Woman hating in myths we have encountered
If we are to consider misogamist to
mean a critical or negative portrayal of woman that encourages strong prejudice
or hatred of womankind then a number of the stories, myths, and legends we have explored as a part of this class show
some degree of misogynistic thinking. In the story of Demeter and Persephone it
is Aphrodite who sets its tragic events into motion. And her actions seem to be motivated largely
out of a desire to subjugate or at least reinforce her own place and power
among the immortals of
As well Demeter's sadness and pain lead to her bringing great misfortune to mankind in a way, and for reasons that are far from just. In the fate of the children of lir we again see the destructive power of a scored woman realizing her anger on characters who for the most part are innocent bystanders. And the conduct of the goddess portrayed in the Iliad is not particularly flattering either. However beyond what I've said in this short introduction I won't be talking about any of those stories. Instead I'm going to be focusing on w 14514v2123o hat I see to be the greatest examples of misogamy we have been introduced to as a part of this class. I am of course speaking of the story of Pandora's jar and the Erik creation myth. The Efik creation myth shares an extremely misogynistic tendency with the story of Pandora in that in states that the troubles of mankind have been brought on them as the result of the actions of a woman. And not just any woman but the first woman effectively saying that woman have always been bad and will always be bad. I support this view by putting forth the reasoning that if they were the ones, that is woman who screwed every thing up in the first place you should not be surprised when they continue to screw every thing up in the future. I as well will argue the point that theses stories show a misogynist view point because really it's the gods who make every thing crappy for mankind but the tellers of these stories intentionally shift the blame away from those all mighty beings to the human women in a similar fashion to the way the Roman Catholic Church had shifted the blame for the death of Jesus away from the Roman stat of antiquity to the Jews. Effetely scrape goating them. And with that now stated I will begin with the Efik myth. I will present the myth in sections and fallowed by a paragraph of analysis. The story will be in bold letters.
The creator, Abassi, created two humans and then fearing their ambition decided to not allow them to live on earth. He would not have if not for his wife, Atai. She persuaded him to let them do so.
And here we see my point in the very beginning. It's only because of a female deity, Atai that this situation was even able to arise. For she was the one who argued the humans be put on earth. Not only had that but the story made quite clear that Abassi was acting against his better judgment. So we see even though this deity Abassi had already foreseen the effect of doing as his goddess wife desired he did it any way. Rather then condemning him or better both of the deities for their error in judgment the story teller simply blames Atai. .
In order to control the humans, Abassi insisted that they eat all their meals with him, thereby keeping them from growing or hunting food. He also forbade them to procreate. Soon, though, the woman began growing food in the earth, and they stopped showing up to eat with Abassi.
Quite remarkably Abassi original plan for keeping mankind in check is admirable. Rather then something negative like destroying them or making them weak or stupid some how instead he will keep them in a perpetual state of infancy by keeping them reliant on him for survival by forbidding then from acquiring substance form nature. Procreation will be forbidden as well assure his worries are only two fold. However this is short lived as for no explicit reason the woman decides to begin farming .leaving out any kind of reasoning for this one very important detail again suggests a bias on the part of the main story teller. Also the apparent loving nature of Abassi will draw a strong contrast to Atai later in the story that will help to amplify a critical attitude of the fairer sex.
Then the man joined his wife in the fields, and before long there were children also. The man tried to hide the child but Abassi saw them.
So at this point not only has woman disobeyed the law of heaven but she has persuaded man to do the same. And from their treachery a child has been born. Though to give some redeeming credited to the story teller is not explicitly blamed for copulation. As a miner point notice it is stated that the man is the one who hid the children. While this isn't specifically misogynistic one has to ask where is the woman? What is she doing? And one can argue by extension does she even care?
Abassi blamed his wife for the way things had turned out, but she told him she would handle it. She sent to earth death and discord to keep the people in their place.
And finally the end which in a way summarizes the attitude of the whole myth. Not only is it woman who has brought this suffering on man but even if we are to shift blame from woman to the gods as I suggested earlier it's a female deity who has damn us.
Next we will examine the story of Pandora. Though still expressing a misogynist view the myth of Pandora is actually a very different story as you will see when we look at it in greater detail. The copy of the story I have provided is not the one we used in class because a more narrative and less poetic version will better serve my purpose here.
