Uncontrollable Urges: Women’s Frightening Presence in Classical Athenian Drama and it’s Reflection on Athenian Society

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published 22/05/2008

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In classical Athenian society, anxiety about gender roles abounded, as women were regarded dichotomously as pillars of purity as well as receptacles and originators of filth, both moral and physical. Many ancient sources, often funerary monuments or epitaphs, praise individual women for their virtue, chastity, and obedience, but beneath these affectionate words lurks a darker perception of women. In addition to ideals of what a good woman and wife should aspire to be, ancient literature offers a laundry list of traits and habits that betray women’s inferiorities and inherent dangers. The strict control that men maintained over their wives and daughters was only secondarily aimed at representing their legal interests; more importantly, men wanted to ensure that women could not break out of their boundaries and destroy the existing social structure: “it did always seem a terribly dangerous possibility to the Greeks that their women might get out of hand and become a threat, endangering male order, life, and sanity.” Athenian drama often addressed these topics of female nature and female boundaries in both tragic and comedic forms

Moral virtue belongs to [all humans];
For Aristotle, women are capable of virtue.
Although they had virtually no political clout or social control, women were viewed warily by men.
The great contradiction with women is that they cannot be divorced from men's primary concern.
At the heart of man's ambivalent feelings about women was the concept of sophrosyne.
In her most well-known monologue, Medea leaves her home, enters the public space, and speaks out in her own defense.
As the play opens, Lysistrata, an Athenian housewife, paces outside her front door, waiting for other women to arrive.
Women, although often portrayed as weak and helpless, become extraordinarily puissant and powerful.