The mythological story “Pygmalion” tells of this man that can’t stand women in his society and creates this marvelous statue of a woman for himself. It’s kind of surprising to see that this character is one of the few who escapes the wrath of the Gods. What does this say about the role of women in Greek mythology?
Venus grants Pygmalion’s prayer for his statue to become real and Pygmalion then immediately marries her. This “perfect” and “ideal” woman has no voice and suggests that women are created in the image of men. It could also mean that art can recreate us in a perfect image if you want to go that road. Then again you have the other theory that if you are pure in your creation then it just might come to life.
Aristotle was a very earthly bound philosopher. Would he approve of Pygmalion’s creation of a woman? On one hand I’d say he would say that Pygmalion did well by imitating the beauty of a woman in his own art. Then on the other side I could see him disapproving of this story because of a man driving himself to turn his back on society to the point of alienation. Aristotle embraced people and I can’t see him approving of a person who turns his back on women (then again back in those days everyone thought men were the say all be all). How bout you? What do you think? ;)