Taboo: unacceptable or improper for society, to exclude from practice. There are many types of taboos. Taboos about death. Taboos about sex. Taboos about rebelling about against authority. Even taboos about taboos.
Petronius’ anecdote of the “Widow of Ephesus” (Chapters 110-112) in his longer novel The Satyricon attempts to prove the frailty of women through a series of outrageous events which accost the taboos of virtuous Romans. The widow metamorphosizes from a virtuous creature wailing at her recently deceased husband’s tomb (spiritual), into a lustful creature of carnal appetites (hedonist), and finally into a savior whose present desires outweigh those of social propriety (realist). Petronius’ intent was to humorously show lower class Roman society, and satirize their fickle nature toward more serious subjects.
Having read and discussed the anecdote, what are your thoughts on taboos? Does society need them? How do taboos about the dead help society? What insights about Roman culture can we glean from this surviving novel, only one of two complete novels of the time period?
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9 comments:
From the example of "The Widow of Ephesus" I don't think society needs taboos. I think they are very stereotypical and almost hurt society. For instance in this story women are being shown as "frail", and puts out the wrong message that all women are weak and fickle like the widow.
i kind of disagree... i believe that social taboos but sort of like a border up for certain things. they could be stereotypical but that is one of the things that help make taboos and create those borders that society needs. cause some people dont know when to stop and taboos create that sort of feeling of its time to slow down
Taboos are neccessary for society as a way to keep certain unwanted aspects of it in check. We're all adults here, so think of it this way. How would you feel if incest was acceptable and not taboo?
Yeah.
As for the roman society...all I got out of it was that the people were as fickle then as they are now and that very little has changed, and probable never will.
I believe that society needs taboos because there are some people that live to judge others. I also believe that there has ot be a balance between good and bad. So for every bad taboo like in the "widow of ephesus", there is a good sort of taboo. My understanding of a taboo is a superstition about a race or group.
I think that society would be better off without taboos but we will never be able to remove them from society. History has not changed how our society views taboos, I think it will continue forever...
I think that taboos are a necessary part of society. They have always been a part of a society and will continue to be. Society absolutly needs them. Taboos about the dead help society because the set a mold for the living about what not to do and wat to do. They set us up for a lifestyle and some may like that but some may try and break from the mold. However i think taboos will always exist.
I certainly agree with Hannah and how she views taboos. They do help society like with the dead and such. But I do not think that they're so necessary, I am sure that there are many other things that will help us decide what not to do and what to do.
I find taboos to be an important part of our society and, as Sam said, we need those borders. If our society didn't have borders people would be all over the place. Setting a line of morals between what is acceptable and improper is important. I find that this line has receded over the years and continues to. What was once improper has become completely acceptable to the greater part of the world. Without taboos we wouldn't even have this line and it would create chaos.
filI think that taboos are necessary in society to keep balance up between good and bad. I really liked how hannah said it.
As for the Romans nothing has changed people are still as frickle now as they were then.
"The Widow of Ephesus" gives women a bad reputation on some levels. Women may be emotional with certain situations but by no stretch are we frail or weak. I mean even though i didnt like the story look at how the widow saved the other man from death. I mean come on hanging her dead husband up in place of the robber was pretty smart and she is not that weak if she could give up her husbands dead body so soon.
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