moment when these orders do not succeed or disappear she does not know what to do and she is lost. Consequently, she goes mad and dies, which is the only way for her to deliver herself from patriarchy. Another case can be seen in the play King Lear, Shakespeare presents two portraits of women. The contrast between them is provided by King Lears daughters: the character of Cordelia on the one side and Goneril and Regan on the other. As for Goneril and Regan, they are impossible to be characterized as individuals because of so much monotony concerning their nature and comportment. Without affection and disgrace, both heroines are actuated by an intense and evil furiousness. On the other hand, the youngest Kings daughter Cordelia is turned out to be the exact opposite of her older sisters. She is depicted as an obedient, beautiful and generous girl. Her role is also significant for her deep affection. Moreover, to personify her quality of virtue, Cordelia is described in a religious manner at every point and in every motion. This relationship among siblings of the same gender is one of the recurring themes in the tragedy. Three sisters whose desire is to gain the love and attention of Lear prove evidence that they find it very difficult to relate to each other. The role of Cordelia in the play stands for the opening scene of the plot. At the moment when she refuses to obey Kings wish to describe the love for him, the action gains the speed. Lear is obliged to spend the rest of the life under the patronage of two daughters who blinded the old man by hypocritical flatteries which practically result in his madness. The symbolic reunion of

the father and daughter effects the re-establishment of the kingdom but also the victory of love and mercy over the malice and hate. Moreover, the character of Cordelia represents in the tragedy King Lear a heroine who lifts and carries onwards the imaginary burden of humanistic heroes. She promises the assurance for the hopeful future. She uses her quality of selflessness and humanity in order to defeat the criminal condescension of her sisters. However, despite of this fact or perhaps because of it, she has to perish because her blessed soul belongs neither to the past nor to the present, but to the future. Cordelia is a personification of a dreamlike and utopian promise that better times are coming and even at the moment of her cruel death she looks up to the future. References:Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. Harold Jenkins. S.l. : Thomas Nelson, 1997. Print. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Ed. Kenneth Muir. London and New York : Routledge, 1972. Print. Jameson, Anna. Shakespeare's Heroines. London: J.M. Dent, 1901. Print.