Double Standard for Women of the Odyssey
Odysseus plans to tiptoe back into his hall through various schemes, one of which is to become beneficial and amiable to the maidservants. With this motivation, he offers to guard the hearth so that the fire won’t dwindle, but the response he receives is more than unwelcoming. Melantho, a beneficiary of Penelope, spurns him saying:
You must be crazy, punch drunk, you old goat.
Instead of going out to find a smithy—or a tavern bench—you stay
putting your oar in, amid all our men.
Numbskull not to be scared! The wine you drank
has clogged your brain, or are you always this way,
boasting like a fool? Or have you
…show more content…
(18.405-15).
Unexpectedly and unconventional for his character, Odysseus says: “One minute: let me tell Telemakhos how you talk in hall, you slut; he’ll cut your arms and legs off” (18.416-20). “This hard shot took the women’s breath away and drove them quaking to their rooms, as though knives were behind: they felt he spoke the truth” (18.421-23).
From the perspective of Melantho, her reason to believe the hungry bellied pariah, Odysseus, seems unclear. There seems to be a lapse in her reasoning. Since the old beggar’s arrival at Odysseus’ estate, Telemakhos—not ever publicly acknowledging the hunched-over man's entry—appears to wholly neglect him. Intimidated by the suitors’ death threats and revealing Odysseus’ identity, the only way out for Telemakhos, the sole means of retaining influence over his mother’s suitors, is to distance himself from the man whom he would want most to be close to, his father. More than merely a survival tactic, however, it is a strategy for Odysseus to find loyalists among the group. Thus the main focus of Telemakhos in this scene is not to side with his father, not to stand up for his guest, but to stay alive, to remain aloof and unobtrusive, and to allow Odysseus’ plan to come into
…show more content…
Compounding her disgraceful spectacle involving Eurymakhos and her lack of compunction for her mistress, Melantho, in particular, and the remaining slave women, who corrupted Penelope’s suitors, feel self-consciousness for their deeds. During most of the moments of the day, they envision the ax that will soon end their lives. When Melantho hears Odysseus’ threat, she realizes that Telemakhos will “cut her arms and legs off” not simply owing to this beggar’s accusation, but because she already treads in deep water and any inadequacy or faux pas on her part will assure her death. For Melantho, her speech is merely the key that finally seals her self-subverting fate.
Claiming that Melantho presumed Telemakhos to consider Odysseus a “guest” in terms of ancient Greek hospitality and custom and, therefore, the women “felt he spoke the truth” would downplay Homer’s legendary depiction of personality shift and character mutability of Odysseus in The Odyssey. According to Okham’s Razor there is a large possibility that all the aforementioned interpretations are for naught, if the simple answer is best and final. The careful reader, however, will disregard Okham momentarily to pursue more than meets the
Diana Buitron-Oliver and Beth Cohen, "Between Skylla and Penelope: Female Characters of the Odyssey in Archaic and Classical Greek Art," pp. 29-58.
The. Penelope's Renown. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1991. Hesiod. Theogony.
At the very backbone of the body of reasons for which sprawl has accelerated so much in recent decades is the changing social culture in America. One must remember that sprawl is all about people, and one of the greatest factors that drive the trends of their behavior is culture. It is true that there are many other factors (I.E. economic) at play in the manifestation of sprawl, but the factor of culture is what lies at the very core of the entire issue. This core is the argument that Americans have gradually moved toward a socially and individually isolated culture. Essentially, the American community has become more disjointed and impermanent, creating an atmosphere in which living in a more dense population has become undesirable.
Throughout the poem, Penelope encourages the suitors to stay in her home by making them think they are welcome. With Odysseus gone Penelope chooses whom she hosts in the great palace. Penelope does hate the suitors but she never once tells them to leave. She even makes the suitors think that she would be choosing her new husband soon and in this way she makes them feel welcome in her home. Antinous, a suitor, responds to accusations Telemachus made to the suitors at an assembly.
Although Telémakhos first appears "a boy, daydreaming" (I, 145)truly a far shot from what he wants to be, a warrior and hero like Odysseus, of whom he daydreamsAthena stirs him into action and thereby sparks his initiation into the world as a man. In the shape of Mentês, Athena advises Telémakhos to stop sitting around and daydreaming, and to start looking for his father, or at least news of him. With her description of Telémakhos as Odysseus' boy by his looks, Athena makes Telémakhos realize that even though he may be young yet, he is no boy: "The way your head is shaped, the fine eyesyes, / how like him! We took meals like this together many a time." (I, 252-254)
Greek women, as depicted as 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 man and nothing more. Yet what women in ancient Greece did long ago was by far more impressive than what men did.
