Mortal men can be such pigs. They retain no respect for women and the Gods. Much like Kermitos and his crew of contemptuous sailors who obtain no respect for women such as Diamonde and myself, the goddess of the hunt and moon. Much like the story of Odysseus and his men, Kermitos passes through the island of Circe after their long journey to retrieve a golden shroud for King Menelaus’ wife. On their expedition, Kermitos saves an old prophet from being eaten by a lion and in return, the wise, old prophet warns Kermitos to always pay homage to the God’s for if he does not he will surely die. Circe’s illegitimate daughter, Diamonde, picks up the hobby of her mother in revealing the true form of men and invites Kermitos and his men to her table. However Kermitos, equally suspicious as Diamonde, leaves his men behind in fear Diamonde will prove to have ulterior motives. Kermitos, foolishly forgets to pay homage to the gods and eats at Diamonde’s table. Only after he begins to feel her magic start to kick in does he recall the prophecy and pray to his saviors, the gods, to not be transformed into his true form. I believe that Kermitos’ prayer to the Gods should not be answered due to the lack of respect …show more content…
As Artemis, the protector of women and young girls, it is my duty to protect Diamonde from Kermitos and his men. By siding with Diamonde, Kermitos’ side of the story becomes irrelevant. Which reminds me of the story of the hunter and myself. A prying young hunter once spotted me bathing naked in the safety of the woods. I became enraged by his rudeness and lack of modesty so I transformed him into a deer leaving him to be mauled by his own hunting dogs. I do not mean to be cruel to men however if they disrespect me or any of my female disciples I will not be shy to punish them. Kermitos differs not from the rest of his barbaric brothers so I shall not treat him any
In this essay I will examine the war-of the-sexes taking place in The Eumenides, the final play of The Oresteia. The plot of The Eumenides pits Orestes and Apollo (representing the male gods and, to a certain extent, male values in general) against the ghost of Clytemnestra and the Furies (equally representative of female values.) Of more vital importance, however, is whether Athene sides with the males or females throughout the play.
In the 1930s, who would have perpetrated violent acts against women in the name of sexual gratification yet still hold expectations that women take care of them? By making men in general the placeholder for “you” in the poem, it creates a much stronger and universal statement about the sexual inequality women face. She relates to women who have had “a god for [a] guest” yet it seems ironic because she is criticising the way these women have been treated (10). It could be argued, instead, that it is not that she sees men as gods, but that it is the way they see themselves. Zeus was a god who ruled Olympus and felt entitled to any woman he wanted, immortal or otherwise.
Women are often treated as tools to accomplish men’s goals because of this authority and are seen as beings who cannot live without the support of men. In The Odyssey, Penelope, Telemachus’ mother, is used by Telemachus to show his authority as the man of the house by sending her away to her room by his “masterful words” (Homer 186). By doing so he is also warning the suitors who have come to take advantage of the xenia he and his mother provided to them. While Penelope is strong by refusing the passes of the suitors, she maintains the vulnerable image by weeping for Odysseus who has been gone for ten years (Weimer 1). In The Epic of Gilgamesh, Shamhat the Harlot is used as a tool to seduce Enkidu, Gilgamesh’s male partner and friend. Ninsun’s reaction to Enkidu brings to attention to her worries of Gilgamesh being taken away from her, showing that relationships between men were held in much higher regard than mother and son relationship (“The Epic Of” 51-52). Men are depicted more powerful than women thus leading to supporting women, especially those they are related to.
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.
Humans are like play-dough they start off average but with the right guidance they can become what they were meant to be. Telemachus in The Odyssey by Homer, had many obstacles he had to overcome and with guidance from his mentor he followed the path to becoming who he was destined to be. Transitioning from high school to college is also a difficult journey and requires a great ordeal of time and effort put into it. Although faintly dissimilar, Telemachus’s initiation into manhood and the initiation of transforming from a high school student to a college student are dubiously alike because they both transition into confident and independent people.
Yet, despite the fact that no two women in this epic are alike, each—through her vices or virtues—helps to delineate the role of the ideal woman. Below, we will show the importance of Circe, Calypso, Nausicaa, Clytaemestra, and Penelope in terms of the movement of the narrative and in defining social roles for the Ancient Greeks. 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 evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil (Theogony 600).
Here, Herodotus accounts the story of Candaules’s fond passion for his wife’s beauty, thinking her the “fairest women in the whole world” and he wants to show off his wife to his trusted bodyguard. Herodotus explains how Candaules has respect for the beauty of his wife, but does not respect any of her wishes or desires upon showing herself to a stranger bodyguard.
