Oppression Of Women In The Odyssey

Over centuries, Ancient Athenian women were tough to be inferior to men and were seen as second class citizens. The role of women in ancient Greek was considered to be insignificant compared to Greek men. Society created rules to keep women oppressed to create the “perfect women”. Women are supposed to be loyal, obedient, dainty, fearful, a mother, and a wife. Women needed to be obedient daughters and housewives, and remain lower class citizens obligated to the men who owns them. Although the rules held women to a lower status, they refused to be subordinated by men. Women were often written as major characters, revealing insights on how they were treated and thought of in society. Through literary texts such as Euripides’ Medea and Homer’s The Odyssey, women have shown that they will not be imprisoned by the rules their society cast upon them. Women have shown they can be rebels. Oppression did not subdue women, hence why they were able to rise above Greek social domination of the male gender, and the laws and

objectification of women contributes to the reason why women were clever, devious, and disobedient; the reason for them to disregard the expectation that was forced upon them. Each characters, such as Penelope, Clytemnestra, and Medea, takes upon herself, the role of villain, the role of victim, and the role of heroine. These women have shown that males have undermined women’s intelligence and ability to go against the rules.
Women were supposed to be ill-iterate, dainty, and powerless. Since women were thought to be incapable to convey mental and physical tasks, “women were legal nonentities whom the Greek male excluded from any participation in the political or intellectual life of the city” (Neal 117). As uneducated second class citizens, women were treated as they were viewed, like humans with no values. They were objectified, used for making babies, taking cake of the husband and child, and other domestic labor. They were believed to be helpless, “virtually imprisoned in their home” (Neal 117).
Penelope in The Odyssey has shown to be a helpless woman trapped in her home where she is recognized for her wifely duties, awaiting her husband’s return. In Ancient Athena, women are supposed to be the “perfect housewives”. They are obligated to respond to every need their husband requests, rear the children, and provide meals for the family. For twenty years, the amount of years Odysseus left. Penelope managed to raise their child, Telemachus. Penelope is “the absolute role model of Greek-Athenian women” (Neal 115) because she remains loyal to Odysseus, although she is forced to remarry. The structure of Athens, since Odysseus is supposedly dead, she needs to find another husband. Instead of following the rules to remarry, she made the excuse, when she finish weaving, she will them make the decision to take another husband. Cunningly, she secretly schemes to unweave her weaving in the night to delay her decision to choose a suitor. Penelope not only refuses to remarry and give the property up to a man who needs to own the land, but she refuse to return to her father’s land and return as his property. During this time women were not allowed to own a house or be the head of the house whole. Penelope is good wife, but is a rebel because she refuses to get remarried. She shows that she is capable of misleading men and maintains her property while her husband is away from his home, Ithica.
Penelope is the “perfect wife” (O’Neal) because she remains loyal to Odysseus. Homer used Clytemnestra and Agamemnon to warn Odysseus to prepare for the worst when he returns to his wife. To be prepare to see his wife with another husband. To the Athenian society, “the matchless queen of cunning/ For three years now/ she’s played it fast and loose with all our heart/ building each man’s home/ dangling promises” (Homer 2.95-99), the promise to choose a suitor when she finish weaving. Instead of finishing her weaving, Penelope unweaves to delay choosing a suitor. Her action shows she is deceitful to the suitors in her home and her actions are unexpected for a woman. Penelope must “go back to her father’s house, a man of power/ arrange the wedding” (Homer 1.317-319), proving that women are, believed to be, dependent on men to provide for them. Penelope is disloyal as women. She is expected to leave the life she had with Odysseus because she does not have rights to own the property. She needs to choose another husband to own the property because she does not have rights. She needs “a man of power” (Homer 1.317), a man who have first class citizen rights, and strength to take Odysseus place in Ithaca; a warrior.
Penelope shows her cleverness when she schemes to unweave in the night, and making the suitors endure challenges only Odysseus is capable of accomplishing, showing that she have the same qualities as a man who need to find a strategy to get around situations. It also show that she remain loyal to her husband. Although Odysseus loses himself in many relationships with the goddesses, Calypso and Circe, Penelope remains to be unfazed by temptation. She disregards the rules to return home to her father and refusal to choose a suitor. She shows that she is willing to disobey the expectation of Ancient Athenian women and wait for her husband’s return. As loyal as her actions are, Penelope have shown that she will not conform to the rules. She have shown that she will not be a second class citizen by having the men forcing her to remarry, and she have shown she will wait for her husband, even if that means for her to be disobedient to her society.
