Antigone Case

Since, that's exactly how the women were back in the ancient times because they were viewed as property. Comparing to our lives today, it is pretty sadden to see how women have to bury their lives at home without any outside pleasures. Women might accept their ways of lives, but women are human with emotions and they are not supposed to be kept home all the time like a pet. But there is nothing they can do since the roles of women have been already downgraded by their own parents by the time they were born. Fathers welcomed boys, since they could go out into the world and bring fame or wealth back to the family. As a result, boys have a chance to attend the school, while girls did not. Girls have been brought up almost entirely inside their homes. There they learned the skills that they would one day need to run a household of their own. These skills include weaving, spinning, cooking, and caring for children. Since, most girl did not work for pay, they had to be supported so, they get married young and then continued the cycle by having babies themselves. Once, a girl was property of her father and as a married woman she was property of her husband, who was chosen for her. A property means of a girl's sexuality. Women's sexuality was designated the property of men, first of the woman's father, then of her husband, and female sexual purity (virginity in particular) became negotiable, economically value property. A woman was not given the opportunity or option to select her husband; therefore she "did not marry; she was given in marriage." (Sealey, 25). Most marriages were arranged by parents, and a girl might be engaged while still a child since fifteen years of age was not especially young for a bride. A groom tended to be older, in their late twenties and the grooms were already close to the bride's family perhaps a cousin or the father's best friend. The ancient people believed that the purpose of being female was to be married, and the purpose of marriage was to have children to keep family going. It doesn't sound romantic to me at all but on the brighter side, few people seem to have married for love. One reason why a man married a girl was because she was expected to bring him a dowry. Therefore, the richer the girl's family, the greater the dowry was likely to be which could be as much as ten percent of her father's wealth or property. So, where is love and then marriage since I only see marriage