Women In Classis Texts

Classic texts can help us to determine how societies viewed certain topics at the era in which they were written. Throughout time women have had a struggle for respect and we are able to view this change in many classic texts leading up to our present day. Ancient Greek texts such as the poem The Odyssey, written by famous Greek poet Homer, creates an image of women in Ancient Greece, while The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written in the late 1800’s by Robert Louis Stevenson, shows how much respect women were given by the lack of female characters in the novella and C S Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe written in the early 20th century allows people to see a mans interpretation of women in a time which women were starting to gain the respect they have in our modern day society.

The Odyssey a poem by Greek author, Homer allows us to see how the Ancient Greeks viewed women. Seeing as this texts and others like it, all written by well educated Greek men, are one of only a few insights into Greek life we have, it is all we have to create an image of their lives, even though the text maybe bias.

Homer’s representation of women is constant throughout the entire text; he presents them to be very emotional and under the control of men. A lot of the women in the book have, “tears streaming from [their] eyes” (The Odyssey pg 341) or have emotional breakdowns; this depiction of a woman is throughout the whole poem and creates an untruthful image of a woman. Even though women do cry a lot more than men this point is exaggerated to make the men seem more rational. In The Odyssey many women are only there to provide for the men and do housework for the rich. A lot of women only appear to, “set food and drink” (The Odyssey pg108) and complete common household chores. These women serve the men and seem fairly content in doing so.

Women in Ancient Greece had barely any rights at all, they were permitted to stay inside (a sign of wealth was to have no tan) and take care of the house, unless they were wealthy and had female slaves to do this work for them. Many historical texts written in this period of time were written by well educated men, who almost certainly thought of themselves as better than women. This opinion is reflected in their bias texts, presenting women as inferior and scarcely more intelligent than children. This presentation might have been true at the time because it was improper to show your face if your husband was having a dinner and to go to an Olympic Games was forbidden. Girls were also not educated, therefore condemned to a life of housework and taking care of children.

This inappropriate way of treating women has been proven not only by historical evidence but through ancient texts. To be a woman in Ancient Greece would have been tough because men would look down on you believing you, being a woman, are inferior and too emotional to be taken seriously.

The absence of women in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson implies a strong sense of gender inequality and prejudice for that period of time. The few times which females are in the text their behaviour is strongly focused on and unjustifiably stereotypical.

In the very few cases which women are mentioned in the novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is made quite clear to the reader why they are not included as main characters. According to the text women are, “as wild as harpies” (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg6), this is compared to the “intelligent and reputable men” (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg21) who dominate the text. Out of the three main women mentioned in the story, the little girl, the maid and the lady at Mr Hyde’s door, one screamed, one fainted and one, “had an evil face” (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg27). These three representations of women are unjust and are an exaggerated view of this gender. For this is a horror story and as just proven, women act irrationally when confronted with horrific situations it is clear, according to the text, why only men have been used in the important roles of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and why women should, “[call] for the police” (The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde pg25) in times of need instead of handling it themselves.

In the late 19th century it was common to find a woman at home, rather than in the workforce. Women were treated with little respect and were not thought of as to be smarter than men; this is why they received less education than them. A women’s acceptable aim in life was to marry and have children, even though going into marriage could be worse than staying single and surviving off the bare necessities. When a woman married she gave up all she possessed, including her own personal rights; her husband could have complete control over her and take away their children for no reason. She could not divorce him but he could divorce her and until the 1891 a woman could be captured by police for running away from her husband. The women who had to work to survive didn’t have many jobs to choose from and all were low paid, some even had to result to prostitution. A woman only worked until she was married, than, everything she owned went to her husband. In the late 19th century some women stated up feminist groups to promote women’s rights, this proved effective, with women being allowed to vote in 1918.

The lack and ill representation of women in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde would have been acceptable at the time which it was written with women having less respect than men. Robert Louis Stevenson helps us to see how ill treated women were in the 1800’s.

The portrayal of women in C S Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is relatively stereotypical. The presentation of characters, such as Mrs Beaver and Lucy create an image of women being emotional and incapable of doing men’s work. C S Lewis being bought up in a period of time when women were still respected less than men, reflects his beliefs in the text.

Even though there are many women characters, unlike in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the representation of women is similar. In many parts of the book the two main girls, Lucy and Susan, “burst into tears” (The