Day by day women are faced with obstacles simply because of gender. In the plays we have read women are faced with obstacles but overcome them.
Women in the past were expected to be submissive and not object to the men’s decisions. The world today has changed its face. No longer are women quiet. Sappho and her work is a good example in our readings to represent today’s day and time. Her poems seem contemporary, very modern. The Descent of Inanna ,on the other hand, is a prime example of works we’ve read that represent the past much more.
I strongly believe that each generation is a product of the previous generation, and during the Ancient World, women were not expected to write. They were submissive and their religious superior had the final say. Sappho broke these rules and went against the odds. She wrote and produced wonderful work that everyone can relate to during any time period. Although religious leaders successfully destroyed a great amount of her work, the few parts and pieces that survived still describe things of today in such short lines and phrases.
“At noontime” is a good example of this. It describes the sun and its’ heat and the cricket which till today “sets up a high-pitched singing in his wings. ”“If you will come” is another example. “At noontime” is simple to say it relates to today’s world, the sun will always be hot the cricket will always live, but the customs and traditions of people do and Sappho still describes customs from her time that live today. “If you will come” tells of things that generally a person would do for visitors.
It says, “ If you will come I shall put out new pillows for you to rest on. ” In just these few lines so much is said. This can be taken as literally taking our new pillows for a visitor to sleep on and rest after a long drive to your home. It may also mean that the host is making the visitor feel at home by welcoming him with open arms. Nevertheless, this poem describes customs that a person would do now. For these reasons Sappho’s works are the most modern in our readings.
The Descent of Inanna is quite the opposite of Sappho. It describes Inanna going into the “underworld” a place that we do not relate to as easily as a worldly location. WE never hear of a person visiting the “underworld” and returning as if they had never left. The process of going into the underworld is another thing that we of today’s time do not relate to. Inanna is submissive and gives her material things which are being taken away from her by gate keepers.
We no not normally see these customs in today’s time. A guest is never treated as an outsider, but rather welcomed and lead to the place they need to be. Stripping a guest of his/her garments and jewels is ill-mannered and uncivilized. For these reasons is why The Descent of Inanna is the most dated of the works we have read. These two works were written during the same time frame.
Authors who are very well respected today wrote them both. This is their link to similarity, but their content is different and represents diversity in works of that time. The Descent of Inanna reflects the world in which it was written. The ideas and entertainment that were enjoyed during that time are in The Descent of Inanna, while Sappho’s works reflect both customs and physical aspects of the living world of that time it reflects the same for today’s world.
