"So please go home and tend to your own tasks, / the distaff and the loom, and keep the women / working hard as well" (6.585-587). From this we see Hector's view of women, which is a theme that is echoed throughout the rest of the Iliad. Women are mentioned relatively few times in the Iliad in comparison with the books devoted solely to the men. Nevertheless, there is clear evidence that the role of women in this society was that of a servile follower.
The first example of women being treated as property is found at the very beginning of the poem, when Agamemnon agrees to give Chryseis back to Calchas. "But fetch me another prize, and straight off too, / else I alone of the Argives go without honor. / That would be a disgrace. You are all witness, / look--my prize is snatched away" (1.38-41)! The women are described as prizes, on par with weaponry, gold, and other honors of war. In fact, Achilles gives other women away as prizes during the funeral games for Patroclus. "For the winner a large tripod made to stride a fire / and worth a dozen oxen, so the soldiers reckoned. / For the loser he led a woman through their midst, / worth four, they thought, and skilled in many crafts (23.782-785). Not only was she a prize in a contest, she was a prize for the runner up. This is a very demeaning and degrading position.
Women were also portrayed as weaker than men in several scenes, in both the physical and the mental sense. The opening quote can be used as evidence for this, when Hector tells the women of Troy to go back to doing the projects of women, such as working on the loom and the distaff. In other words, Hector is saying that this is the only work women are suited for, certainly not the works of war which occupy men. It do...
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...nce we see women in the Iliad being referred to by both themselves and others, as liars and bitches who twist the desires of men to suit their own purpose, such as when Helen tries to persuade Hector to rest with her in book six. "My dear brother, / dear to me, bitch that I am, vicious, scheming-- / horror to freeze the heart" (6.407-409)! Here we even see a women debasing her own character.
One does not need to go into deep, critical analysis to see that women are portrayed as very weak and servile in the Iliad. We have seen them being humiliated by their husbands, brothers, and even owners. They are often charged with tasks others would find demeaning if left to someone else. The chauvinism is everywhere and it is very clear that the role of women in the Iliad was that of a woman who needs a man to take care of her and keep her lying, twisted heart in check.
The women were generally less defined than the men, but that is due to the fact that none of the women could be considered main characters, except perhaps Penelope. The woman all served a point, and were there to add to the plot or to compliment another character, like Penelope and Odysseus’s connection. Homer wrote women to help the plot along, but not be a major point or character themselves. The women are very important to the Odyssey, and the poem would not of been able to read the way it did if the women played no role. The poem illustrates women as important people, but only for the sake of a man. Homer wrote according to the greeks pyramid of social standing, where women were lower than men, but he still allowed women greater roles, and even gave them important tasks to fulfill, like Penelope and her suitors, or Helen and her elopement with Prince
Before we delve into the traits of individual characters, it is important to understand certain assumptions about women that prevailed in the Homeric Age. By modern standards, the Ancient Greeks would be considered a rabidly misogynistic culture. Indeed, the notoriously sour Boetian playwright Hesiod-- who wrote about fifty years before Homer-- proclaimed "Zeus who thunders on high made women to be an evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600)." While this view may have been extreme even for the Greeks, they were convinced of the physical and intellectual inferiority of women. Thus, they believed that it was better for all--...
Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The women in “The Odyssey” dictate the direction of the epic. Homer the blind creator may have contrived the story with the aim to depict a story of a male heroism; but the story if looked at from a different angles shows the power women have over men. The Sirens and women that posses the power of seduction when ever they are encountered take the men off their course, and lead many to their death. The power women in the Epic pose can be seen from the goddess all to the wives. From The nymph Calypso who enslaves Odysseus for many years posses all the way back to Penelope who many argue is of equal importance to
Lysistrata, on the contrary shows women acting bravely and even aggressively against men who seem resolved on ruining the city- state by prolonging a pointless and excessively expending reserves stored in the Acropolis. The men being away at war would come home when they could, sexually relieve them selves and then leave again to precede a meaningless war. The women challenge the masculine role model to preserve traditional way of life in the community. When the women become challenged themselves they take on the masculine characteristics and defeat the men physically, mentally but primarily strategically. Proving that neither side benefits from it, just that one side loses more than the other. It gives the impression that the women are heroes and the men are ignorant, which contradicts what Euripides said but is chiefly written to entertain.
Greek and Roman women lived in a world where strict gender roles were given; where each person was judged in terms of compliance with gender-specific standards of conduct. Generally, men were placed above women in terms of independence, control and overall freedom. Whereas men lived in the world at large, active in public life and free to come and go as they willed, women's lives were sheltered. Most women were assigned the role of a homemaker, where they were anticipated to be good wives and mothers, but not much of anything else. The roles of women are thoroughly discussed in readings such as The Aeneid, Iliad, Sappho poetry, and Semonides' essay.
In Homer's epics women were very respected by journey and warrior men. The women were looked upon as beautiful, nurturing human beings. The mortal women in Homer's "Iliad" were mostly known for being faithful wives and very giving mothers. These women care for their children, such as Odysseus's mother did, when he was in great need of confidence and reassurance. After the death of Odysseus's mother, she returned as a shade from the underworld to tell Odysseus, "Your wife weeps for your return as she lives in your house with a loyal heart, and your son has kept your kingdom whole."(90) This gave Odysseus the confidence in his heart to continue on home to Ithaca, to reunite with his dear wife, Penelope. A perfect example of how nurturing and dedicated the women were, not only to their children, but also to their husbands.
