Role of Women in Iphigenia in Aulis Essay Example

📌Category: Plays
📌Words: 484
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 14 January 2022

Often in ancient Greek times, women were treated as a fraction of a man or as if they were not human at all. In Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis, the treatment of women is no different. Several examples of this include; Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, who was chosen to be sacrificed had little to no say in her opinion on the matter and Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, was forced into marriage due to the murder of her original husband. Through these two examples, the role of women in ancient Greece was clearly that women only existed to be used. 

One supporting fact for this was the sacrifice of Iphigenia. In Euripides’s Iphigenia in Aulis, a prophecy declared that “Iphigenia, my daughter, must be sacrificed…” (Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis lines 19-20). Agamemnon, in his attempts to save his daughter, creates an arranged marriage between Iphigenia and Achilles. Throughout all these events Iphigenia never had her chance for others to hear her opinion. In an attempt to voice her opinion,  Iphigenia tried her best to plea with her mother and Achilles saying, “I have made up my mind to die. I want to come to it” (Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis lines 1845-1846). Even though Iphigenia wanted to die for the greater good of Greece, her opinion did not matter to Agamemnon nor Achilles, they only want Iphigenia to become Achilles’ bride. In the end, Iphigenia is sacrificed, however, before being sacrificed she says, “If it means that one man can see the sunlight what are the lives of thousands of women in the balance?” (Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis lines 1880-1882). By saying this, Iphigenia believes that women have little to no use, other than to be used for the greater good of men. 

A second supporting fact was the treatment of Agamemnon’s wife, Clytemnestra. Prior to Clytemnestra being married to Agmenmnon, she was married to Tantalos. Clytemnestra says “In the first place you took me by force, you married me against my will. You killed the husband I had, Tantalos.” (Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis lines 1540-1543). Agamemnon killed Clytemnestra’s first husband for his own personnel growth and value. For example, Clytemnestra was used to “... increase your house …” (Euripides, Iphigenia in Aulis line 1556), essentially meaning that Clytemnestra took care of most domestic duties including; cooking, cleaning, weaving, and looking after children. Along with using Clytemnestra for household duties, Agamemnon and Clytemnestra have several children of which Clytemnestra has to care for. Overall, through the experience of Clytemnestra, women in ancient Greece are used for common housework, have kids, and take care of said kids. 

Overall the role of women in ancient Greece is underwhelming. Women are expected to follow the lead of the men around them and are used for common housework and take care of their kids. In Euripides’ Iphigenia in Aulis, Iphigenia played the role of being sacrificed and Clytemnestra played the role of being a housewife and taking care of her children. Finally, in ancient Greece women always played the supporting role, whether that be taking care of children or being sacrificed to gods. Women got the short end of the stick and were used.

+
x
Remember! This is just a sample.

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

Order now
By clicking “Receive Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails.