Summary:
This paper compares and contrasts female characters from ancient Greek literature, including Penelope from Homer's Odyssey, Lysistrata from the Aristophanes'Lysistrata, and Medea from Euripides' tragedy, Medea.
The purpose of the paper is to compare and contrast the characters of Penelope in the epic, The Odyssey, Lysistrata in the comedy, Lysistrata, and Medea in the tragedy, Medea. The writer will first give a brief synopsis of each character, followed by a comparison and climaxing with the contrast.
Penelope, a loyal, faithful and patient wife is faced with suitors pressuring her daily to remarry. She uses her wit and cleverness to hold them off. She assures the suitors that she will remarry as soon as she finishes the burial shroud for her husband, which she has no intention of finishing until her husband returns. Upon realizing that her husband had returned she makes an announcement to marry the winner of the archery contest.
Lysistrata is portrayed as a typical commander of war that gives orders and does not take part in the war. While being the mastermind behind the sex strike, she is able to separate her self from the other women in her ability to resist her attraction for men. The women are used as pawns by this cunning and powerful, Lysistrata, who is victorious in establishing peace in Greece.
Courageous, powerful, and reckless, Medea left her home without her father's blessing to accompany Jason to the land of Corinth, after using her magic powers to slay the dragon that guarded the golden fleece. She also killed her own brother to slow Jason's chasers. For a while, Medea and Jason lived in harmony in Corinth where they had two children. Later, Jason left Medea for Kreon's daughter. She became grief-stricken at her loss and filled with rage at Jason's betrayal. This, is explained by her nurse during the prologue in World Literature Volume A (pg697), "she'll not stop raging until she has struck at someone",
Each of the women mentioned before has great strength of character. Penelope was under tremendous pressure from the suitors to remarry. Nevertheless, she kept putting them off by knitting a burial shroud for her husband that she had no intention of completing. Lysistrata showed great strength when she was able to gather the women together for the sex strike, this action was usual for a woman in that era yet she succeeded in getting the women to participate. Although the play starts with Medea being suicidal her strength is quickly restore as her hate for her husband surfaces. Her strength was fueled by hate and thoughts of sweet revenge, which she carries out toward the end of the play.
Penelope, Lysistrata, and Medea were clever female characters. Penelope believes that the shroud is unnecessary because her husband will return to her. Due to her station in society, however, she can't simply refuse to remarry. By delaying her suitors until Odysseus' return, she shows some amount of cleverness.
Lysistrata's whole plan to have a sex strike was clever. She caught the men by surprise as she played on their vulnerability. By requesting that the women use their attractiveness to make the males want them sexually, Lysistrata encourages the women to play to their stereotype and exploit the sexual, romanticized female. Myrrhine is used by Lysistrata to seduce her husband, Kinesias, who is left with his painful erection unsatisfied (pg763-765)
Medea, during her escape across the Mediterranean, killed her own brother and dumped him overboard, so that her pursuers would have to slow down and bury him. While in Iolcus, she again used her devilish cleverness to manipulate the daughters of the local king and rival, Pelias, into murdering their own father.
Determination is another characteristic that was obvious in each of these characters. One would think that after twenty years of waiting a beautiful, intelligent girl would move on with her life. But not Penelope she was determined to wait for her husband's return, which she achieves by knitting the burial shroud and putting off the suitors.
Lysistrata was determined to bring peace to Greece. In doing so she had to play watchdog to the sex hungry women while being commander and chief in the sex war.
Medea's hunger for revenge would not allow anything to get in her way not even if it meant hurting herself, which is what she achieved by killing her children. That was a small price to pay for destroying Jason.
While these women are similar they have some distinct differences. Penelope played the part of a typical Greek woman; she was subtle in carrying out her plans. Her loyalty and faithfulness for her husband were never compromised. Even after her husband returned and left her out of his plans she worked behind the scenes to make secure his victory. Her announcement in Book 21 that the winner of the archery contest will win her hand guarantees his success.
Lysistrata on the other hand, stepped out of the role of a typical Greek woman and took on a masculine role. The play begins with Lysistrata, who is enraged with the other women from her country because they have not come to discuss war with her (728). The discussion of war is not something that females in Greece are accustomed to, that lies in the domain of the male.
Medea unlike the other two females was a murderer. She murdered her own brother, Jason's wife, Kreon, and her own children. She was also a sorcerer who used her power mostly for evil.
Penelope and Lysistrata possessed powers too but they never used their power to harm anyone. They used their power to achieve good. Penelope used her power to guarantee her husband's victory over the suitors while Lysistrata used hers to achieve peace in Greece.
Although these three women may have similar characteristics their differences make them unique individuals.
Reference
Lawall, Sarah,et al. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Volume A (slipcased). Norton, 2001. W.W. Norton and Company Inc. New York, NY.
This is the complete article, containing 960 words
(approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page).
