In ancient Greek society and mythology, women endured many difficulties in many areas. The main issues that women encountered in the era occurred in the following: marriage, inheritance and social life. Many young girls, around 15 years old, are forced to marry to strangers under the will of their fathers. It is often that these girls will never see their family again after the marriage. Next, women in this era are not really allowed to possess any property, hence the men are in control of political and economic operations. Last, but not least, since women are under total control of men, their freedom (i.e social life) is extremely limited. In the era of ancient Greece, the society and cultivated the degrading role of women, hence it is unsurprising
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Judging this action of Zeus (Persephone’s father) from the perspective of an ancient Greek society, this is perfectly justified because it is very similar to what a father will actually do to his daughter by making her marrying a total stranger. Demeter, Persephone’s mother, was “wroth with Cronion (Zeus)” (171) and went on her journey searching for her daughter. Demeter was so furious that she stopped the growth of fruits and crops “by hiding the seed under the earth” (176), and she would not stop until she sees “her fair-faced daughter” (175). Eventually, Zeus relented and told Persephone to return to the surface of Earth. Demeter and Persephone “ceased from sorrow” and united. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the story of Demeter and Persephone is truly a unique mythology due to the fact that Demeter, as a woman, was able to force “mighty” Zeus to relent and give her daughter back. This is something that has never appeared in the literatures from that era. This mythology shows how strong a mother’s love can be when it comes to her child and the fact that nothing can ever stop a mother from loving her child. Next, from the perspective of ancient Greek society, Demeter was in certain a bad wife. The reason being that she disobeyed Zeus multiple times before she finally united with Persephone, but by modern perspective, Demeter’s action is fully
Judging this action of Zeus (Persephone’s father) from the perspective of an ancient Greek society, this is perfectly justified because it is very similar to what a father will actually do to his daughter by making her marrying a total stranger. Demeter, Persephone’s mother, was “wroth with Cronion (Zeus)” (171) and went on her journey searching for her daughter. Demeter was so furious that she stopped the growth of fruits and crops “by hiding the seed under the earth” (176), and she would not stop until she sees “her fair-faced daughter” (175). Eventually, Zeus relented and told Persephone to return to the surface of Earth. Demeter and Persephone “ceased from sorrow” and united. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the story of Demeter and Persephone is truly a unique mythology due to the fact that Demeter, as a woman, was able to force “mighty” Zeus to relent and give her daughter back. This is something that has never appeared in the literatures from that era. This mythology shows how strong a mother’s love can be when it comes to her child and the fact that nothing can ever stop a mother from loving her child. Next, from the perspective of ancient Greek society, Demeter was in certain a bad wife. The reason being that she disobeyed Zeus multiple times before she finally united with Persephone, but by modern perspective, Demeter’s action is fully