Women's Role In The Odyssey Essay

Degradation of Women Viewed from Modern American Context On Tuesday, February 6th, the Crockett House Firm charged the epic poem, The Odyssey, for representing the degradation of women, specifically, women being objectified and misrepresented. The Crockett House Firm wants these charges to be judges from a modern, American cultural context. The Crockett House firm is the prosecution and finds The Odyssey guilty of the charges. The Griffin House Firm is the defense for this trial and finds The Odyssey not guilty.

On the other hand, women are shamed for having the same relationships. These double standards are portrayed in literature as well. In Homer’s The Odyssey, we see these double standards applied to its’ story and characters. It was especially applied to Odysseus, the main Greek hero in this epic.

“let’s go to bed together, mount my bed and mix in the magic work of love…” (240). There were an abundant number of powerful female roles in The Odyssey. Every female role used their strengths differently; the most reoccurring use of their powers was for alluring men. Man’s greatest weakness is women, and with such powerful women, it causes temptation and conflict leading to a more interesting story.

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.

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,

While men are generally known to take advantage of women, Circe misleads and overpowers them for her own gain. Her need to show dominance helps build her strong and formidable character that has a vital impact on the lives of Odysseus and his men. Throughout the poem, Circe’s character establishes how women are able to conquer and prevail over others with their own strength and

Women are weak, helpless, and have no real purpose other than to serve men and take care of children. . . or so they were perceived in history. In the Odyssey, one can see that Homer’s portrayal of women challenges the depiction of women during that time period. Throughout the book, many women intervened in Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca, for better or for worse. One will see Penelope, Athena, Circe, and other women impact Odysseus’ expedition home.

The respectable male characters such as Odysseus treat women well, but mostly for their appearance and marriage potential. Near the beginning, after washing up on the island of the Pheaecians, he meets a girl and says, “Mistress: please: are you divine, or mortal? If one of those who dwell in the wide heaven, you are the most near to Artemis, I should say,” (8). To

The quote above gives the reader a key idea to her feelings and the use of her feelings to release and aid Odysseus in his travels home. Besides the visit from Hermes, Odysseus is homesick and indeed needed a miracle to leave the island. Given to that, Calypso love gives Odysseus the start of his return.

When Odysseus is held captive by Calypso on her paradise island, he takes his opportunity to leave and continue on his journey home. Calypso has taken great care of him and seduces him, one of the reasons he has stayed with her for so long. Odysseus is not exactly in his right mind during his stay with Calypso because she is able to almost control or manipulate him. When Odysseus is given the opportunity to go home, it is only with the help of Zeus, Hermes and Athena to persuade Calypso to allow him to leave. Odysseus, while staying on her island, knew that this was not what he wanted.

Clara Barton, she founded the American Red Cross which helps more than 100 million people a year. Harriet Tubman, she guided over 300 slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Marie Curie, she was the first woman to win the nobel prize; she also won it another time after. Throughout history, women have defied all odds and began or did something that was amazing. The Odyssey written by Homer has shown view points in his story that contrast greatly to the conventional way of thinking.

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.

To accomplish this analyzation I have structured this paper into an intro paragraph, four body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. The first body paragraph explains how Penelope’s forced marriage with Odysseus supports the patriarchy. The second paragraph analyzes Penelope’s character, and how the story diminishes her character to make men seem more powerful. The third paragraph dives into the relationship with the suitors and Penelope. I analyze how Penelope uses her situation to her advantage, and how that undermines the patriarchy.

Known as an epic war poem, The Iliad delves into topics concerning masculinity, heroism, and bravery. Women play a modest but important role that forms the structure of the plot. Helen’s character aids in expanding Menelaus and Paris’ characters. Homer does not delve into the lives of women like he does with the men, speaking to the notion of inferiority between the sexes. Homer displays women as tangible items through male interactions with one another.

The Feminist Theory Throughout Greek mythology and literature, women are downcast as second class citizens, and more often than not, this view forces women to conform to their traditional gender roles. However, when these women acknowledge and begin to resist the patriarchy, they are able to become strong individuals. Through the plays Medea and The Bacchae by Euripides, and Oedipus and Antigone by Sophocles, this theme presents itself through women who found themselves resisting what society expected of them. Each play demonstrates the different ways in which they stood firm in what they believed even with the odds against them. In the end, it didn’t always work out for these women, but they made their voices heard, and stood their ground