Going Against the Grain: The Power of Women in Italian Renaissance Art, Greek & Roman Mythology, and the Modern Day Middle East

Abstract

This paper examines the pivotal role of women as depicted in Renaissance Italian art, forms of mythology, both Greek and Roman, and Middle Eastern icons. As the male and female recipients of these images filter them, they are faced with anomic feelings resulting in pointed conflicts to tradition (the mainstay of men being strong and women being passive). The exception rather than the rule is the woman front and center, exerting her power and sensibilities, and the men remaining secondary in the background. For every insight on this level in socio-political-cultural realms, there appears to be an onslaught of soft, domestic, emotional figures to offset the uncomfortable way that feminine dominance causes one to feel throughout history. This common response serves to highlight the nature of the threat to the status quo, and the ensuing struggle to right its formerly steady ship.