The image of seductresses is a recurring motif in The Odyssey. These women are a temptation to Odysseus. They attempt to keep Odysseus from accomplishing his goal: his homecoming. Circe is a bewitching goddess. She entices Odysseus’ crew into her palace with her enchanting voice. However, after she feeds them, she promptly turns them into pigs. Circe also succeeds in enticing Odysseus; he stays with her one year as her lover. It is so long that his crew declares that it is “madness” (326). They say that it is “high time” that Odysseus thinks of his homeland (326). Later on, Odysseus and his crew encounter the sirens. Knowing the danger they pose, Odysseus has all his men’s ears stopped up with wax. However, Odysseus wishes to hear their song; so he asks his crew to tie him to the mast. The song of the sirens is so sweet and enticing. Their “ravishing voices” almost make Odysseus forget his desire to return home (349). His heart “throbbed” to listen longer; he signals for his men to let him go free. The grea...
Homer’s The Odyssey chronicles Odysseus’s return home from the Trojan War to reunite with his wife, kingdom, and son. However, Odysseus has been encountering serious difficulties that have prevented him from reaching home for nearly twenty years. These difficulties include various different types of monsters, each of which seems to embody undesirable traits such as laziness or savagery. The Greeks portray creatures with these traits as monsters as an example of the Greeks’ “better” traits and subsequent superiority. Each species of monster within The Odyssey represents one or more qualities that the Greeks have demonized in comparison to themselves.
Mortal and immortal women inspire many of the events that take place in The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh. For example, without the harlot, who “tames” Enkidu, the story of Gilgamesh would not be, as we know it. A chapter entitled, “Women in Ancient Epic” from A Companion to Ancient Epic by Helene Foley compares Ishtar in Gilgamesh to Calypso and Circe in The Odyssey. By comparing the role of immortal and mortal women in both The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh, one will be able to discern how the feminine figures have played a pivotal role in shaping the destiny of the epic heroes, as well as, understanding the interrelation amongst the female figures of both ancient epics.
Atwood is playing with two levels of myth here: the Homeric myth of ‘faithful Penelope’ and cultural myths about women as either submissive or domestic (Howell 9). After marriage Penelope spends most of her time alone in boredom and Eurycelia, former nurse of Odysseus, often reminds her duties as wife by saying, “So you can have a nice big son for Odysseus. That’s your job” (63). Furthermore, Atwood recounts the vulnerability of alone woman in the male dominated world. To grab opportunity of being king, a number of suitors assemble at Ithaca, to marry Penelope, and she thinks, “They all were vultures when they spot the dead cow: one drops, then another, until finally every vulture for miles around is tearing up the carcass” (103). Moreover, Atwood argues about the partiality of sexual of freedom along with the vexed relationship between man and woman, as the former can do sex with any other woman such as Odysseus’s affairs with the goddess and whores, but the woman is restricted to marriage like Penelope. The foremost fatuous allegation makes on Penelope is about her faithfulness and loyalty for her husband Odysseus, and she defends herself from any sexual conduct in the chapter, “slanderous gossip”. The death of Amphinomus, the politest suitor among all, leaves the question of marital infidelity among the genders.
“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.
Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey describes the journey of Odysseus trying to make it back to his island of Ithaca through many obstacles. All these interruptions along the way turned Odysseus’s journey home into a 10 year-long trip. Homer elongated Odysseus’s Nostos by composing the poem for listening as well as separating each major event into different books. Homer does this to keep showing the readers that Odysseus is an epic hero who must go through hardships during his long adventures. Homer elongates Odysseus’s Nostos to support the auditory experience and show his character by using literary devices in each book.
Odysseus, known as an iconic Greek king and warrior of Ithaca, has all of the traits that a mighty king would have. His tale and reputation are one that would continue to live on long after his passing. This fame and reputation is known as kleos. Kleos, in Greek, means renown or honor, it symbolizes what you hear about someone through another person. Kleos is a common theme in Homer 's epic, the Odyssey, the main example being that of Odysseus and his son Telemachus, who is concerned that his father may have died a pathetic and pitiable death at sea rather than a reputable and gracious one in battle. Kleos has proven to be very important to Odysseus time and time again. From the way he is introduced, to his actions, to the way he is viewed
Walcot, P. “Greek Attitudes towards Women: The Mythological Evidence.” Greece & Rome 2nd ser. 31.1 (Apr., 1984): 37-47. Cambridge University Press on Behalf of The Classical Association Article Stable. Web.