An Ecofeminist Reading of Aeschylus’ The Eumenides: Visions and Revisions

Abd Elsalam, Dina

doi:10.21608/ejlt.2022.169181.1016

An Ecofeminist Reading of Aeschylus’ The Eumenides: Visions and Revisions

Document Type : Research in linguistic and literary studies

Author

Dina Abd Elsalam

Department of English, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University

10.21608/ejlt.2022.169181.1016

Abstract

One of the main tenets of ecofeminism is that patriarchal thought tends to provide a context for the subjugation of women and nature alike, hence the term "ecofeminism" which clearly demonstrates that both ecology and feminism are closely connected in this critical theory. It is the aim of this paper to give an ecofeminist reading of the Classical play The Eumenides by Aeschylus, which was written in fifth-century B.C. Athens, at a time when patriarchy had taken over and silenced the former power of the matriarchs. The new Athenian polis had urbanized the old rituals of the earlier rural cults, and male priests now presided over those rites. Set in those times, the play tries to consolidate male rule over the polis, but the tension lurking underneath is quite evident. The paper will shed light on the conflict between matriarchy and patriarchy as presented in the play, through an ecofeminist reading of the text. Since there are different trends within ecofeminist thought, just as there are different directions within feminism, the paper will attempt an essentialist ecofeminist reading of the play, then reexamine it once more in light of deconstructionist ecofeminism, hence showing one of the many diversities within this critical school.

Keywords