Womans In Literature Essay, Research Paper

THE CHANGING ROLES OF WOMEN IN LITERATURE The altering function of adult females in literature from the late eighth century B. C. to the fourth century A. D. is apparent in that adult females go even more subservient in ulterior plants. This is portrayed in the plants The Odyssey by Homer and Sakuntala by Kalidasa. Womans are treated more similar slaves in Sakuntala, while they are seen more similar peers in The Odyssey. However, in Sakuntala, adult females are given more duties, proposing that people of the clip viewed adult females capable of making more things and possibly more intelligent, alternatively of being seen as cosmetic, as in The Odyssey. The Odyssey was written in a clip when work forces played the dominant function. In ancient Greece, adult females occupied a subservient place. Society was organized and directed by work forces, and all of the most of import places in society were held by work forces. Womans were valued, but they participated in the personal businesss of the universe merely when they had the permission or unfastened blessing of the work forces who directed their lives. The literature of this clip illustrates these societal conventions. No reader of The Odyssey can assist holding graphic memories of the verse form & # 8217 ; s outstanding female characters. There are many adult females in The Odyssey and all of them contribute in meaningful ways to the development of the action. In add-on, the poet treats them earnestly and with regard, as if there were no difference between his attitude toward them and his feelings toward the work forces. Among the memorable adult females in the verse form are included: Nausica, the guiltless immature miss ; Arete, the wise queen and female parent ; Kirke and Kalypso, the cryptic enchantresss ; Penelope, the theoretical account of devotedness and fidelity ; Helen, the respectable middle-class matron ; and others, like Eurykleia and Melantho, who have much smaller functions, but every bit good defined personalities. Finally, there is Athena, the goddess, who more than any other of these adult females, is intelligent, sophisticated, and independent, merely like the manner modern society has come to see adult females. The influential feminine functions in The Odyssey besides have of import effects upon the whole verse form. It is in The Odyssey that such thoughts as love, household trueness, and devotedness, and other such of import ethical attitudes, are illustrated. It is the presence of these unconscious moral lessons that makes The Odyssey so alone to its genre. In a manner, The Odyssey is non merely the narrative of the rovings of Odysseus. The poet has made it, besides, into a kind of & # 8220 ; catalogue of adult females, & # 8221 ; in which he examines adult females of all sorts and from all walks of

life. These feminine portraits are almost always objective and fair; Homer never made judgments, and each of these women has a certain appeal. It is interesting, however, that the woman who is most worthy of respect and affection is not a mortal. Homer seems to comment that no human being could develop herself in this way. His admiration for Athena is made even more evident by the fact that she, and not Penelope or another woman, is the heroine of the poem and the sole companion and confidante of Odysseus. It is only in our modern world that women have been given the opportunity to fully utilize their talent and ability, in order to become equal and contributing members of society, like Athena seems to be. In Sakuntala women are portrayed to play more of a subservient role than they were in The Odyssey. Even though the women in The Odyssey are looked upon merely as someone to cook and clean and bear the children, they play major roles in the poem. In Sakuntala the women play no major roles in the poem, at least not anything like the women played in The Odyssey. Sakuntala herself plays a very demeaning role being forced to do all the chores, the gathering of food, and the manual labor around the house. This is much different than in The Odyssey where the man was the one who did most of the chores, brought home the food, and most of the manual labor about the house. In ancient Greek times, women were seen as more delicate and placed figurative pedestals. They were expected to take care of the house, but this only included making sure everything ran smoothly, and delegating chores and responsibilities. They were not actually expected to do the manual labor themselves. Some of the important women in Sakuntala include: Sakuntala, the lover of nature and the prospective heroine of the play; Anasuya and Priyamvada, aides of Sakuntala and women you help in her chores; and Mother Gautami the first hand maiden of father Kanva and caregiver of Sakuntala. Even though they are seen as more subservient and have to perform more of the meaningless tasks they are still valued and loved. This is seen through the love that Dusyanta feels for Sakuntala and also in the despair he shows when he realizes he has turned her away. The changing role of women in literature can be seen by reading and comparing Homer’s The Odyssey and Kalidasa’s Sakuntala. The women in both works are highly valued the men close to them but not as much in society. Women can actually be seen as regressing instead of progressing in that they are made to seem more subservient in the later work.