Women in Greek and Roman Theater

Blegen Seminar, GRST 302-51            Vassar College, Spring 2011

Tuesday/Thursday 1:30-2:45 PM, Sanders Classroom 212

 

Course Synopsis:

         Women, such as Clytemnestra, Medea, Helen, Hekabe/Hecuba, Lysistrata, and Cleostrata, are among the most interesting characters developed for the ancient stage. We will look at these women as entertaining and stimulating visions of the feminine and unfeminine (whatever those may mean), as perceived by the cultures that originally watched them and in our own day. This course approaches Greek and Roman dramatic scripts, both tragic and comic, as vehicles for presentation of social norms and anomalies at public festivals and for general entertainment. As public works, these texts offer us a chance to understand gender issues and social mores as presented by actors. We will also examine and practice with ancient theater techniques to better understand the presentation of females by male actors, and we will discuss the venues and genres in which women played female characters to examine the differences gender makes in perception of character and in their real lives as working women. Students will gain familiarity with these plays and characters through ample script analysis, discussion, performance, feminist theoretical readings, and oral and written presentations of original work.
            This course must begin with Aeschylus’ Oresteia  as a powerful commentary on early classical Athenian impressions of women, motherhood and the feminine/masculine dichotomy presented before a public audience.  Several of Euripides’ war plays (Andromache, Trojan Women, Hecuba) focused on the defeated Trojan women address both standard societal observations on women in crisis and a developing dramatic intensity in Euripides’ female roles. Excerpts from Medea show that Euripides actively thought about his presentation of the feminine and unfeminine in his dramatic constructions and give voice to the foreign woman in a Greek context. The rescue drama Ion presents rape as a serious and complex social offense against women, but also shows a growing attraction for dramatic resolution found in reconciliation and restoration of domestic peace.
            Aristophanes’ “women” plays (Lysistrata, Thesmophoriazousai, Ekklesiazousai), while resting firmly on the comic appeal of offering male stereotypes of women, also raise new social issues regarding the role women played in Athenian civic and religious life, and address Euripides’ approach to presentation of the tragic woman. Three of Plautus’ “darker” social comedies (Bacchides, Casina, Truculentus) show a continuing fascination with women at the center of dramatic structure and offer significant voice to women’s comments on their public and domestic roles in Hellenistic Greek society, and sometimes glimpses of their place in Roman society. A selection of Hellenistic and late Greek mime scripts will help further develop this picture of women’s dual lives and indicate some of the few roles actually played by actresses on Greek and Roman stages. We will end with Seneca’s Medea and Trojan Women to study his differing dramatic techniques, philosophical concerns and Roman imperial impressions regarding tragic Greek women.