Download Day 6 - Aspasia - ENGL 4103

ENGL 4103 – Rhetoric & Persuasion
Spring 2011
Day 6 – Aspasia and Women in Classical Greek Rhetoric
:00
Opening Business
 Presentation sign-up on Discovery (Aristotle taken)
 Reference the Presentation rubric on Discovery for more specific details.
:05
Class Discussion: Aspasia in Glenn’s Rhetoric Retold
 Introductory:
o Born in Miletus – move to Athens at a young age
o Excellent education: Milesian women have more rights?
o Hetarae? Courtesan? Hard to know.
o Became the constant companion (if not the wife) of Pericles.
 Aspasia’s intellectual and political freedom
o Her status as a non-citizen of Athens freed her from the social and legal restrictions on
Athenian women.
o Mentioned favorably by Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, Plutarch, Athenaeus
o Pericles’ admiration for her was scandalous: (38)
 Plato’s Menexenus
o Rhetoricians “steal our souls with their embellished words” (61)
o The speech: funeral oratory – epideictic rhetoric
 “Praise the dead and admonish the living” (62)
o “Truly, Socrates, I marvel that Aspasia, who is only a woman, should be able to compose
such a speech” (63)
 Discussion:
o What are the implications of a figure like Aspasia?
 Why is a discussion of gender important to any study of rhetorical theory and
practice?
 How do discussions of gender theory affect your understanding of rhetorical
theory, practice, and history thus far?