Olivia's Posts

I was reading The Tain today for a class. It's the oldest piece of Irish literature. I actually see a few similarities between customs mentioned in the book and things in the play (for instance we talked in class about how there's a character Mac Roth (whose name is not too far away from our messenger, Ross) who announces the oncoming army in much the same language and in the same style as the Messenger announces the coming of Birnam Wood. But anyway, one of the main characters, Medb, is a powerful queen character married to Ailill. When a huge army comes to join their army, Medb says she doesn't want the new troop to come with them to help them fight the enemy, because the other troop would get all the glory. So then the couple have the following conversation:
"'Let them stay, then,' Ailill said.
'They can't stay,' Medb said. 'They would only come and seize our lands when we are gone.'
'Well, what are we going to do with them,' Ailill said, 'if they can neither stay nor come?'
'Kill them,' Medb said.
'That is a woman's thinking and no mistake!' Ailill said. 'A wicked thing to say.'
Oddly reminiscent of both "Bear men-children only" and "unsex me here" but in an extremely twisted-gender-roles-turned-on-their-head-way.
-March 15