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Even though some powerful women in The Odyssey are portrayed as good, greek standards show that women with power are dangerous through traits of cunning, lustfulness, and macabre.
Powerful women are dangerous in the Odyssey because of the guile used in the characters Penelope and Calypso. In Calypso’s house, she tries to entice Odysseus to stay by saying “But if you only knew, down deep, what pains are fated to fill your cup before you reach that shore, you’d stay right here. Preside in our house with me and be immortal”(5. 228-231). Calypso is showing cunningness towards Odysseus by saying “if you only knew” because she is trying to make Odysseus question his journey back to Ithaca. She also tries to lure him by with promising immortality
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While Odyssey is retelling his encounter with the sirens he says “So the sent their ravishing voices out across the air and the heart inside me throbbed to listen longer. I signaled the crew with frowns to set me free- they flung themselves at the oars and rowed on harder”(12. 208-211). The sirens show lust by the description of their voices. Also shows that Odysseus’ was tricked by their songs and wanted to be set free. They are dangerous because Odysseus is the only one allowed to hear the songs, while his men have beeswax in their ears, so that Odysseus is the only one who gets to hear their song. Odysseus exclaimed as he was describing his interactions with Circe “The goddess herself was move and, standing by me, warmly urged me on-- a lustrous goddess now”(10. 441-442). Odysseus uses an epithet to describe Circe, which reflects the greeks values that powerful women are bad because the hero is referring back to when Circe treated him. Circe is dangerous goddess because of her power and lust for the hero Odysseus. Circe had tricked his men which made Odysseus mad when she turned his men into swine. Circe and the sirens both show lust for the hero Odysseus, and makes them dangerous because their lust for the hero of the story is challenging Odysseus’ struggle for home and …show more content…
Odysseus depicting his story with Scylla says “So I shouted. They snapped to each command. No mention of Scylla--how to fight that nightmare?--for fear the men would panic, desert their oars and huddle down and stow themselves away(12. 241-244). Scylla is terrifying by the interactions Odysseus has with his crew. The reason why is because Scylla is so scary that his warriors, would be so scared if they knew what they were about to face that they would stop rowing the boat and slow the boat down. That is also what makes Scylla so dangerous and powerful is the fear that is caused from this 6 headed beast. Her powers to make Odysseus doubt his men if they see Scylla. Odysseus describing his interactions with Charybdis says “Now wailing in fear, we rowed on up those straits, Scylla to starboard, dreded charybdis off to port, her horrible whirlpool gulping the sea-surge down, down but when she spewed it up.. Terrible, deafening. Ashen terror gripped the men”(12. 253-262). The way Odysseus describes him and his men as wailing in fear shows that Charybdis is terrifying because he and his men are warriors and probably are not usually wailing in fear. Her terrifying account is also why she is so considered dangerous and powerful because of how power she has over Odysseus and his men. This shows that greek social standards has powerful women who can
Some women are known for the deeds of their sons or husbands, but never for a heroic deed of their own, their personalities, and what they do themselves. It seems the only accomplishment women could achieve was being beautiful. Theseus "had no joy of"(195) the princess Ariadne because she died before this was possible. Homer makes it sound as if Ariadne's life was useless because she did not give Theseus pleasure. The only woman we hear of for a different reason is Klymene, and we only hear of her because she "betrayed her lord for gold."(195) This is the only time we hear of a woman for something she did, and once we do, it is a negative remark. Penelope, Odysseus' queen, is paid attention to only because of her position. Because she has a kingdom, she has suitors crowding around her day and night. Being a woman, Penelope has no control over what the suitors do and cannot get rid of them. The suitors want her wealth and her kingdom. They do not respect her enough to stop feeding on Odysseus' wealth; they feel she owes them something because she won't marry one of them. One of the suitors, Antinoos, tells Telemakhos "...but you should know the suitors are not to blame- it is your own incomparably cunning mother."(21) Even Telemakhos doesn't respect his mother as he should. When the song of a minstrel makes her sad and Penelope requests him to stop playing, Telemakhos interrupts and says to her, "Mother, why do you grudge our own dear minstrel joy of song, wherever his thought may lead.
