The epic poem The Odyssey by Homer is a compelling story about a king named Odysseus. Twenty years before this story began, Odysseus, King of Ithaca, voyaged to Troy to fight in the Battle of Troy. During those twenty years, vile suitors pined after his wife, Penelope, while she lamented for him. On the journey back from Troy, women played the important role of being five out of the seven beings that hindered the men’s journey in some form. Although the goddess Athena is shown as someone who succored Odysseus on his path back to Ithaca, Homer presents women in a more negative light, as manifested through the characters Penelope, Calypso, and Scylla.
To begin with, Penelope was portrayed as feeble. In this passage, Telemachus had just yelled at Penelope because she was demanding that the bard stop singing a song that reminded her of her long-lost husband, and then Telemachus told her that he was the man of the house and that men would give the orders. “She took to heart/ the clear good sense in what her son had said./ Climbing up to the lofty chamber with her women,/ she fell to weeping for Odysseus, her beloved husband/” (1.417-420). Most mothers, if their son had spoken
…show more content…
to them as Telemachus had, would have started yelling back and demanding respect. However, Penelope decided to resign herself to failure on the spot and went to her bedroom to cry for Odysseus because she couldn’t handle her son anymore. Moreover, even though Telemachus was an adult, around twenty years old, he was being disrespectful towards Penelope and she shouldn’t have just let him walk all over her. Therefore, Penelope was being pusillanimous by not putting her son in his place. In addition, the nymph Calypso, who was an immortal being that was perpetually exiled to the island of Ogygia, was portrayed as insane and possessive. Hermes had gone to deliver a message to Calypso to set Odysseus free (otherwise the gods would take him by means of force), but Calypso only became bitter about it and declared to Hermes, “‘So now at last, you gods, you train your spite on me/ for keeping a mortal man beside me. The man I saved,/ [...] And I welcomed him warmly, cherished him, even vowed/ to make the man immortal, ageless, all his days’” (5.143-144 and 150-151). In this quote, Calypso was trying to defend her actions of keeping Odysseus as a prisoner by arguing that the gods were being inequitable because Odysseus would have become a corpse if she hadn’t saved him. Furthermore, she was being possessive, in a sense, because she didn’t want to be alone. Indeed, the loneliness, which she’d felt for probably hundreds of years due to being stuck on Ogygia for eternity, probably drove her to do this to Odysseus, to want to keep him as her husband so that she wouldn’t be alone anymore. Ergo, Calypso was psychotic and possessive. Last of all, there was Scylla who was a savage, perilous sea monster. Odysseus and his men were about to pass Scylla’s cave and Circe was giving Odysseus advice on how to survive her. “‘“Scylla lurks inside it [...] but she’s a grisly monster, I assure you./ No one could look on her with any joy,/ not even a god who meets her face-to-face”’” (12.94 and 96-98). To be quite frank, there was no justification for a monster like Scylla to have any gender at all. However, Homer decided to write Scylla as a terrifying female monster with six heads who consumed men for a living. With this in mind, the way Scylla was presented discloses to men that women, back in Homer’s time, stole men’s lives, or ate up their lives. Thus, women were shown as evil monsters, which is obviously negative. In conclusion, women in The Odyssey are shown negatively.
First, there was Penelope who was written as weak, crying all the time because she didn’t know how to get rid of a group of pathetic men struggling over each other for her hand or how to control her own son and teach him how to respect others. Secondly, there was Calypso who was written as an insane goddess who believed she saved men by keeping them as prisoners and wasn’t willing to let them go back to their families. Lastly, there was Scylla who was an evil sea monster that not even powerful immortal beings would want to face because she was so treacherous. These women within The Odyssey set up the stereotypes that now plague our modern world. People view women as weak and helpless, as seductive and clingy, and as thieves that ruin
lives.
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.
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
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.