However, Penelope has shown that waiting for twenty years for her husband is difficult, especially when society is forcing her to get married to one of the suitors. She cunningly tries to make excuses for why she cannot choose a suitor by making them wait for her to finish her weaving. Her strategy was to keep the suitor at bay, delaying her wedding and time to choose another partner. Although she makes the decision and gave into social expectation, she is still obligated to remain loyal to Odysseus until she remarries. However, this expectation to be loyal is not enforced in Odysseus. He is constantly sexually active throughout his journey home with the goddesses that desires him, and he does not face social repercussion. Although Penelope gives up her waiting at the end of the poem, she have shown that she is capable of waiting for over twenty years for her husband, showing she is a women who makes decisions for herself. Penelope is a woman who is a victim to her society because she is a wife who needs to remarry, but wants to remain loyal to her husband.
If a women shows disloyalty to her husband, her faith will be similar to Clytemnestra. A long with Penelope, Clytemnestra, another woman who does not follow the structure of society, shows that she have control to make decisions of her own. Clytemnestra, in The Odyssey, is a rebel and villain in the Ancient Athens society. Homer describes Agamemnon's departure for the Trojan War, to help to avenge his brother Menelaus. While Agamemnon is away, Aegisthus plotted to seduce Clytemnestra and murder Agamemnon once he returned from the Trojan War. As the years passed, and there was no signs of the war ending soon, Clytemnestra weakened and welcomed the sensuous advances of Aegisthus. When the war does finally end, Agamemnon arrives home to be killed by men hired by Aegisthus. Orestes, Agamemnon's and Clytemnestra's son kills Aegisthus to avenge his father's death.
Clytemnestra from the story is neither a good wife, nor a good woman. However, she has shown that she is fearless. Having a women have the power to kill is “the audience’s worst fears of what will happen when a women takes actions” (Foley 78). She went against the moral of a wife and a woman. Clytemnestra’s disloyalties have shown that women are capable of disobeying rules. She has shown that women do not behave like Penelope, when it comes to remaining loyal to their husbands. Breaking the rule is what women do because they are oppressed by men. In addition, she is included in successfully killing Agamemnon when she discovers he is returning home.
Although Homer shows the story of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra through the point of view of Agamemnon, a man, Clytemnestra’s characteristics is projected strongly from the eyes of a man. As a warning to Odysseus, the story is used to teach Odysseus not to expect a loyal, obedient wife when he returns home. Agamemnon story shows that women are to be feared; they have the capability of a warrior. Clytemnestra, “embodies what a wife should not be- totally rebellious and fear-inspiring wife” (O’Neal 119), showing that women are to be feared. The pressure to live up to society expectation will test their insanity. As a women Clytemnestra is suppose to be a wife not a warrior. She is supposed to be fragile, dainty, and fearful. However, her actions coveys another idea about her womanly ethics and shows her capability to be masculine based on the decisions she makes. Her scheming to kill her husband shows she is fearless. Agamemnon realizes the change in women when he stated: “I tell you this- bear it in mind, you must/ when you reach your homeland steer your ship/ into port secret, never out in the open/ the time for trusting women’s gone forever” (Homer 11.515-518). Although her morals are unacceptable, she have proves that women are able above men’s rules and social construct.
Women were held as second class citizens, a standard that men believe would keep them divided and powerless. Women were not allowed to fight in wars and politically be involved with their country. When they are young women they are property to their father. When they are married they then belong to their husband. They are object that can be bought and sold at a price that will please the seller. Women are expected to be wives not warrior. They are expected to clean and bare children. If a woman does not have a father and her husband abandons her, socially she is a disgrace and unwanted. She would not be able to own a home and she will remain an outcast. Women have also been proven to be easy replaceable. Men are allowed to leave their wives for another, especially if the man is gaining wealth. The pressure cast on women are shown to be unreasonable and difficult.
