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Women playing vital roles in the odyssey
Women in ancient literature
Women playing vital roles in the odyssey
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The Theme of Women in The Odyssey by Homer In the Homer's epic poem the Odyssey, there are many themes that serve to make a comment about the meanings of the story. The theme of women in the poem serves to make these comments but also establishes a point of view on women in the reader. From this point of view, a perspective is developed into the "best" and "worst" in women. Achievement of this is through the characterization of many women with single notable evil qualities. Similar to the biblical story of Adam and Eve, Eve like the many women in the Odyssey brings about pain and suffering for mankind. Contrary to the depicting of women as roots of evil, the reader sees the other traits of women that are most desirable. The roles …show more content…
A main purpose of women in the poem is to define the characters of Odysseus and Penelope. Women's seductive natures serve as a test of character for Odysseus. His choice to leave the sexual pleasures of Kirke and Calypso is proof of his virtue and desirability as a husband. The same depiction causes the virtuous Penelope to stand out in the large pool of vileness as a desirable wife. The contradictions also have a significant affect on the poem and the reader. The main suspense that is built throughout the poem is whether Penelope will remain loyal to Odysseus. Another man had seduced Klytemnestra while her husband was at war. Anxiety is developed as to whether the poem will turn out differently or the fate of Agamemnon would also be that of Odysseus. However, this is not the only source of the anxiety, even the gods for whom the mortals pay tribute is capable of adultery. The affair between Ares and Aphrodite poses the question of whether Odysseus will return home to find Penelope with another man. The story of Klytemnestra and Agamemnon is a theme itself throughout most of the poem. Therefore its is hard to ignore it as both hold the same story with different outcomes. In addition, the level of anxiety builds through Penelope's actions and the contradicting traits of different women. Penelope exhibited traits of being …show more content…
The paradoxical messages give insights into the lives of the characters and generalizations into the reader's lives. Although this theme would have a noticeable affect on the poem in its absence, it is odd that in a story about war and adventure that they hold such dominating roles. In the setting of the Odyssey, women did not have a status that measured up to that of a man. However, whether seen as demonic or angelic they still hold in the example of Odysseus a significant role in the determination of the final fate of a
Some women are known for the deeds of their sons or husbands, but never for a heroic deed of their own, their personalities, and what they do themselves. It seems the only accomplishment women could achieve was being beautiful. Theseus "had no joy of"(195) the princess Ariadne because she died before this was possible. Homer makes it sound as if Ariadne's life was useless because she did not give Theseus pleasure. The only woman we hear of for a different reason is Klymene, and we only hear of her because she "betrayed her lord for gold."(195) This is the only time we hear of a woman for something she did, and once we do, it is a negative remark. Penelope, Odysseus' queen, is paid attention to only because of her position. Because she has a kingdom, she has suitors crowding around her day and night. Being a woman, Penelope has no control over what the suitors do and cannot get rid of them. The suitors want her wealth and her kingdom. They do not respect her enough to stop feeding on Odysseus' wealth; they feel she owes them something because she won't marry one of them. One of the suitors, Antinoos, tells Telemakhos "...but you should know the suitors are not to blame- it is your own incomparably cunning mother."(21) Even Telemakhos doesn't respect his mother as he should. When the song of a minstrel makes her sad and Penelope requests him to stop playing, Telemakhos interrupts and says to her, "Mother, why do you grudge our own dear minstrel joy of song, wherever his thought may lead.
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
In the works The Odyssey and Gilgamesh, women are depicted as mentors to the heroes of the story. The epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, are both in inescapable situations where they are trapped until the goddess Athena comes by to offer them help out of their situations. Athena,
Firstly, Penelope who plays Odysseus’s wife is alone tending to her city Ithica until her husband returns. Meanwhile Odysseus is out fighting in the Trojan War and against many of the Greek God’s who are trying to make his trip back home as eventful and hard as possible; “…work out his journey home so Odysseus can return” (Homer 276). While King Odysseus is away Penelope is to deal with a bunch of suitors who are eating and trashing out Ithica, “…if those suitors have truly paid in blood for all their reckless outrage” (559). In order for Penelope to keep peace until Odysseus returns she has to come up with a clever plan to keep the suitors from completely taking over. For almost 2 years Penelope was able to keep the suitors from getting out of hand by saying she will find someone to marry and replace Odysseus after she is d...
