Greek Tragedies and Modern Day Culture

Erin Westgate,  Verrazzano Class of 2025, completing major in SLS Early Childhood

In my SLS 301 Humanities I class I learned about Greek Tragedies, their culture, and how much of an influence Greek society and culture has had on today’s society.

We have evolved a great deal since then, but one can make clear connections to the past. One of those connections is gender roles. In many of the play’s, women were viewed as emotional and much less worthy than men. A perfect example of this was in the play The Oresteia. Orestes murders his mother in order to get revenge for his father, who was murdered by Orestes’ mother. At his trial, it was revealed that he would get away with the murder of his own mother simply for the fact that she was a woman. He would be free because a man’s life was worth more than a woman’s life.

This scenario would not happen today, but that there are people in today’s society who still view men as superior to women. In ancient Greek culture, women were just meant to marry and have children, and that is still viewed by some people in today’s society. Modern day culture still holds the stigma that some jobs are meant for women and some jobs are meant for men, even though most women today are educated and have successful careers. We have come a long way from this mindset in today’s society, yet I do think there is still room to grow.

Another thing I noticed in ancient cultures was democracy. As many famous Greek Tragedies became popular, so did democracy. During this time, Athenian men believed there was no purpose to life if you were not publicly participating, and there was even a law made stating you must pick a political side or lose citizenship. Politics is a huge part of today’s society, something that is causing a huge divide amongst us, with the feeling that one must pick a side. Many people today are not satisfied until they know your political standing. Politics was a huge part of ancient Greek culture and is still a big part of today’s society.