Victims or objects? : the representation of sexual violence in Greek tragedy
This thesis concentrates on the representation of sexual violence committed against women of differing statuses in Greek tragedy in order to discern what designated sexual violence as negative in the opinion of the Athenian audience; how they regarded the issue of womenâs consent; and how they viewed the victims of sexual violence. In order to get a comprehensive picture of sexual violence in tragedy, this study contains close readings of the extant plays and relevant fragments. I look at the descriptions of sexual violence and how it is represented throughout the plays. I also examine discussions of the imminent threat of sexual violence which feature in a number of plays. I take into account a number of factors: the status, motivation and subsequent actions of the aggressor; the locations and context of the assault; the status of the victim; how the victim is represented throughout the play; the reactions of other characters to the victim and any accounts of sexual violence and possible reasons for this. In this thesis I demonstrate that although not all instances of sexual violence would have been regarded as requiring punishment in ancient Athens that does not mean the Athenians had no appreciation for
Brunini-Cronin, Corinna Maria
Victims or objects? : the representation of sexual violence in Greek tragedy. This thesis concentrates on the representation of sexual violence committed against women of differing statuses in Greek tragedy in order to discern what designated sexual violence as negative in the opinion of the Athenian audience; how they regarded the issue of womenâs consent; and how they viewed the victims of sexual violence. In order to get a comprehensive picture of sexual violence in tragedy, this study contains close readings of the extant plays and relevant fragments. I look at the descriptions of sexual violence and how it is represented throughout the plays. I also examine discussions of the imminent threat of sexual violence which feature in a number of plays. I take into account a number of factors: the status, motivation and subsequent actions of the aggressor; the locations and context of the assault; the status of the victim; how the victim is represented throughout the play; the reactions of other characters to the victim and any accounts of sexual violence and possible reasons for this. In this thesis I demonstrate that although not all instances of sexual violence would have been regarded as requiring punishment in ancient Athens that does not mean the Athenians had no appreciation for
object representation sexual_violence greek_tragedy concentrate representation sexual_violence commit woman differ status greek_tragedy order discern designate sexual_violence negative opinion athenian audience regard issue woman consent view victim sexual_violence order get comprehensive_picture sexual_violence tragedy study contains close_reading extant play relevant fragment look description sexual_violence represent throughout play also_examine discussion threat sexual_violence feature number play take_account number_factor status motivation subsequent action location context assault status victim victim represent throughout play reaction character victim account sexual_violence possible_reason this although instance sexual_violence would regard require punishment ancient athens mean athenians appreciation