“A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view” (Ibsen). This saying also applied to the times of the Odyssey, an epic constructed by the blind, eight century B.C.E. poet, Homer. As one of the few representatives of ancient Greek social order, the blind, Homer witnessed women as substandard to men, regardless of their actions; many of them existed as seductresses, prostitutes, or slaves. He engraved into his poem women’s roles; the roles of women, as mothers, wives, seductresses, and goddesses are exemplified in this epic, when shown in comparison to the men of that era.
Judged by modern Western standards, the treatment of women by men in Homer's Odyssey can be characterized as sexist. Women in Homer's Odyssey are judged mainly by their looks. If important men and gods consider a woman beautiful, or if her son or husband is a hero or has an important position such as king, the woman is successful. The way women in The Odyssey are treated is based on appearance, the things men want from them, and whether the woman has any power over men. During Odysseus' journey to the underworld he sees many different types of women. We hear about their beauty, their important sons, or their affairs with gods. We hear nothing about these women's accomplishments in their lifetime. Odysseus tells how Antiope could "boast a god for a lover,"(193) as could Tyro and many other women. Epikaste was called "that prize"(195) her own son unwittingly married.
Greek tragedy incorporates female characters that symbolize women in Ancient Greece. Through the portrayal of Antigone in the playwright, Antigone in Antigone by Sophocles and Penelope in the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, these two women play opposing roles depicting how they appear to society through their actions. In both of these stories, they embody the ideals of passionate women who are very loyal and brave. Through other female characters in each story such as Penelope and Ismene, we can construct a better view of traits illustrated by Antigone and Penelope.
Women 's roles in the Iliad and Odyssey the seem to differ from the roles of men. Women were depicted as possessions to the men. Athena seems to stand out the most when it comes to both of these books Athena is the goddess of wisdom and war. Not only was Athena the goddess of wisdom and war, she played the role of the protector. Athena is one of the main female characters that truly show out throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey. An ancient history website states that “Athena was a major protagonist in Homer’s account of the Trojan War in the Illiad where she supports the Achaeans and their heroes, especially Achilles, to whom she gives encouragement and wise counsel." Athena beings to first show in the Illiad when Agamemnon threatens to go to Achille’s
Calypso feels that her sexuality makes her susceptible to unfair treatment by the gods. This further proves the point that women were objectified, sexually and otherwise, in Greek culture. It is important to note that Odysseus’ relationship with most goddesses throughout The Odyssey involves the act of sex. Athena, on the other hand, personifies both feministic and non-feministic traits, although they are not necessarily masculine traits. This is quite strange, however, as most women are represented as solely feminine and completely inferior to men. Athena is the goddess of wisdom and war. According to Homer, in the Iliad, Athena is portrayed as a fierce and ruthless warrior, characteristics that women were not generally assigned during this time period. At the same time, Athena is illustrated as being emotional, acting on her emotions. She has a
...ation of the women. The victorious Greek army in the Women of Troy does not seem to have any moral compunction in using the women as slaves or their concubines. In this process, they not only insult the citizens of the city of Troy but dehumanize the womanhood itself.
In The Odyssey, the poem seems to be a man world and have women portrayed as a muse or siren that lures men “When Calypso, that lovely Goddess, tried to keep me with her in hollow caves, longing for me to be her husband, or when, in the same way, the cunning witch Aeaean Circe held me in her home filled with keen desire I’d marry her, they never won the heart here in my chest” (Bauschatz, 22). In the Iliad, it has similar connections when it comes to portraying women compared to the Odyssey, but not quite. The Iliad has women like trophies or prizes. Agamemnon was threatening Achilles of taking Briseus from him “but I shall take the fair-cheeked Briseis, your prize, I myself going to your shelter, that you may learn well how much greater I am than you, and another man may shrink back from likening himself to me and contending against me” (Bauschatz, 6). In Works and Days, the Women have a duty in the household and getting married “Don’t put things off to tomorrow and then to the next day; no sluggish worker f ills up his barn, and neither does a man who delays. It is care that prospers the work; Do-it-tomorrow wrestles with ruin (Bauschatz,
Although ancient Greece was a male-dominate society, Sophocles' work Antigone, portrays women as being strong and capable of making wise decisions. In this famous tragedy, Sophocles uses the characters Ismene and Antigone to show the different characteristics and roles that woman are typical of interpreting. Traditionally women are characterized as weak and subordinate and Ismene is portrayed in this way. Through the character of Antigone, women finally get to present realistic viewpoints about their character.
The poem “Iliad,” by Homer, is known for its violence between men during a war, but under that violence, is the different type of women who play a significant role in the poem (Homer 189). This poem’s narrative seems to show a male dominated world between the Greek commanders. This male dominated world cannot happen on its own, thus the different background roles of women are needed in order to make sense of all this rage. As the University of Michigan article How Do Women Make Their Way Into This Cycle states, “They are seen as the objects of both lust and domesticity, yet they are also used to excuse war, cause conflict, and display the power of men” (www.umich.edu). The focus in this poem steers towards the rage between the men, but this rage most of the time is inspired and initiated by a woman. The women of Iliad play a significant role in the poem such as war prizes, male hero partners, and women gods.