Ideal Women In The Odyssey

In The Odyssey, Homer paints a picture of not only how a man should act, but how a woman should act. A woman must be good, and to be good she must have no faults whatsoever. To be a true Greek woman, she must be perfect in every way. Homer's misogynistic view on women is that women have to be so full of virtue that they have no substance. These women of no substance are deemed as ideal because they have no foreseeable flaws. Homer illustrates this in not only the mortal women, but among the goddesses, and overall “higher powers”. The ideal woman is pure of mind and cooperative to all, but ultimately these standards make these women devoid of character.

For a woman to be pure, she must first be be faithful. This contrasts deeply between Klytaimnestra,

All women, no matter if they are a goddess, nymph, or mortal woman, have to be kept in check by a man, or else they will fall to villainy which comes with any sort of woman who has an actual mind of her own. Kalypso lives alone, the “mistress of the isle” (V.63). Homer makes a woman in power solitary, not pushed about by the orders of a man. In essence, this is what makes a woman a villainess: her independence. What makes a woman good, in Homer's mind, is her ability to be manipulated by a man. For a woman who dares think for herself must be immoral. To him, a woman needs to depend on a man, because the worst thing that could happen is if they are left to their own devices. Homer establishes Nausikaa as a good woman, who, to get anything done, must first “beg thy sovereign father” (VI.41). Nausikaa, ultimately seen as one of Homer’s two pure mortal women, is entirely dependent upon her father. Another mouthpiece to a man, stripping her of any actual mind of her own. Truly, to be a good woman, you must first be dependent on a man. The misogyny that comes along with Homer's “fact” that the ever-flawed woman must be at the mercy of the man illustrates Homer’s backwards view on how a woman should act. He essentially says that to be a true woman, you must be devoid of what is normally seen as human nature. These women must be cooperative to all men, lest they think, or have any actual mind of their own. The ideal woman must be entirely dependent upon men, because of the sexist view that women will fall to danger without a man supporting