In Homer's composition, The Odyssey, the roles women play are very significant. The best examples of the true nature of women occur when Odysseus encounters Circe and Calypso. These two characters illustrate the thoughts and feelings of how women how a woman feels and how they think. As the quote states, Circe and Calypso illustrate how women really can be crafty, intelligent, sneaky, disloyal, and cruel. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win.
Throughout Homer’s work, The Odyssey, the roles of both men and women are extremely prevalent. The women are expected to perform the duties of the homemaker and family caretaker while the men are sent out to fight and defend their pride and honor, both very important facets of Greek society. Though the women may appear as insignificant to readers at first, their true power over the men in the work cannot be ignored.
However, his journey isn’t over yet. This last leg of Odysseus’s journey is perhaps the most important and crucial. Odysseus’s nurse and maidservant, Eurycleia is the first woman in Ithaca to know that Odysseus is back after she recognizes the scar on his leg while she is washing him. Eurycleia vows to keep his identity a secret. Odysseus’s wife, Penelope has stayed faithful to Odysseus for all the years that he was gone. Penelope was consistently unweaving her web to the delay the suitors. The reader even grows sympathetic for Penelope as “we see her struggle to make the virtuous choice about her marriage, despite pressures from her suitors, her son’s endangered situation, and her own uncertainty about Odysseus’s survival” (Foley ). Finally, Odysseus reveals his identity and Penelope is bewildered, but quickly embraces her husband after he tells her the secret of their immovable bed. It is the faithfulness of Penelope and nurse Eurycleia that insures Odysseus’s survival to the very end.
Greek women, as depicted in their history and literature, endure many hardships and struggle to establish a meaningful status in their society. In the Odyssey, Penelope’s only role in the epic is to support Odysseus and remain loyal to him. She is at home and struggles to keep her family intact while Odysseus is away trying to return to his native land. The cultural role of women is depicted as being supportive of men and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was far more impressive than what men did.
In the era of Homer, women played a very specific role in society, and even in literature. Women of this time were basically put in a box, and expected to never step out of line. If they did go against the arbitration of men, then they were faced with serious consequences. However, female characters play a huge role in both aiding, and delaying Odysseus’s journey home. I will proceed to analyze, and interpret the actions and intentions of every major female character in The Odyssey.
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
The Odyssey has been rewritten several times from the male perspective and each version paints the character of Penelope in a similar way. When written with a patriarchal view Penelope is seen as the faithful wife who is “waiting for her husband’s return, and adhering to the rules of the patriarchal world (Neethling 116). Butler and Pope’s versions of The Odyssey are no acceptation to this rule; these versions
Sexism has occurred throughout history and has impacted women significantly.The Odyssey follows the narrative of a man and looks at love from the perspective of a man. The famed poem was written by an ancient greek man and until recently, has always been translated by a man. For these reasons, The Odyssey provides a great example of how love, women, and marriage have been perceived by society, especially men, in the past. By examining the sexist undertones and the perception of women and love from the men in the epic and comparing those to criticisms made today we can truly understand how far we have come as a society.
The Odyssey: Portrayal of Women How does Homer portray women in the epic, The Odyssey? In order to answer this question you must look at woman and goddesses as two separate groups of people who are "people". This is because they are portrayed in two separate ways. You see, a regular woman like Penelope is looked at as beautiful but has.
In The Penelopiad written by Margaret Atwood, feminism and anti - feminism is present in many settings and scenes proving the sole purpose of the book is to give a voice to the women of The Odyssey showing us different facets of one story. By repeating words and phrases that give the reader negative connotations, Margaret Atwood helps to destroy the predisposed ideology of men being superior to women. Margaret Atwood narrates the book as different female characters that relate instances during which they are discriminated against. By using the maids of Odysseus as examples of dehumanized women, the reader gets to see different perspectives of the original Illiad story. By having the whole story be about Penelope’s adventures while Odysseus was away shows the reader the independence and courage she possessed whereas in the beginning of The Penelopiad when she was reliant on her kingdom. The usage of words like cold blood to describe a murderer, slave to describe a human being, and blame repeatedly to describe an act shows the reader of the torture women in this time period had to suffer through.
In the 'Odyssey' women can easily play the role of a wife, a mother, caretaker and a loyal lover. These roles do not show many positive implications than the roles that men play in society, yet it is proved that women and their roles in society contributed a bigger picture. The power and authority of women lies within her at the same time using the combination of wit and incline attributes, they seem to fulfill their feminine roles. Even though the role of a man might be to lead, women seem to fulfill the roles of a leader.