Gender Roles In The Odyssey

There are many huge roles to be displayed in society all throughout The Odyssey. The Odyssey was written by Homer and located in Ancient Greece. Women like Athena and Penelope play huge roles that initially help Odysseus throughout his struggles. The role of women in The Odyssey is to show how women could be obstacles, be great helpers, and show how they do it by being cunning. Penelope shows in different ways how she is cunning and loyal throughout the book.

In The Odyssey written by Homer and translated by Emily Wilson is from the perspective of Odysseus, a mortal who has a strenuous journey in order to get back to Ithaca. We follow Odysseus through the story as he faces difficulties on the way back to his home. The challenges Odysseus's faces are primarily brought on by gods and magical creatures for instance, sirens who try and hypnotize Odysseus and his crew, Polyphemus, Circe, Calypso, Scylla, Charybdis, etc. In The Odyssey, women have far less power than men because, by ancient Greek standards, men have much more physical strength rather than female manipulative and psychological strength, for instance, with mortals, goddesses, and female mythological creatures.

In the poem The Odyssey by Homer the author tells us the story of Odysseus's goal to return to his homeland Ithaca, where he will defeat the rude uncontrollable suitors who are camping in his palace and his main goal is to reunite with his loyal wife Penelope and son Telemachus. In Ancient Greece and in the odyssey men were expected to be masculine and warriors were women were obedient and looked down on. Throughout the story Men are able to entertain and socialize outside of their home and go to work but women stay at home and do housework. From this background information we can infer that The Odyssey by Homer shows that men are valued more due to the fact that men have more sexual freedom then women and are respected more when they have

It was through Athena’s persuasion that convinced Zeus to have Calypso to let Odysseus leave her island. In response to Athena, Zeus said, “You conceived it yourself: Odysseus shall return and pay the traitors back” (Homer, Odyssey, V.26-27). The only reason Odysseus was free and performed the actions that he did after leaving Calypso’s island was all attributed to Athena. Whenever Odysseus appeared to be in a perilous situation, it was Athena who always aided him. “But Zeus’s daughter Athena countered him at once.

In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, there are many female characters who play the role of a villain. Calypso, Scylla, Charybdis, and the sirens are among the women with the largest, negative impacts on Odysseus’ journey home. Though some women, such as Athena, Eurycleia, and Penelope, are loyal to Odysseus throughout the poem. With such a wide range of female characters, they all contribute different things throughout the book, whether the impact of their actions is negative or positive. Regardless of the outcomes, Homer has quite a modern view of female representation in his poem.

“The Odyssey,” written by Greek poet Homer is an epic tale depicting the brutally enduring quest home of the Greek hero, Odysseus. Within this heroic story, women play a very large and pivotal role in Odysseus’s trip home from the Trojan War. In his attempt to get back to his wife, Penelope, Odysseus’s progress is constantly hindered by the intervention of women who will do anything in order to either convince the heroic figure to stay with them or have him killed. The intentions of the women in the epic are all very different but one of the most prominent roles lies in the seductresses and the alluring women who will deeply influence Odysseus. Most importantly, Penelope plays a large role in portraying the importance of women’s roles in the story.

Meanwhile, Penelope is in Ithaka busy dealing with the suitors who vie for her hand in marriage, tending to her loom, and directing her serving maids at work. In Homer’s epic poem, women, and goddesses are treated differently than men and gods when it comes to their freedom, expectations, and image. One common occurrence in this epic poem is unequal freedom for women,

In many societies today, individuals are led to believe that the concept of women possessing their own strength or independence is abnormal. As a result, women experience the world in a constrained way in comparison to men, even if they are in higher classes of society. However, these extensive aspects of females are contradicted in some ancient Greek literature. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer portrays women as a vital and powerful force through the characters Penelope and Circe, who counter the normality of misogyny in Homer’s time. Penelope’s character displays how some women are able to exceed society’s standards and show strength and cleverness when it is necessary.

These women influenced the conditions of the journey by guiding Odysseus in different directions, and aiding him crucially. Their authority showed the idea behind an old proverb, which states, “Behind every great man there’s a great woman”. Throughout The Odyssey, the women exemplified their power during the course of Odysseus’ journey.     Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, bravely held down the front in Ithaca while her husband struggled to find his way back home. In Book 18, Penelope spoke to the ever-so-desperate suitors about what Odysseus “told” her before he left.

In the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, the men and women has a double standard. Throughout the poem, the male characters such as the protagonist Odysseus are the ones fighting, leading and known as hero’s. On the other hand women are serving under the males and shown to be the seducers and prizes by Homer. Even a strong and cunning answer to a man.

Here, Odysseus tells Athena that she is all he has left and through her immortal powers, she is the only god still on his side who can help him in his time of need. Therefore, through Athena’s encouraging words, she is able to make Odysseus feel uplifted and more useful, especially as Odysseus is, at this point, very hopeless and miserably

Women in The Odyssey Gender roles, specifically of women, were a little different back in 700 B.C. They played more of a typical role, expected to get married and have kids at a young age. They were expected to take care of the house and children, while their husbands were out fighting wars. However, while women in The Odyssey were greatly valued for their beauty, Homer reveals that they also had to be intelligent to be successful in their lives.

1) Athena played a huge role in ensuring Odysseus’ safety and acceptance on Skheria. On page 99, it quotes “so on this night the goddess, grey-eyed Athena, entered the palace of Alkínoös to make sure of Odysseus’ voyage home.” When Nausikaa was sleeping, Athena disguised herself as Dymas’ daughter, a good friend of Nausikaa, and instructed her go to the washing pools in the morning to do the laundry. Athena intentionally sent Nausikaa to the area where Odysseus was sleeping. She knew Nausikaa, the daughter of Alkínoös, would be able to assist Odysseus in the asking of Alkínoös’ and Arêtê’s assistance in his voyage home.

Women are greatly judged by their looks throughout the book. They believe that a woman is successful if any of her direct family have an important position (e.g. King, God) or is a heroic figure. Even though Athena and Calypso are very different, one evident similarity, is their ability to influence and control men. Athena greatly interferes in Telemachus’ and Odysseus’ lives by utilizing her intellect. Her power, influence and control on men can either be seen as a positivity or as a negativity.

The Odyssey by Homer contains multiple moments where female characters are oppressed or fit into a patriarchy, but there are several moments where these character show signs of rebellion against this oppression. Applying a critical lense of feminism to these characters and relationships create complexities and conflicts within the novel that shine meaning on the world. The character Penelope offers many of these moments. Analyzing the actions, situation, and comparisons with other characters using a the feminist critical lense will show a more enriched version of Penelope and offer a deeper insight of the patriarchy, and how is affects the world.