Abstract
M.A.
Our main objective in this M.A. dissertation was to explore the position of women in Greek folk songs and examine if these folk songs are representative of the social environment which created them or they oppose to it.
For this purpose, we carefully studied a wide variety of folk songs and selected a number of songs concerning women in different phases of their lives. These songs belong to the kleftic songs and the songs of the cycle of life. They are widespread all over Greece with slight differences. To support our arguments we also used a wide range of studies concerning our subject. Thus, following the planned scheme of the work and applying the methodology and approaches we defined in the introduction, this study has taken the following form.
We divided this study in three parts. The first one consists of two chapters. In the first chapter we defined the socio-historical framework of the Tourkokratia, the era of which the songs we used. In the second chapter we gave general information about the folk songs concerning their origin, characteristics, language and their place in literature, tradition and laography.
The second part consists of four chapters. Here we examine the woman as a daughter, wife, mother, mother-in-law, widow. The first chapter includes the love songs and the wedding songs. We saw the woman as a maiden and a would-be wife. We explored the social framework of marriage, the match-making and the issue of dowry. In the second chapter, which includes lullabies, we saw the woman as an affectionate mother, projecting her love but also all her unfulfilled dreams or ideals regarding her child. In the third chapter, where we analysed five paraloges, we witnessed the transformation of this loving mother into a possessive mother and an evil mother-in-law. We saw the way she builds up her world and establishes her position within the family. In the fourth chapter, studying laments, we saw how her world can collapse with the death of one of the members of the family, especially her husband’s. But we also saw the alternative mechanisms she invents and uses to relieve the pain and continue her social existence.
The third and last part consists of two chapters. In the first chapter we examine the unfaithful wife and why adultery is such a capital crime in the traditional Greek society. We also examined the social and psychological dimensions of the issue. In the last chapter we examined the heroine and going back in time we began with an akritic song. Finally we placed the heroine in the general spirit of the kleftic songs.
In the epilogue, the conclusions of this study are presented. The conclusions prove that these songs, which we studied and compared with the existing social institutions of those times, can sometimes depict reality and sometimes not. A great number of songs give voice to women but at the same time another great number of songs deprive her of her voice. Some praise her, some condemn her. But through the fantasy, the myth, the metaphors, the allusions they ease off the tensions and conflicts inherent in the traditional Greek society always maintaining a balance.