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 islands of Circe and Calypso in Homer’s Odyssey are places where Odysseus’ most challenging problems occur. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win. These two female characters are especially enticing to Odysseus because they are goddesses. Though it is evident that Odysseus longs to return to Penelope in Ithaka, it sometimes appears that he has lost vision of what life was like with a wife, a son, and with thousands of people who regard him as King. Although his experiences on the islands of these goddesses were similar in that he was retained from Ithaka for the longest periods of his adventure, these goddesses and the ways that Odysseus reacts to his experiences with them represent two very different aspects of Odysseus’ life and disposition in life.
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.
She is always spoken of respectfully and is remembered for her heroic deeds. She is not degraded like many of the other women Odysseus sees in the underworld. Everyone worships her and speaks about her achievements with great admiration; she is truly admired, but because she is a goddess. Athena has control over men that most women in The Odyssey do not. Women 's lives depend on what men think of them, on the other hand, men 's lives depend on Athena 's opinion of them. Athena is "Zeus ' virgin daughter" and no one has used her in that way. She is too important to be used as being an enjoyment for men; they depend on her for their own welfare. Another woman that plays a big role in this epic is Calypso. Calypso a nymph, a child of Zeus, and lives on an island in the middle of the ocean. One day Odysseus is sent to her by the god of the sea, Poseidon, because Poseidon was mad at Odysseus for blinding his son, the Cyclops. It is on this island that another woman is used as a sexual toy and is not thought of for her own achievements, but rather for her beauty, and the fact that she is the daughter of Zeus. Men in The Odyssey only value women who they can use for physical needs and wealth, such as the women in the underworld that Odysseus encounters, and Penelope. Homer shows us how men in The Odyssey consider women less important than men. The readers rarely hear of women throughout the book. When they do, they are shown
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.
The story in the reader resumes the Odyssey after Circe adventure. It is at this point that the crew of the odyssey faced the sirens. As instructed by Odysseus, the crew lashed him tight to the ship, and ignored his pleas to be released. Odysseus alone heard the deadly songs of the siren. " Come this way, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaians, and stay your ship, so that you can listen here to our singing," sang the sirens. In this we find his trial by temptation. Tied to the ship he begs to be released, only to have more ropes tied to his body. In a way he fell for the temptation because he wanted to hear the sirens, but he excised restraint by ordering his men to secure him tightly to the ship before sailing past the sirens.
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.
Greek tragedy incorporates female characters that symbolize women in Ancient Greece. Through the portrayal of Antigone in the playwright, Antigone in Antigone by Sophocles and Penelope in the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, these two women play opposing roles depicting how they appear to society through their actions. In both of these stories, they embody the ideals of passionate women who are very loyal and brave. Through other female characters in each story such as Penelope and Ismene, we can construct a better view of traits illustrated by Antigone and Penelope.
The Odyssey exemplifies a society organized and controlled by men where males consistently treated women unequally depriving them of true freedom. Homer’s male characters often saw women as second-hand citizens who had not true voice in society. One example of a women who is oppressed by men in the text is Odysseus’ wife Penelope. Although Penelope is queen of Ithaca her power in the kingdom is limited. Her life is controlled by her son Telemachus and the Achaean suitors who have been taken advantage of the kingdom for several years. At one point in the text Telemachus tells his mother “Words are for men, for all, especially for me; for power within this house rest here” (Homer, 7). This shows how men regarded themselves as the ones with power over society while they...
The first wily female that Odysseus battles wits with is the goddess Kalypso. She is a very deceitful woman, indeed. Kalypso has somehow managed to hide from the gods for 7 years – an unnatural and disrespectable accomplishment. She has been having a secret affair with Odysseus, a mortal, who has been held captive on her island for the...
Such a society obviously places severe restrictions on the position of women and what is considered to be acceptable behaviour for women”. (Whittaker 39) Penelope is forced to step out of the typical Homeric Greek woman role in order to make sure Odysseus has a success homecoming. She does this by proving to be clever, like her husband, when she tricks the suitors, claiming that she will choose one once she finishes a burial shroud for Laertes. Every night she undoes the weaving she has done for the day. This works until some of her house servants catch her. Another example of this trickery, is her promise to marry any suitor that can string and shoot Odysseus 's bow. Penelope knew no one but Odysseus could do this. There are many different interpretations of Penelope 's role as a woman in this moment of the epic. Homer has Penelope show a role that isn’t what you would normally see in a Homeric Greek woman. She depicts that she can be just as manipulative as a man can
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 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.
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.