Aristotle and the "Inferior woman"...well, yes and no.

In his "Poetics" Aristotle notes several trends in tragedies that, in his opinion are instrumental within the construction of the "well made" play. In some ways I agree with Aristotle; In other ways, not so much:

If we look at the basic principles of Aristotle's formula for the perfect tragedy and/or comedy, many of us would agree with the idea that Plot and Character are the top two most important elements within a play's structure. We could also concur that if we excluded the other four elements (Thought, Language, Music and Spectacle) from the makeup of the play it would be an incomplete work. It's true that Aristotle had some ingenius ideas about how to create "good theatre," and many of his ideas are still used today. However, there are several beliefs held by him that I consider outdated and rarely hold water in today's society.

I actually could go on all day about what I disagree with in the world of Aristotelian theatre. But for today, I wish to comment on Aristotle's view of the role of women in theatre during the Ancient Greek play festivals, and also, how In Part XV of the "Poetics," Aristotle comments on the role of women in tragedy: "...the character will be good if the purpose is good...even a woman may be good, and also a slave; though the woman may be said to be an inferior being, and the slave quite worthless. The second thing to aim at is propriety. There is a type of manly valor; but valor in a woman, or unscrupulous cleverness is inappropriate." Not only is he referring to women as inferior and useless, but he is also advocates the portrayal of them as valorless, mindless vessels for the will of Man; Not to mention his opinion of slaves as being lowborn, lesser beings, and his belief that slavery should be a part of the woman's identity. But as time progresses we see that the woman's role in theatre would evolve and that they would take on a stronger, more substantial role in the structure of theatrical performance, particularly in the function of their character; from the captivating, dynamic and strong characters created nearly a thousand years later by William Shakespeare all the way to the empowered women who form the collective voice of the Vagina Monologues written during the new millenium, women have FAR surpassed the expectations of Aristotle.