From Tragedy to Hierarchy and Back Again: Women in Greek Political Thought

FROM TRAGEDY TO HIERARCHY AND BACK AGAIN: WOMEN IN GREEKPOLITICAL THOUGHT ARLENE W. SAXONHOUSE Universityof Michigan he earliestattempts at a theoreticalunderstanding of politicsoccur in thecity-states of ancient Greece. Women had no placein thepolitics of thosecities. However, the Greek tragedians and philosophers raised questions about the fundamentalassumptions underlying political life by introducingwomen into their writings.Thus, women appear in some Greek tragedies as a counterto themale sense of politicalefficacy-the sense that men can createthrough speech and ignorethe facts of physicalcreation entailed in theprocess of reproduction. A discussionof two tragedies, The SevenAgainst Thebes and theAntigone, suggests how thefailure of male political leadersto acknowledge the demands of the physical and thatwhich is differentbrings on tragedy.The Socraticresponse in theRepublic is to overcometragedy by makingthe maleand thefemale the same. Aristotle attempts to incorporatesexual difference in the theoreticalframework of hierarchy. Finally, there is a briefconsideration of the role of thepre-Socratic philosophers in settingthe agenda for the Greeks' confrontation with theproblems of incorporatingdifference into the political community. The Greeks theones who debatedin theassemblies, introducedthe concept of politicsto the who decidedon publicpolicies, who gave Westernworld; their city-states, orpoleis, expressionto thevalues of thecity. The werethe arenasin whichcitizens might womenof Greecewere not partof that act together,sometimes seeking domina- world. tionover other cities, sometimes creating Conceptionsof politics and themodels orderlysets of rulesby whichthey might employedto analyze politicalrelations governthemselves, sometimes finding in stillreflect their origins in themasculine theircommunal actions glory as citiesor worldof thepolis, withits concernfor as individuals.The Greekphilosophers, domination,self-rule, order, and glory. reflectingon thenature of thepolis, gave While the Westernintellectual tradition to the cityits theoreticalmeaning as a may have acceptedthe practiceof the realmof potential justice as wellas ofcon- Greekpolis as revelatoryof theoriginal flict,of humannobility as well as of meaningof politics, the philosophers and fatuity.But always this was theworld of playwrightsof ancientAthens reflected men;men were the actors, the seekers of criticallyon that world. In particular, glory,the pursuers of power.They were theyquestioned for theiraudiences the AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE REVIEW VOL. 80 NO. 2 JUNE,1986 AmericanPolitical Science Review Vol. 80 focuson powerand its pursuit,and the poetsintroduced the female as a constant centralityof rationality and itsefficacy in reminderof the diversity out of which the orderingthe chaotic world of experience. worldwas made,and as a constantwarn- To raise questionsabout the masculine ingagainst the attempt to see theworld as world of power and reason-a world one, as uniformand thereforesubject to focusedon malepotency-they turned to simpleanswers and rationalcontrol. The thefemale, for in herdifference from the closetingof womenin thehome did not male she revealeda diversityin nature shut out theirexistence from the con- that threatenedthe physicalorder and sciousnessof the male poets or of the male rationalcontrol at whichthe polis aimed. citizensfor whom they wrote. The male in theGreek tragedies seeks a The aphorism"know thyself," original- simplicity,a uniformity,a world he can ly engravedon the Greek templeat comprehendthrough the intellect. When Delphi, has often been adopted by confrontedwith the female, he mustface political theoristsof the modernage. theproblem of difference and complexity, Hobbes,for example, uses it to indicate forshe introducesthe issue of reproduc- thatwe mustknow our passions,those tion,which underscores the male's depen- interiormotions that drive us intoconflict denceon whatis other.The femaleforces withothers. Rousseau recalls the motto in theGreek authors to raisequestions and orderto underscoreour needto discover reservationsabout theancient polis as a our origins,what we werebefore fateful realm of dominationand simplicity. accidentsof history took away knowledge These authorsindicate for us how the ofour true selves. Both Hobbes and Rous- femaleand thequestions she raises about seau takethe motto as an exhortationto theefficacy of reason and the centrality of discoverone's own nature. For the Greeks power and authoritymust be acknowl- it had a somewhatdifferent meaning. edgedin all understandingsof thenature "Knowthyself," gnothi seauton, meant to of thepolitical world, and in theattempt know the limitsof human activityor to incorporatethat world into theoretical- power,to recognizethat