Theme Of Guile In The Odyssey

The Odyssey by Homer tells the account of the celebrated king Odysseus and of his great feats on his way back to Ithaca, much like the Epic of Gilgamesh expresses the feats of the great king Gilgamesh and his friend Endiku. These male characters are exemplified in their incredible feats and capabilities. However, many of these deeds would not be possible without the help of the female characters. The seemingly perfect male characters have their greatest weakness in women and many of their pitfalls are a result of encounters with women. The female characters in both the Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh show how even though women both mortal and immortal are subservient to men in society, whenever women are pitted against men, women almost

Among mortal women, Penelope is shown as a very powerful employing both seduction and being clever at the same time. Even though she doesn’t possess the power to rid the suitors from her house because she’s a woman, she does deter her marriage to the eager suitors for quite some time. although Penelope is a very influential and clever figure she is still secondary to men as shown many times by her son, Telemachus who orders her around, “INSERT QUOTE HERE.” Penelope is guile and demonstrates this in many ways throughout the epic. The loom shows the queens tactics and her cleverness, “ INSTERT QUOTE HERE”. Her shrewdness allows her husband more time to return home. Also, Penelope is shown to have a sense of destiny and is shown with her contest with the bow and arrow. She is aware that only Odysseus can string the bow and therefore chooses a task that would be impossible for anyone but her husband. Her seductiveness is much like the Sirens; she appeals to the suitors promising to marry one of them but with no desire to fulfill either side. Antonius, is one of her more persistent suitors describes Penelope as, “This three-year past, and close on four, she has been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging each one of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she says” (Book II). In this situation Penelope is tested against the suitors and comes out

Circe and Calypso both manage to delay Odysseus for quite some time despite Odysseus eagerness to return home. They both are seductive in their ways and appear as temptresses throughout the epic. Circe is such an excellent lover that Odysseus stays on her island for a year, and even then is convinced only by his men to finally leave. Calypso also holds on to Odysseus for ten years despite his willingness to return back to Ithaca. These two immortals show the power that women exert over men in this book, Odysseus successfully evades and destroys all other distractions and monsters during his journey but falls victim in the presence of women. The Sirens also display man’s weakness, although they are unable to destroy man they definitely hold a powerful seductive supremacy over men. “INSERT QUOTE HERE.” Athena wants Odysseus to return home to Ithaca and Poseidon on account of Odysseus blinding his son, does not. When these two immortals are put to the test against each other, Athena prevails as Odysseus does manage to reach home eventually. However, women’s subservient role in society is still prominent in many ways. When Calypso is visited by Hermes it shows how powerless women are in society, “o and now you are angry with me too because I have a man here. . .. I got fond of him and cherished him. . .. Still, I cannot cross Zeus (V. 120 and following)” The norms of power in the