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The representation of women in Athenian tragedy was performed exclusively by men and it is likely (although the evidence is not conclusive) that it was performed solely for men as well. In a society that valued women’s silence, their predominance in the most public of Athenian art-forms constitutes a paradox. Only one of the surviving 32 plays has no female characters: Sophocles' ''Philoctetes''. Female tragic choruses also outnumber the male choruses by twenty-one to ten.〔Easterling, P. E. (Ed.). (1997). ''Cambridge companion to Greek tragedy.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 〕 ==Cultural stereotype== Macaria, in the ''Heracleidae'' states that "for a woman, silence and self control are best."〔 The philosopher Xenophon thought females possessed the positive traits of 'vigilance' and 'love for infants'. However Xenophon reflects the Greek fear of these 'others', highlighting their irrationality, religious fervour and sexual passion.〔Bushnell, R. W. (Ed.). (2005). ''A companion to tragedy.'' Wiley-Blackwell.〕 Aristotle went further, stating that women were deformed, incomplete males, designed to be subservient to men. As a result women had their freedom restricted and were believed to have lived in separate areas to men. In a speech recorded in the Lysias Orations 3.6, a speaker seeks to convey his opponent’s licentiousness by telling how he trespassed into "the women’s rooms where my sister and my nieces were – women who have always lived so decently that they are ashamed to be seen even by relatives."〔 Sheila Murnaghan argues that "it is no accident that what little evidence we do have for actual Athenian women comes largely from courtroom speeches or medical treatises, genres brought into being by conflict and disease."〔 In Ancient Greece, a woman was viewed as a passive conduit of male fertility,on long term loan by her father.〔Blondell, R., et al. (Ed.). (1999). ''Women on the edge: four plays by Euripides.'' New York, NY: Routledge.〕 Marriage was an unequal relationship, whereby the husband owned the children and didn’t have the same obligation toward sexual fidelity that the wife had.〔 The playwright Euripides presents two very different reactions to this cultural norm. Firstly, his female protagonist Alcestis, represents the "perfect wife" sacrificing her own life, so her husband, Admetos, can live.〔 Yet as Blondell points out this "female fame is hard won, even oxymoronic" as her own marriage kills her.〔 It is also interesting to note that the most important relationships within this play are actually between the men. Heracles goes to the underworld not for Alcestis, but to honour his male friend’s hospitality. Admetos goes against the promise he made to his wife, so as to obey his male friendship. "Alcestis drops out," Easterling argues, "to facilitate the interaction between the men."〔 In contrast, however, Euripides Medea breaks the marital conventions, choosing her husband herself and reacting against his infidelity by breaking the female oath and killing her children. "In a sense," Blondell argues, "every bride was a stranger in a strange land. And every married woman was dependent on her husband."〔 ==Theatrical themes== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Representation of women in Athenian tragedy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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