The Role And Role Of Women In The Odyssey

Women have not always been given power equal to men. During Dark Age Greece, the times The Odyssey was composed, women’s roles were almost limited to childbirth and domestic duties. In The Odyssey, Homer foreshadowed how the perception and roles of women would change in the future. Although the main character in The Odyssey, Odysseus, is a man, he would have never made it to Ithaca without the presence of the female characters. All the women in this epic are unique to one another, but they all come together to create the picture of the ideal woman we all know today. First, the role of the dominating and demanding goddesses was to aid the mortals. For instance, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, helped release Odysseus from being held hostage

Oenen declared, “By letting the axe fall on herself, she sacrifices her future with Odysseus, and gives life to the story of the Odyssey” (231). Even though Calypso held Odysseus hostage for seven years, she kept him out of harm, and she allowed Athena to devise a plan to get Odysseus home to Ithaca. As can be seen, the goddesses Athena and Calypso used their supernatural abilities

In particularly, Nausicaa’s account with Odysseus by the river provided much warmth to Odysseus after his long encounter with Poseidon at sea. Nausicaa agreed to help Odysseus, a complete stranger to her; she gave him a mantle and a tunic to wear, olive oil to bathe in the river with, and something to eat and drink (246-247; 220-221,255). Pedrick stated, “…Nausikaa has overstepped a subtle boundary and has take on a responsibility belonging to another—her mother” (5). It was not Nausicaa’s responsibility to provide Odysseus with a delightful environment, but she did anyway. Odysseus said to her, “I owe you my life” (268; 505). Odysseus was very tired, and he had lost his raft while being washed up on the shore. This encounter with Nausicaa made him regain hope to continue his voyage home. Arete is also a faithful hostess to Odysseus on his journey home. When Odysseus arrived at the palace of Alcinous, Arete’s husband, she ordered her maids “to place a bed on the porch and spread upon it beautiful purple blankets and fleecy cloaks” (257). Arete also bathed Odysseus and gave him treasures to take with him on his journey home to Ithaca (268; 474-478, 490-492). Similarly, Penelope was the most loyal hostess of them all. Penelope provided meals for all of the suitors in her house for twenty years until Odysseus returned home. This took a lot of exertion on Penelope’s part to