Penelope is the most important female character in the epic because Odysseus ' homecoming is centered on reconnecting with her. Ten years has past and Odysseus has still not returned from the war and is seemingly dead. Many suitors desire to replace him, by taking Penelope 's hand in marriage and Odysseus ' property. While unsure of Penelope 's attitude towards these suitors, readers are constantly reminded of her faithfulness to Odysseus. Although Odysseus does not know whether Penelope remains faithful to him, he still yearns to come home. “The expectations and limitations of the male and female roles in the Odyssey are accepted and never questioned”. (Whittaker 40) Society expects women in Penelope’s position to remain devoted to their significant other even after all these years and not knowing whether or not he is alive but are more forgiving to men who commit adultery like Odysseus. This situation once again brings up the question of a double standard modeled in The
Homer's great epic, "The Odyssey" was written several thousands of years ago, a time in human history when men played the dominant role in society. The entire structure of civilization was organized and controlled by men; It was an accepted fact that women held an inferior position in society. Society was constructed as if women were around only to serve the men. The involvement of women in any circumstance was almost completely dominated by what the men allowed. The women were valued in society, only they were not given important roles or any decision making power. It is as if they held no power in the ancient Greek society. This is why Homer's Odyssey is very unique, Homer put women into roles that were previously unheard of for women to possess. Unlike in The Iliad, where women served merely as an object to men; female characters of Odyssey are distinctive because they possess personality, and have intricate relationships with the male characters of the Odyssey. By characterizing the women in "The Odyssey", a reader may come to some conclusions about the role of women in this epic. Along with the belief that women played a secondary role to men in society, the female characters displayed certain traits that could not be exhibited by the men. Athena demonstrated the most intelligence and valor out of all the characters in "The Odyssey." The male characters play the most significant roles in this epic, but without the support of the females in "The Odyssey", Odysseus would not have made it through his journey.
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).
The women in The Odyssey are a fair representation of women in ancient Greek culture. In his work, Homer brings forth women of different prestige. First there are the goddesses, then Penelope, and lastly the servant girls. Each of the three factions forms an important part of The Odyssey and helps us look into what women were like in ancient Greece.
The women presented throughout The Odyssey provide a respectable representation of women in ancient Greece in general. There are several women introduced in The Odyssey, all of various backgrounds and social classes. The most notable women or type of women in this epic include goddesses, Penelope, and the housemaids and servants.
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.
She is faithful to Odysseus for twenty years, devoted, and loving. Yet she is also strong, clever, and crafty. Penelope is so faithful, that she would rather die than never see Odysseus again, "How I wish chaste Artemis would give me a death so soft, and now, so I would not go on in my heart grieving all my life, and longing for love of a husband excellent in every virtue.” While some might consider this problematic, Penelope is faithful out of her Penelope devises brilliant plans to buy herself time for Odysseus to come home, such as her scheme with the loom and the contest she creates, which she knows only her husband can accomplish. Despite everything, Odysseus and Penelope have a strong relationship. When Odysseus is captured and tempted by Calypso in book five, he decides to go back home with Penelope. Calypso tries to change his mind, yet he says, “Don't be angry with me, please. All that you say is true, how well I know. Look at my wise Penelope. She falls far short of you, your beauty, stature.” This illustrates that Odysseus is truly in love with Penelope. He loves her for more than her looks and he doesn't mind if she isn´t more beautiful than Calypso or if she has gotten
...ow Greek civilization was founded by women; they were the ones who gave birth to the heroes. Similarly, The Odyssey is a story created by women. The plot revolves around the actions of women. Athena orchestrates all the events. The seductresses, such as Circe, the sirens, and Calypso, attempt to stop Odysseus from reaching home. The helpmeets, such as Nausicaa, Arete, and Athena, aid Odysseus in his homecoming. The wise and virtuous Penelope is the object of Odysseus’ quest. Unlike Helen who forsakes her husband, Penelope remains faithful. Unlike Clytemnestra who assassinates her husband, Penelope patiently waits for Odysseus. She becomes a model of female patience and of female intelligence. Her craftiness is the only one which can match up to Odysseus’. The Odyssey presents a wide array of women and demonstrates the influence that women have in the life of a hero.
In The Odyssey and The Color Purple, the authors show different period of time where women didn 't have the right to have an opinion nor a decision in their own lives. Second wave feminism was not only about the right to vote, etc. It was more of a fight about equal opportunities. Naturally, the differences between the people asking for equal opportunities would become a key point. In The Odyssey and The Color Purple, women’s rights are based on social structural rather than laws that allow women to make their own decisions.
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 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.
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.