Literature definitions for sprawl are difficult to pin down because there are numerous things that cause it and what it causes. Sprawl can be described as random development characterized by poor accessibility of related land uses. It affects the landscape being changed for the use of the public. Schools, hospitals, commercial strip development, and low-density residential developments dominate sprawl. As we sprawl farther from community and city centers, Americans are forced to drive more often and greater distances. As we sprawl more, we drive more. And as we drive more, we pollute more. Vehicle smog is one of the main pollutants increased by sprawl.
In order to achieve this, the characters in the Penelopiad, particularly Penelope, are given “new outlook and voice” through the influence of contemporary attitudes (Irshad & Banerji 35). As such, Atwood is able to subvert the masculine focus while working within the Homeric source material. This includes frequent inclusion of asides in the text. Penelope, and the Twelve Maids, can then express their feelings, hidden in the original, in “imaginary space outside cultural constraints” (Khalid & Tabassum 19). This allows for women in Homeric culture to be finally “heard” as well as seen in the narrative (Nunes 238). As a result, the conventional faithful wife is replaced with a “woman with conflicting desires and impulses” (Neethling 127). This can be considered a challenge of one of the major cultural values of the text. Penelope’s fidelity allows her to become the “epic archetype of marital excellence” in the Odyssey (Skinner 47). Atwood challenges the foundation of this idea through deeper exploration of Penelope’s psyche. Homer must use “metaphor, simile, speech, and epithet” to construct Penelope, while Atwood can utilise “interior monologues” and “introspection” (Neethling 126). Due to this, Atwood’s Penelope can reject the idea that a woman can fully adhere to this expectation. Through narrative perspective, Atwood challenges the idea of the ever-faithful wife without any change in the plot of the
Helene Foley, "Penelope as Moral Agent," in Beth Cohen, ed., The Distaff Side (Oxford 1995), pp. 93-115.
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 reader first finds the character of Telemachus sitting among the suitors in his father’s palace. This seemingly unimportant detail yields information regarding his temperament. The suitors, whom Homer portrays as malicious usurpers, continue to take advantage of Telemachus’ hospitality. Instead of defending his home, his mother, and his belongings from these men, Telemachus numbers among them. This lack of assertiveness displays his frailty and his helplessness given the overwhelming circumstances. At this point, Athena, disguised as Odysseus’ old friend Mentes, visits Telemachus in order to “inspire his heart with courage” (I.105). The two share a meal and engage in a lengthy conversation. The goddess discusses how Telemachus should handle the troublesome suitors and suggests a journey to try to ascertain the whereabouts of Odysseus. The conversation appears to immediately galvanize the young man’s resolve. In fact, immediately after her departure, he summons the courage to confront the suitors, demanding that they are to leave his house at once. The assertiveness that Telemachus displays in this instance is a dramatic departure from ...
...cked the poise necessary to take back his home. With his courage intact, and his father by his side, Telemakhos and Odysseus formulate a plan to avenge their household; both men display outstanding fortitude. In commanding the servants (Eurikleia, to be specific), Telemakhos "spoke so soldierly that her own speech halted on her tongue" (XIX.38-39). At this point it is clear that Telemakhos has reached fulfillment and strength in his identity.
Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The nymph Calypso enslaves Odysseus for many years. Odysseus desires to reach home and his wife Penelope. It is the goddess Athena who sets the action of The Odyssey rolling; she also guides and orchestrates everything to Odysseus’ good. Women in The Odyssey are divided into two classes: seductresses and helpmeets. By doing so, Homer demonstrates that women have the power to either hinder of help men. Only one woman is able to successfully combine elements of both classes: Penelope. She serves as a role model of virtue and craftiness. All the other women are compared to and contrasted with Penelope.
Gentrification does not follow traditional urban growth theory, which predicts ?the decline of inner city areas as monied classes move to the metropolitan fringe.? The traditional economic model of real estate says that wealthy people can choose their housing from the total city market (Schwirian 96). Once these people decide to live in the suburbs, the lower social classes move into the old homes of the upper class, essentially handing housing down the socioeconomic ladder. Gentrification is actually a reversal of this process. For a variety of reasons, many inner city areas are becoming more attractive to the wealthy, and they are selecting their housing in those areas (Schwirian 96). The problem is that now when the wealthy take over poor homes and renovate them, the poor cannot afford the housing that the wealthy have abandoned. Many researchers have argued whether gentrification has truly created problems in cities. I will analyze the arguments for and against gentrification by exploring the subject from both sides.
Lawall, Sarah N. “The Odyssey.” The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 206-495. Print.