Sophocles - "The Women of Trachis"

The Women of Trachis
<Tab/>In Sophocles' time, feminism was not a concept that existed. The Greek playwright penned most of his works in the mid-400 BC period; men seemed to be considered the only gender, while women were relegated to being nonentities in that world. However, a strong female character takes center stage in The Women of Trachis, also published as The Trachiniae. Deianira, wife of Heracles, tells her story aided by her friends, the aforementioned Women of Trachis, and manages to become a martyr for scorned women everywhere. The combination of willfulness and assertiveness the women display is completely uncharacteristic of females of that time, and illustrates a portrait of women that sets standards for the earliest study of feminism on Greek stage.
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The wife of Heracles, Deianira stoically bears the heavy burden that her husband's disappearance has laid on her throughout the majority of the first act. …