Xenophon and Aristophanes: The Results of a Husband’s Desire for Control :: Xenophon Aristophanes Power Papers

Xenophon and Aristophanes The Results of a Husbands Desire for ControlIn Greek society women had little control over their lives. A economize wanted to be able to control his married woman so she would put across his ho enforcehold as he saw fit, so she did not hurt his reputation, and so he knew the paternity of his children. A husband wanted the missy to be closely controlled by her father before she married for the aforesaid(prenominal) reasons. Aristophanes comedies and Xenophons Oeconomicus contain very different depictions of a Greek citizen fair sexs life before she is married and during the time shortly afterwards(prenominal) she is married. Both the comedies and Oeconomicus examine how girls were educated, how closely guarded they were in their fathers household, and their willingness to deceive their husbands. In Oeconomicus, Xenophon wrote about the ideal girl, but she was exaggerated in the direction of perfection. In the comedies, however, some the female charac ters were almost the exact antagonist of the girl in Oeconomicus. Even though ideas about how girls were raised and how they behaved after they were married are very different in Oeconomicus and in Aristophanes comedies, twain sets of ideas get at a husbands lust for his wife to have been closely controlled by her father, and accordingly by him. Aristophanes and Xenophon illustrate this desire by presenting the ideal characteristics of a wife and the characteristics men fear. They as well use exaggeration to make the distinction between the good wife and the unsuitable wife even clearer. Because husbands wanted their wives to be controlled first by their fathers, and then by them, women spent their entire lives under the control of men.There was also a large difference between how closely guarded by her father Ischomachoss wife was, compared to the girls in the comedies. Girls were not only guarded to cover them from learning too much, but they were also guarded to keep them away from men so they would not have sex with or be raped by them. Because if a girl was, and after marriage ceremony her husband found out, he would be unsure of the paternity of his children. Ischomachoss wife had previously lived under diligent supervision in evidence that she might see and hear as little as workable (Oeconomicus, VII, 5). She obviously did not leave her house much if her family was making an guarantee to have her see and hear as little as possible.