Close Reading Sappho and the Treatment of Feminine Desire. Eleanor Merry College

When contemplating Sappho’s illumination of the role of the woman in Ancient Greek society in her poetry, it is equitable to concede that there is an underlying tone of patriarchal oppression woven throughout; in which femininity is reduced to isolation, with the Sapphic lyric as its one remaining spokesperson. The oppression of the female voice seems to manifest itself into a loathing introspection, with the body acting as a form of agent for destruction; internally combusting itself into resentment and heartbreak.

Katz’s conclusion that Greek society is largely characterized as being a “men’s club” (514) is thus important to consider when reading Sappho’s fragments, specifically those in which the female voice is confronted with - as Sappho refers to as - ‘that fellow’. However, Sappho’s depiction of this patriarchal overture, seems starkly distorted when interpreting her own preoccupation with feminine dynamism and divinity; bolstering the idea that women themselves are the fundamental power source for masculine dominance. In the opening verse of Sappho’s fragment, the concentration placed upon the male figure as the competitor against the poem’s persona for the affections of the object of desire is sheerly embellished with...