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Marriage
in Greek Myth Throughout Greek myth, women are portrayed mainly through their association with men, as daughters, wives, mothers, or virgins. As the sky god gained more power, women were generally associated with darkness, the underworld, even death. In fact, before the first woman was created, men lived for upwards of a hundred years, but Pandora brought the evils and sicknesses that cause “unnatural” death for man. However, the women in Greek myth have a more personal connection with death: marriage. For ancient women to marry was to give their identity up to their husbands. In ancient Greece, women married as soon as they could bear children and were kept inside from that day onward. They were locked inside the house, a womblike container, similar to the shades trapped in the womblike underworld. Powerless to create, except from their womb, a function thought to be controlled by men, women were in a social state equivalent to death. The theme of death and marriage is prominent throughout the stories involving women. For example, Antigone chooses death over marriage in Sophocles’ play to maintain her independence. She is strong-willed and moral, not willing to submit to the masculine authority of Creon. So rather than marry his son and accept the socially correct role laid out for women, she kills herself. top – discuss – essays
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All original material © 2003 Erika Salomon.
