Analysis Of Juvenal's 'The Women Of Rome'

The piece of work that I chose to examine for this essay was, “Satire VI (xi. 199-304, 465-503): The Women of Rome,” written by Juvenal (c.55-c.130 CE). (Davis, William Stearns) The format of the scripture is poetry and was produced in Rome around 100 CE. The women of Rome were unlike those of other women in different civilizations. Women were not segregated in Rome and they were considered “…enjoyable company and were the center of the social life in the household”. (Eckert, Regina) Women in Rome were allowed to do activities much like in todays time; talk in public, go shopping, visit theaters for entertainment, enjoy festive games, and go to temples. (Eckert, Regina) However, the women of Rome were not allowed to be involved in any political …show more content…
(Davis, William Stearns) The poem describes how the women of Rome lost their virtue and utilizes a progression of acidic vignettes on the corrupted condition of female ethical quality. Juvenal uses the poem to describe ways a marriage would end badly for man if they were to marry and gave examples of different circumstances. Juvenal begins the poem discussing what the point of weddings are for as if he is trying to persuade someone not to wed. (Davis, William Stearns) He then blames the women of Rome for being pugnacious and tormenting the men they cherish in their yearning to lead the home, and after that they simply proceed onward to another man. He says that a man will never be upbeat while his mother-in-law still lives, as she shows her daughter underhandedness propensities. (Davis, William Stearns) The women of Rome caused claims and love to wrangle, covering their own particular transgressions with allegations of their spouses’. Juvenal then swings to women who interrupted into matters …show more content…
I am not able to believe this source entirely, however, I do believe that because women in ancient times were very much controlled, that the women of Rome behaved differently. I enjoy reading poetry and trying to decipher the true meanings behind the stanzas. Satire VI is very intriguing to me because of the vocabulary being used to described the women of Rome. I do not feel as if I can base my opinion off of reading this poem alone without doing further research on the topic before making a final decision on my illumination of the women of Rome. I do believe that I could read more poems by Juvenal and learn more about his perception of the world around him. Rome has been portrayed as a city for romance and love, therefore, I like to believe that the ancient times is where it all