The Role Of Women In The Odyssey Of Homer And Medea

The Odyssey of Homer and “Medea” are two of the better-known Greek literary works that emphasize the role of women in society. Odysseus returned home from his long journey to find Penelope’s loyalty unwavering to her husband, despite going through several hardships to keep this sense of loyalty. For example, while Odysseus was on his journey, she agrees to remarry on condition, which appears as though she is betraying her husband. On the other hand, Medea, the wife of Jason, took an opposite approach in response to gender role expectations. Once she discovered that Jason found a new wife and abandoned her, she tried to do something in order to ruin his name and reputation. We see from here that while Penelope conforms to the expectations of

Even though Odysseus was far-off on his journey, and didn’t have an idea if he was dead or alive, she remained loyal and didn’t give up hope for his return. She wept every day, despite each day feeling as long as eternity, hoping that he will one day return home. Many of the suitors wanted to marry Penelope in order to take Odysseus’ place to gain power, however, she knew the suitors’ intentions. While the suitors were fighting for her hand in marriage, she tells Eurynome, her housekeeper, “Mother, they are all hateful, since all are devising evils, but Antinoos, beyond the rest, is like black death.” (The Odyssey of Homer 17.499-500) Penelope knew something needed to be done in order to save herself and her son Telemachos from the evilness of the suitors. The goddess Athene, seeing her misery, set a plan in place. Her plan was to create a contest where the suitors would need to string a bow and shoot an arrow between twelve axes by, “put[ting] in the mind of the daughter of Ikarios, circumspect Penelope, to set the bow before the suitors…the contest, the beginning of the slaughter.” (The Odyssey of Homer 21.1-4) However, the suitors didn’t realize it was an impossible feat, that only Odysseus was capable of fulfilling. Penelope didn’t use trickery to take revenge on the suitors; she used trickery as an attempt to stay loyal to her husband. Therefore, Penelope

After Medea helped Jason acquire the Golden Fleece, Jason and Medea lived happily in Corinth for many years. But one day, Jason decided to leave her and marry the daughter of Creon leaving Medea on her own. He believed that he should marry her in order to protect their family name, and to provide a better life for their sons by marrying into royalty. However, he not only left Medea; he also exiled her from the land. Medea decided to take revenge on her husband and anyone close to him, planning to “make dead bodies of three of her enemies- [his new wife’s] father, the girl and her husband.” (Medea 374-375) She decided that if she killed them in any other way, she would get caught. So she thought the best way to kill them was through poison, that “it is best to go by the straight road, the one in which I am most skilled, and make away with them by poison.” (Medea, 384-385) Medea uses “craft and silence” (Medea 391-392) to carry out these plans. She then uses “craft and silence” in order to seek revenge on Jason by giving her sons a beautiful gown and a golden diadem to give to Jason’s new wife. Although Jason didn’t accept the idea of Medea giving his new wife presents, Medea deceives Jason by convincing him that she was wrong about his new wife. Medea tells him, “I ask your pardon, I admit to being wrong, I’ve thought better of it now” (Medea, 891-893), which allowed her sons to, unknowingly,