Female Deception in Aristophanes

By Robyn Hendrix

February 12, 2002

The sly, deceptive nature of women in Ancient Greece is a prominent theme in the comic plays of Aristophanes. Like many other Grecian writers, his depiction of crimes committed by women slanders their reputation and reinforces the negative female stereotypes of the times. Yet when one looks at the issue through the eyes of the female characters in his plays, women’s deception appears to be not only natural, but even praiseworthy for its reliability and aide in leadership, and is relatively insubstantial compared to the crimes committed by men. In particular, his two plays Women at the Thesmophoria and Assemblywomen show that female attitudes about deception were varied depending on the crime, and that if a woman’s deception was for a good cause it was pardoned in the eyes of her fellow matrons.

In Women at the Thesmophoria, a Kinsman of Euripides disguises himself as a woman and sneaks into the festival of the Thesmophoria in order to defend the tragic poet, who the women want to kill because he slanders them in his plays. In her speech against him at the festival, Mika complains that he calls them “lover-bangers, nymphos, wine-oglers, disloyal, chattery, unwholesome, the bane of men’s lives” (lines 431-432). On the one hand, these women do not deny the charges Euripides brings against them but seem only to want to continue getting away with them without being caught, ironically giving proof to their deceptive nature. In lines 384-396 the female Herald actually admits that these types of crimes do occur in the household. However, the women’s acceptance of them varies. While they defend the practice of baby-swapping, they denounce women who betray lovers, elderly women who steal young boys, and those who sell liquor. The more extreme a woman’s crime, the less acceptable it is, particularly because it is the terrible acts of a few that sully the reputation of Athenian women in general. It is these extreme cases which Euripides has portrayed in his dramas, causing men to trust their wives less and prevent them from getting away with the small, petty deceptions just because a few women went too far.

Acts such as baby-swapping are spoken of by the women as acceptable, common occurrences which shouldn’t be a problem as long as they are not caught. In Women at the Thesmophoria Mika complains “We can no longer do anything that we used to do before, so terrible are the things this man has taught our husbands about us,” (line 430). And later, “A childless wife wants to pass off another’s baby as her own and can’t even get away with that” (441). It sounds as if baby-swapping is okay through women’s eyes, possibly because Greek women are constantly pressured by society and by their husbands to reproduce, this being their main source of worth and power. She goes on to explain that the terrible crimes Euripides reveals have led their husbands to lock the doors and cabinets of their house, no longer trusting the woman with her usual duties as keeper of the household. Without men’s suspicions, these small and commonplace tricks would have gone unnoticed and unspoken of.

Through the women’s eyes admitting to their crimes seems to be worse than the crime itself. When the Kinsman (dressed as a woman) speaks at the Thesmophoria and describes even more awful acts committed by women than those found in Euripides’ plays, the women chastise him (or her) not because these charges are false but because he had the tenacity to openly speak about it without shame. The Chorus-Leader exclaims “there’s nothing worse in every way than women born shameless” (line 545), and further claims by the Kinsman are countered with reactions such as “You should be whipped for that remark!” (573) and “I hope you die!” (581) rather than by simply denying the accusations. Thus, women’s perception of deceit appears to be that it is only wrong if it is spoken of openly, while those deceptions kept secret, theoretically, don’t exist because there is no proof of their occurrence.

Later in the Thesmophoria the Chorus-Leader brings up the excellent point that despite women’s deceiving nature men still put up with them. She asks,

“But really, if we’re that bad, why do you marry us? If we’re really so bad, why do you forbid us to leave the house or even get caught peeking out the window? Why do you want to keep such a careful eye on something so bad? If the little woman goes out somewhere and you find her outdoors, you have an apoplectic fit instead of toasting the gods and giving thanks, which you would do if you’d really found the bane of your household missing and couldn’t find her anywhere in the house.” (830-837)

This suggests one of two things: either women are not as deceitful as men claim, or men actually value and possibly are attracted to women’s secretive nature. Both implications again lead to a more positive look at women’s deceit through the female eye.

In some cases in the plays of Aristophanes, the deceptive nature of females is actually praised for its usefulness in governing the household and the polis. In Assemblywomen, Praxagora leads the women of Athens to disguise themselves as men and enter the Assembly to vote the power of the polis over to the women. In her practice speech she explains that women would be better leaders because they are consistent and keep using methods that work well rather than always trying to come up with novel ideas. This consistency includes deception:

“They bake cookies, as the always have. They drive their husbands nuts, as they always have. They hide their lovers in the house, as they always have. They buy themselves little extras, as they always have…They like to get fucked, as they always have.” (221-226)

Deceit seems to be a natural trait of women that is favorable in leading the government. In fact, Praxagora states that “Nor would a woman ruler ever get cheated, since women themselves are past masters at cheating,” (232). This deceit is nothing to be ashamed of, but something to be used wisely, for a woman will better know the mind of a criminal, naturally being one herself, and thus will better protect the polis from harm.

The woman’s natural tendency towards small lies such as borrowing a few cents or a bit of grain from the cupboard and spending a bit of extra money on themselves seems insignificant and petty compared to the crimes of men described in Assemblywomen. In Praxagora’s practice speech she complains that the men always vote in the Council for their own economic benefit, “for while you’re drawing your civic pay from public funds, each of you is figuring how you can personally profit,” (207). Chremes and Blepyros, two men of Athens, find examples of men’s cheating to be much worse than women’s, making the females better equipped to lead the polis. Chremes tells Blepyros of Praxagora’s arguments in the Assembly meeting, “that women never divulge the secrets of the Thesmophoria, by contrast with you and me, who leak what we say in Council all the time,” (438) and “women lend each other dresses, jewelry, money, drinking cups, one to another without witnesses, and always return everything with nothing held back; while most of us men, he said, cheat,” (442).

Later, Blepyros and Proxagora discuss her plan to communize all possessions and goods into a common fund and make all people equal. Here, men’s deception is again portrayed as more serious than women’s. Praxagora says if a man refuses to turn in his possessions he’ll be a perjurer, and her husband chimes in “That’s how he got the money in the first place!” (627). When Praxagora says everyone will have all the necessities of life, he adds “Isn’t it true that the people who have all this now are the biggest thieves?” (634). Because of the woman’s ingenious leadership there will be no more theft, lawsuits, gambling, or violence, indicating that these crimes all must be the blame of males and not deceptive females. The women’s risky, massive deception of sneaking into the Assembly disguised as men is portrayed as blameless since it was for a good cause. One large female deception is necessary to eradicate the widespread deceit and crimes of males, so this trickery by the women is left in a positive light and results in equality and justice for all of the Athenians.

Although Aristophanes’ depiction of deceit in women by no means lessens the restrictions on gender roles and norms in Ancient Greek society, it suggests that women’s opinions on deception were much more tolerant if the circumstances behind the deceit made it excusable. Women seem to view their own deception as innate, useful in certain situations, and insignificant compared to the vulgar, selfish acts of men. The combination of these female attitudes with those of the male characters gives women’s deceit both positive as well as negative connotations. Whether a male comedian’s perception of women’s attitudes about deceit reflects actual female opinion or not is still to be contested, but even by poking fun at women’s ability to rule Aristophanes is giving the Athenian women some voice about their own deceptive characteristics and creates a more well-rounded look at female deception as a whole.