Ancient Greece: The Eximious Ideal Change
“The Eximious Ideal Change”
In the past 3,000 years people have vastly changed their opinions on what the ideal man and woman looks and acts like. People have also changed a lot since then. Since Ancient Greek times, the roles of men and women have changed for the better.
Back in Ancient Greece, Odysseus and Penelope were considered the ideal man and woman. Essentially in Ancient Greece the ideal woman was a housewife. The ideal wife would have been pretty, patient, and loyal. They should be kind and gentle. A good example of this would be this quote from the Odyssey “Their secret! As she heard it told, her knees grew tremulous and weak, her heart failed her…” (Homer 879). In the quote Odysseus expected Penelope to wait for him for 20 years!
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This can first be seen when women started to work. Since ancient times women started to work which was ideal for families to make more money and be better off. “The sisters are out there doing work, doing serious work, both this generation of my age and above…” (Burnham). This is an improvement in ideals because in the past the women were housewives who didn’t work for a job; they just stayed home. Now they are career driven and work to take care of themselves and their families. This may be good because it gives women a sense of independence. Along with that is, the men and their transition to modern ideals. Guys used to be warriors and super masculine, but nowadays it is totally okay for guys to be sensitive or act traditionally “girly”. A good example of that was this guy talking about his father. “He was also a nurturing, nappy-changing father who did 50% of the housework…”(Freyne). The quote above just proved how a dad can be or have traditionally girly traits. In fact, women seem to like men who are sensitive and sweet over a mean and uncaring man. It is okay for a man to have feminine traits and for a woman to have masculine traits. Luckily, times have changed since ancient Greece leaving the ideal man and woman in a better more reasonable
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