Michelle Blank

Professor Clara Hardy

Response Paper

February 28, 2002

Suicide: Respect and Recognition for Roman Women

Suicide in ancient Greece was a powerful agency for women. It was a means by which women could gain recognition and respect as well as, "uphold and improve their reputation through which they increase their influence and power in society" (Freeman 1). The suicides women commit in Nine Lives, by Plutarch, and The Aeneid, by Virgil, illustrate that suicide was also a way of gaining recognition and respect in Roman society, although it did not lead to the same power and influence for women as in Greek society.

Plutarch’s account of Cleopatra’s suicide illustrates it was a means of obtaining respect and recognition. Suicide was considered a courageous and noble way for women to die. When Octavius discovers Cleopatra has committed suicide he "could not but admire the nobility of her spirit" (Plutarch 348). Cleopatra wins the respect of Octavius through her death. Octavius also "gave orders that she should be buried with royal splendour and magnificence" (348). Cleopatra’s burial signifies the honor of her death; she dies courageously. Before Antony kills himself he says, ‘"but I am ashamed that an Imperator such as I have been should prove in the end to have less courage than a woman’" (341). Antony fears he cannot kill himself; he cannot match the courage of a woman.

The Aeneid also reveals how suicide was a mode for gaining recognition and attention. After Dido commits suicide "Rumor went rioting, as wails and sobs / With women’s outcry echoed in the palace" (Virgil line 924-925). Dido’s death causes her entire city to mourn. She gains recognition through her suicide. Dido also achieves recognition by the effect she has on Aeneas. Previous to her suicide Dido has little power to influence Aeneas’s actions once he decides to leave Carthage. Dido’s death causes Aeneas grief and pain unmatched by the effect she has on him when she is alive. When Aeneas sees Dido in the underworld "he wept and spoke / Tenderly to her… / ‘And I could not believe that I would hurt you’" (611-612,624). Dido is able to cause Aeneas grief, giving her agency through suicide. Dido’s death forces Aeneas to recognize her pain. It also causes general recognition and sorrow within Carthage.

In Greek society, suicide boosted women’s reputation resulting in greater power and influence. In Roman society, suicide did not result in the same increase in reputation, power, or influence. The deaths of Cleopatra and Dido don’t improve either woman’s longstanding reputation. Suicide is a courageous and respected way for females to die, but it doesn’t change the perception society had of the women prior to death. Cleopatra and Dido do not become heroines after killing themselves as the women do in the Greek tragedies. Additionally, Aeneas’s journey through the underworld reveals, "those sad, souls, benighted, who contrived / Their own destruction… / How the would wish/ In the upper air now to endure the pain / Of poverty and toil! (586-590). Suicide is not rewarded in the afterlife as Alcestis’s suicide is in the Greek tragedy Alcetis, instead those who take their own lives are forced to endure pain in the afterworld. Even though suicide gave Roman woman agency by offering them a chance to die courageously and gain respect and recognition, it did not allow them to express much power or influence.

The ancient Greek world had few venues of female expression. Confined to the home women did not easily gain respect and reputation. Suicide was one of the few ways Greek woman became known. In the Roman literature already renowned women commit suicide. While their decision causes others to respect their deaths, it does not result in the same power acquisition as in Greek society because Dido and Cleopatra already have some significant power. Suicide offered less agency in Roman society because Roman women had other venues of gaining prestige, power, and influence.