Medea falls far from the perfect wife and perfect mother.

Like Clytemnestra she is also a villain. She is neither a good daughter, nor a good wife and mother. In Medea, the protagonist Medea has proven women are capable of anything, including murder. Medea has shown that she is able to do anything she chooses to do. Medea have shown, “unlike the typical house wife, she did not in fact need the dowry she complains of to the chorus (232-34); she chose her own husband and has won him by her ruthless deeds. Indeed, she often seems to envision herself, contrary to Greek practice, as an equal or even the dominant partner in the marriage” (Foley 75). She is a strong female rebel figure. Medea is known to be the “negative role of women in Athens” (O’Neal 119). Not only does she betrays her father and brother to give the thrown to her husband Jason, but she also kills her own children because she believes they will not be able to survive once Jason deserts

her.
William J. O’Neal states: “All three of these roles confronted the superiority of the man and endangered his dominance. The Athenian men operated under a double standard. Married men were like Odysseus, free and even expected to be sexually active outside of marriage” (119), suggesting that men have one set of rules for themselves that allow them to do what they please as long as it ensures they stay in power. However, for women, they are expected to let the men do as they please because it is believe that the decisions they make will better their life and society. “For a man- oh no- if ever he is irked with those he has at home, he goes everywhere to get relief and ease his state of mind…Meanwhile we women are obligated to keep eyes on just one person” (Euripides 244-249), showing men are allowed to have sex for both reproduction and pleasure, where women should have sex to reproduce. Medea realizes the double standard, hence why she does not fear going against the rules, “I rather join the rank of shields three times than undergo birth- labor once” (Euripides 250-253), illustrating the difficulties women endure; it is easier to be a man than a woman.
However, if a man decides to leave his family he does not have to contemplate on the consequence his wife and children have to face. The wife would become an outcast; she will not be viewed as a citizen if she does not return to her father. The children will also be outcast and viewed as bastards. Although Jason betrays Medea, she is still his property. She still have to remain his wife and cannot get remarried, “the double standard permitted the male to do whatever he desired, while the female had to remain forever faithful. Although they were many reasons for the Athenian woman to commit adultery as existed for the male, the wife could legally be punished, whereas the husband did not get the attention of the law” (O’Neal 120).
Penelope, Clytemnestra and Medea are women whose husbands have left them to fend for themselves. Penelope remains a faithful wife and followed the rules of a wife. However, she cannot be a citizen if she does not have a man by her side to rule. These women have shown they are capable to be women who are warrior, wives, and mother. Their society has oppressed them to a point where they needed to behave drastically in order to survive. They exhibit they same behavior of a man if their wives went missing or wanted to remarry.
Unfaithful women are viewed as “rebels and witches” (O’Neal 117). Homer’s characters Penelope and Clytemnestra are women in his epic poem, who shows women have the same cunningness and bravery as men. Although they are minor character, the way Homer projected them shows that women have disobeyed the rules society cast upon them. He has proven that oppressing women and stripping them of their rights to be equal as man have caused them to become rebels. Euripides Medea is a major character, and she also shows the power a woman has when she is pushed to drastic situation. Although the decision Medea makes does not make her a hero, she is viewed as a women who have a warrior ethics, showing she is capable of behaving like a warrior. Medea, compared to Odysseus, is able to premeditate on the decision to kill another human and successfully perform the act. The only difference between Medea and Odysseus is that Medea is viewed as an evil women, wife, and mother, where as Odysseus is view as a men and warrior fulfilling his manly duties to protect his dignity and property.
Homer and Euripides have shown that Ancient Athens’ double standard and oppressing women cause women to make drastic decisions in order to survive in a male dominated world. For a women living in a world where men are allow to do almost anything with no repercussion is difficult for women. Women like Penelope, Clytemnestra, and Medea have shown that women who are oppressed are able to rise against the social construct. Women were viewed as second class citizen who need a male figure to insure their survival. However, these women have shown that they are also able to make decisions without a man. They have proven they are more than housewives. They have proven that they are capable of controlling men, even though their society is ruled in favor of men because of their rebellious ways, and the need to rise from oppression.