Femininity In Greek Myth Essay, Research Paper
Is femininity in mythology? Yes because there is a division between men and women in mythology. Biology tells us that we are two different people. Men and women see the world in different ways. Women are passive, intuitive, submissive, and subjective. Women value love, communication, beauty, and relationships. Men are aggressive, rational, dominant, and objective and they value power, competency, efficiency, and achievement. The ways we see the world are different because we are either man or women. We are also similar as well as different. This paper will discuss the how women/goddess are viewed in the works of “Works and Days”, “Theogony” and “Hymn to Demeter.” And see that these women/goddess similar to real life women.
In the Works and Days, women are seen as beautiful things and men strong and fighting creatures. Zeus, the king of gods, had Hephaestus fashion a woman endowed with everything, which he called Pandora. Pandora is described as a sweetly seductive female and her name refers to the gifts that all the gods give to mankind. She is made as a tempting snare for Epimetheus. She was sent with an urn full of plagues as a gift to Epimetheus. Pandora opened the jar and out came all the plagues and finally hope. This woman reminds men that not all-beautiful things are good and can be a pain in a man’s side. This lesson can be true for the world today. Women are not all sweetly seductive but they can be a real pain in the ass, especially for their boyfriends.
In the Theogony Hesiod described the birth of the gods and goddesses. The universe was formed from Chaos as the foundation of the Earth and the cosmic principle of Love. From Night came the Ether and Day, while the Earth bore Heaven and from Heaven the Ocean and divine beings of assorted shapes and sizes, some of who were hated and hidden by their father Heaven. Not liking this, Earth made a sickle her son Cronos used to cut off the genitals of Uranus which were thrown into the sea and gave birth to Aphrodite, the goddess of sexual love. Now Aphrodite is not a women that we can really relate to real life women because so beautiful and so irresistible that men can’t stop wanting her. Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals. Some are not moved by the powers of Aphrodite. Her love and desire sway even Zeus.
I don’t know anyone that irresistible. But Aphrodite is like many women in the fact that women have power to tame a man with sex. Her power to love that makes us see ourselves in Aphrodite.
The Muses are the representation of pure femininity; they are beautiful and graceful in all aspects of their beings. Their abilities are those of song and dance, which are two of the most wonderful, lovely aspects of life. Ultimately, they are the ideal women. When Persephoe is carried off into the underworld by its god Hades, her mother Demeter which means “barley mother” searches for her while fasting, causing a famine on the earth. She is like any mother; she would do anything to get her daughter back.
In conclusion, Women are put up high; they have the power to make decisions. The men seem to be good and powerful but they are also hurtful, overpowering and deceitful. By nature men and women are different mythology shows us that. But it also shows us that the characters of gods and goddess are very similar to us. We can see ourselves in these people. I can see a little of Pandora, Aphrodite and Demeter in me.