Shanna Farmer

Hell Hath No Fury like a Woman Scorned

Women are often given key roles in the tragedy we had read the past few weeks.  They have been crucial counterparts of the main male character, and highly important in the action of the play.  But, since all the tragedies we have read have been written by men, are their characters written in without bias and without sexism being involved?  Women throughout history have been seen as the weaker sex, but in the plays that I have read I’ve seen them as strong, conniving, devious, and independent, and also capable of influencing the action in the play and developing the plot.  This in all honesty, is probably not far from the truth about realistic female intentions.  Many individuals might argue that it is virtually impossible for men to write about a woman with unbiased intentions.   However, in almost every instance, I’ve seen female characteristics being portrayed realistically.  Whether other women will agree with this or not, women have it in them to better themselves by hurting others.  Why do you think women gossip or spread rumors?  Why do you think it has become more and more common in society for women to be unfaithful?  The evil plots that I’ve witnessed in the plays we have read are totally believable to me, and I can see it happening as easily today as it happened back hundreds of years ago. 

In every play that we have read, you will find revenge.  And if you trace the avenger back, almost one hundred percent of the time it will be a woman.  Take Phaedra for example, since she was angered by unrequited love she lied in her letter to Theseus about Hippolytus.  She knew what she was doing when she wrote the letter, but Hippolytus was going to have to pay for his indifference to Phaedra.  In the same play Aphrodite orchestrates the whole mess since she was scorned by Hippolytus and wants justice for his actions and coldness towards her.   Then there is Christine and Vinny in Mourning Becomes Electra.  Christine cannot stand the sight of her husband any longer.  She is bitter by years of his unloving attitude toward her, so she plots to kill him.  And revenge is made even sweeter by the affair she is having with the bastard child that caused their family so much grief.  So, Vinny to avenge her father’s death kills her mother’s lover.  And in Agamemnon Clytemnestra plots Agamemnon’s death for years and years, after he sacrificed their daughter.  As in Desire Under the Elms, Abbie has been treated poorly all her life and she has had enough.  She marries a man she hopes will die soon, then after he refuses to inherit her the farm, she plots.  She seduced Eben, so that she can trick Ephraim that it is his son, plus she won’t have to sleep with him.  And that now that she has conceived, Ephraim will give the son he thinks is his the farm, allowing her to have her home.  Even though none of their efforts work out and everyone ends up losing. 

I found my idea during the video presentation of Mildred Pierce.   I was astonished at the scheming efforts of Veda, but as I thought more in depth I realized the popular trend of revengeful women in tragedy.  But, I believed it as a truth.  Women are vengeful in real life.  It almost ironic, since women are known as soft and sweet on the outside, but underneath I believe all women possess the ability to plan evil against another person that can be downright ugly. 

So, are the men who write these tragic plays depicting women in the correct sense?  I would say yes.  There are numerous sides to every human being, but put into certain situations your natural instinct takes over.  Women don’t want to be seen as revenge seekers and devious, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s human nature.  These women were put into a situation that brought out a side in them that we all possess.  It’s not sexism that is being written, it is the nature of the situation and how many times we as humans, and me as a woman, handle that situations in a similar way.  It’s relatable, but also hard to deal with since no one wants to see themselves in this light.