The titan Epimetheus ("hindsight") was responsible for giving a positive trait to each and every animal. However, when it was time to give man a positive trait, as Prometheus, his brother, had taken much longer to create man, there was nothing left. Prometheus ("foresight"), his brother, felt that because man was superior to all other animals, man should have a gift no other animal possessed. So Prometheus set forth to steal fire from Zeus and handed it over to man.
So now the stage is set for the punishment to come. We see that ultimately Prometheus folly is what is large to blame for our suffering. And in attempting to reconcile this folly, by giving us fire he is setting events in motion that will be more damaging then good. However this back story casts things in a very different light then the Efik as we will see.
Zeus, enraged, decided to punish Prometheus. To punish Prometheus, Zeus chained him in unbreakable fetters and set an eagle over him to eat his liver each day, as the eagle is Zeus's sacred animal. Prometheus was an immortal, so the liver grew back every day, but he was still tormented daily from the pain, until he was freed by Heracles during the Twelve Labors.
However, Zeus also had to punish mankind. The punishment was woman. More specifically, Pandora, her name meaning 'all gifts'. Pandora was given several traits from the different gods: Hephaestus molded her out of clay and gave her form; Athena clothed her and the Charities adorned her with necklaces made by Hephaestus; Aphrodite gave her beauty; Apollo gave her musical talent and a gift for healing; Demeter taught her to tend a garden; Poseidon gave her a pearl necklace and the ability to never drown; Hera gave her curiosity; Hermes gave her cunning, boldness, and charm. Zeus gave her insatiable curiosity and mischievousness. Thus the name Pandora-"all gifts"-in Hesiod's version derives from the fact that she received gifts from all deities
Even though the myths narration states that we are being punished for Prometheus action effectively admitting guilt of the god's rather then women. Women will be the vehicle for mans pain. So even though the myth does admit responsibility to be the divines it does not curb any attitudes about woman hating because it bluntly states women are our punishment. The version we read in class stated Hermes gave her thievish morals and the soul of a bitch. The story I have used is different and honestly I question the accuracy of the translation of the class text as the soul of a bitch unless meant to be literally a female dogs soul seems out of place and doesn't make much sense. As well this version differed as it says that Hera and Zeus both give her degrees of curiosity. Regardless Hera is Zeus's wife it can be assumed they are working together and even if not he still knows she has been given curiosity so it is irrelevant. Lastly Hesiod's marked viciousness in his version towards Pandora makes me wonder if perhaps he personally had been some how wronged by a woman in his time.
The most significant of these gifts, however, was a pithos or storage jar, given to Pandora either by Hermes or Zeus. Before he was chained to the rock, Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to take any gifts from the gods. However, when Pandora arrived, he fell in love with her. Hermes told Epimetheus that Pandora was a gift to the titan from Zeus, and he warned Epimetheus not to open the jar, which was Pandora's dowry.
Until then, mankind lived life in a paradise without worry. Epimetheus told Pandora never to open the jar she had received from Zeus. However, Pandora's curiosity got the better of her and she opened it, releasing all the misfortunes of mankind: "For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills [kakoi] and hard toil [ponoi] and heavy sickness [nosoi argaleai] which bring the Keres [baleful spirits] upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly" (Hesiod, Works and Days
Once again we see that far from Pandora being malicious or having any thing against man she is simply a pawn in a giant conspiracy being perpetrated by Zeus himself. Regardless whether Zeus gave her curiosity or not he did command for her to reserve the jar. He knew that she would open it and that had clearly been his plan all along. So while she must burden some responsibility for her actions the one who is truly to blame for are pain is Zeus.
Conclusion
To bring my paper to an end let us now compare the two myths directly. Though they share a misogynistic theme they are two very different stories. However there are some similarities in each of the stories. 1 the woman have no ill will towards mankind. 2 In each of the stories man is presumably glad to have them since they give no indication he is not. Also though in each story the gods find a way to punish man with them. In Efik as basically give the goddess an excuse. And in Pandora by being setup by Zeus. So I guess now that that's said I think the real question is which is worse. In Efik woman's action causes pain and suffer as a reaction by the goddess as apposed to Pandora who is from the beginning manipulate to bring mankind that pain and suffering. But in Efik it is a female being who sends mankind that pain and suffering. However if we believe that HERA has given Pandora curiosity she is partly to blame as well. Pandora's worst crime seems to be that curiosity. As for woman in the Efik myth we don't know why she chooses to disobey the gods. And in the same way that I don't know that I also don't know which one is more misogynistic.
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