as humanone ly simplifiedstructures. was notimmortal, and more importantly, The lifeof citizenwomen in fifthcen- that one was not omnipotent-particu- turyB.C. Athenswas a shelteredone, brief larly that one could not control all andlimited primarily to theproduction of throughhuman reason. The female on the citizensfor the polis and sonsto carryon Greekstage forced men into an awareness the familyreligion. However, the por- ofthe inadequacies of the attempt to con- trayalof women in the works of the trolall, ofthe inability of human courage Athenianplaywrights and philosophers is and humanintelligence-often expressed farmore complex and sophisticatedthan throughpolitical action-to dominatethe thefacts of women's daily lives might lead natural world throughthe denial of us to believe.Though women themselves variability.He who triedto dominate probablydid not attendtheatrical per- mayhave gained stature as thehero, but formances,the city of adult males saw on he was the tragic hero, since such stage powerfulwomen-women whose attemptsat powerand at theimposition existence,as the poets reflectedon the of simplicitybrought only disaster. humancondition, could not be denied Womenbrought the hero back to what we (Gomme,1937; Just,1975; Kitto,1951, mightcall a variable,empirical reality; pp. 219-34; Lefkowitz,1981, pp. 4-11; theirpresence suggested that therewas Pomeroy,1975, pp. 58-60). Into their somethingother than the abstract city the vision of themselvesas human-some- men had created,and for which they wherebetween gods and animals-the fought. 404 1986 Womenin GreekPolitical Thought It was in thestructure of thecity that fourthcentury B.C. unsuccessfullytried to the male showed his most courageous deal withand ease thetensions explored attemptto createby givingbirth through by theplaywrights of the previouscen- institutions,thus ignoring the importance tury. I conclude by returningto the of the femalefor humanreproduction. earliestphilosophers, the so-calledpre- Many of the Greek tragedies,though, Socratics,to suggesthow theylaid the indicatethe inadequacy of such assertions foundationsfor the Greeks'intellectual of politicalpower when they are not assessmentof thecity and thefemale. moderatedby recognitionof the variabil- ityof nature-a conceptof naturebased Tragedy:The Failure on physicalrather than intellectual gener- ation, whichthus arises from diversity of Male Omnipotence ratherthan from simplicity. The maleon Aeschylus'sThe SevenAgainst Thebes theGreek stage who triesto livewithout acknowledgingthe female and thediver- Aeschylus'sThe SevenAgainst Thebes sityshe revealsencounters tragedy. The is the finalplay of his versionof the female,even in hervaried manifestations Oedipuscycle.2 Oedipus has diedcursing on stage,illustrates the dependence of the his twosons, the offspring of his incestu- humanbeing on others.She, as different ous marriage.His sons, Eteocles and fromthe male, but also needingthe male, Polyneices,agree to take turnsruling underscoresthe diversityof the world, Thebes,but Eteocles then refuses to yield and the falsityof any vision of self- his power.Polyneices, eager to claimhis satisfiedindependence, omnipotence, or turn,returns to Thebes with an army simplicity.This is not to suggestthat all fromthe neighboring city of Argos.The womenin theGreek plays are thesame; structureof the play is simple:the hostile certainlythere are many differences army with Polyneicesat its head has amongthe female characters themselves. attacked;Eteocles presents himself as the Rather,in whateverrole they appear, calmleader of a besiegedcity; a chorusof womenraise for men the problem of dif- terrifiedtownswomen sing of theirfears. ference.Tragedy, as the Greek play- Eteoclesworries that they will instill fear wrightsportray it, is not caused by and disorderamong his soldiers.During women,but ratherby thefailure of the the middlepart of the play a Theban heroto recognizeman's relationship to a messengerdescribes the Argive warriors diversenatural world and the need to who wait for battle at Thebes' seven adapt to thatdiversity. The male,in the gates. At the seventhgate standsPoly- rationalconstruction of politicalorder, neices,and it is at thatgate that Eteocles thinkshe can accomplishtoo much. and Polyneicesmeet and killone another Greektragedies reveal the limits of human in the subsequentbattle. At the end, rationalityand human art. For the Antigoneand her sisterIsmene mourn Greeks,it is women,absent themselves theirbrothers, and a decreeenacted by fromthe audience of citizens watching the thecity council is announced,proclaim- plays, who cause men to know them- ingthat Eteocles is to be givenfull burial selves. rites,while Polyneices' body is to be cast In thisessay I will considertwo very unburiedoutside the city. differentGreek

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