reflections of feminism in the plays of euripides and aristophanes

Abstract

The works of Aristophanes have caused some modern writers to refer to Euripides as a misogynist and, at the same time, Aristophanes has not been taken seriously when it comes to the presentation of women in a misogynistic or feministic perspective because he is a comic writer. Due to this, scholars have refused to put these two writers on the same platform to see the underlining intentions of their presentations. Even though Aristophanes’ works are comedies and every depiction cannot be taken as factual, his presentation of women cannot be ignored since, in fact, the laughter is directed quite as much against women themselves as it is against Euripides and also because his work has a basis on societal happenings of his time. This work used feminism as a modern concept to analyze Euripides’ and Aristophanes’ presentation of women. The main emphasis is on the primary aim of feminism in the classical Greek context – to point out features of inequalities, disadvantages and marginalization among the genders. This is because during the classical period, the concept of feminism as an advocacy was apparently non-existent; however, due to some characteristics in their writings, the concept of feminism is used as a pillar in analyzing their works. Also, even though literature books are used, literary devices are discussed only when their relevance is important to the discussion of the work. Firstly, the work analyzed the poets’ presentation of female characters, revealing whether they gave feministic or otherwise interpretation to the characters. Secondly, from a feminist perspective, the work analysed the speeches made by the characters. Thus, the main aim of this research is to bring out the feminist projections in Euripidean and Aristophanic literature. It concludes by showing that the poets’ plays contained elements of feminism. Euripides can be called a feminist but Aristophanes cannot due to his mockery of women.