Women, like foxes, display beauty on the outside yet work cunningly on the inside. The Odyssey incorporates many such beautiful, clever women as these. The Odyssey begins with Odysseus who loses himself getting home from the Trojan War. He must journey the seas to overcome many obstacles including angry Olympian gods and the one-eyed giant Cyclops. Along with these tribulations, a variety of Machiavellian women try to create havoc so as not to allow him the pleasures of home. In The Odyssey, Homer portrays women as sly, easily-wooed, and troublesome creatures.
A sly woman uses her tools in order to gain what she wants. Penelope exemplifies slyness by delaying her choice in suitors through trickery. She declares to her suitors that she would pick a husband, but only after she finishes weaving her web. Every night she “works away at the great web […] to unravel it by torch light” (Homer 18). Penelope uses her tool of wisdom and knowledge to remain faithful to Odysseus. Homer composes Penelope into a mischievous and cunning woman that has the ability to fool grown men for her benefit. By giving Penelope these qualities, he depicts the image of women as creatures who only use their insidious ideas to get out of situations they do not comply with. In addition to this, Homer portrays Circe as this deceiving goddess who turns men into animals. When Odysseus and his men reach Circe's island, she feeds Odysseus' men with food containing “dangerous drugs […] to make them forget” their beloved home (125). The men then turn into pigs, her pigs. Circe utilizes her divine tool of magic to use them for her own profit. She keeps all her animals, men, as her pets. Homer tells the readers that figuratively, women use wiles (the drugs) to
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..., Homer sees women as problematic and troublesome inhabitants of the earth.
Throughout the Odyssey, the author delineates the female characters as existents who have a sharpness of mind, fragility at heart, yet deviousness in soul. The world needs to know about this because Homer's interpertation of women holds some truth. Women need to see that they do have some of the flaws that he points out. This story should act as a reflection to every female on this earth. Though not every woman has a cunning mentality, every woman could have one of the characteristics identified by Homer. Precisely, this essay should be shared among all to reveal some of the flaws that women tend to have. Beyond revealing though, everyone needs to take action and become better.
Works Cited
Homer, W. H. D. Rouse, and Deborah Steiner.The Odyssey. New York: Signet Classics, 2007. Print.
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...
Odysseus ' principles and characteristics are a prototype of an ideal Homeric Greek leader. Odysseus is noble, clever and loyal. Through his distress and blunders, he gains knowledge that was not only crucial for his survival but for his companions too. Odysseus’s cleverness constantly allowed him to avoid death because he relied on trickery, rhetoric and disguise. “The society depicted in The Odyssey is one where male values were dominant and where all socially relevant transactions took place between the male members of the community”. (Whittaker 39) While males’ dominance takes the forefront in society, their principles are continuously being challenged by the allurement of women. In The Odyssey, many instances of such seduction reveals
Women form an important part of the folk epic, written by Homer, The Odyssey. Within the story there are three basic types of women: the goddess, the seductress, and the good hostess/wife. Each role adds a different element and is essential to the telling of the story.
For the Greeks, Homer's Odyssey was much more than just an entertaining tale of gods, monsters, and men, it served as cultural paradigm from which every important role and relationship could be defined. This book, much more so than its counter part The Iliad, gives an eclectic view of the Achean's peacetime civilization. Through Odyssey, we gain an understanding of what is proper or improper in relationships between father and son, god and mortal, servant and master, guest and host, and--importantly--man and woman. Women play a vital role in the movement of this narrative. Unlike in The Iliad, where they are chiefly prizes to be won, bereft of identity, the women of Odyssey are unique in their personality, intentions, and relationship towards men. 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.
Of all the themes in the Odyssey, the one that seems to stand out is Odysseus's struggle to return home. There are many reasons why his journey is deterred, the most obvious being the women he encounters. Of the women, their are two that truly represent "the different aspects of creative and destructive feminiinty." (Taylor, 571)
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.
...ow Greek civilization was founded by women; they were the ones who gave birth to the heroes. Similarly, The Odyssey is a story created by women. The plot revolves around the actions of women. Athena orchestrates all the events. The seductresses, such as Circe, the sirens, and Calypso, attempt to stop Odysseus from reaching home. The helpmeets, such as Nausicaa, Arete, and Athena, aid Odysseus in his homecoming. The wise and virtuous Penelope is the object of Odysseus’ quest. Unlike Helen who forsakes her husband, Penelope remains faithful. Unlike Clytemnestra who assassinates her husband, Penelope patiently waits for Odysseus. She becomes a model of female patience and of female intelligence. Her craftiness is the only one which can match up to Odysseus’. The Odyssey presents a wide array of women and demonstrates the influence that women have in the life of a hero.
The Odyssey by Homer tells the account of the celebrated king Odysseus and of his great feats on his way back to Ithaca, much like the Epic of Gilgamesh expresses the feats of the great king Gilgamesh and his friend Endiku. These male characters are exemplified in their incredible feats and capabilities. However, many of these deeds would not be possible without the help of the female characters. The seemingly perfect male characters have their greatest weakness in women and many of their pitfalls are a result of encounters with women. The female characters in both the Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh show how even though women both mortal and immortal are subservient to men in society, whenever women are pitted against men, women almost
Homer’s Odyssey is a magnificent mythological tale. This work was presumably created after his encounter with goddess Athena. Although Odysseus’ journey is filled with unrealistic adventures and mythical powers, some principles behind this story can relate to our everyday lives. Odysseus’ adventures in Odyssey relate to the heroism, intellect, and ruthlessness that are in our lives.
Nettie was wanted by Mister because she was beautiful, her father wanted to get rid of Celie because she was the ugly, spoiled one. Celie believes she is ugly until Shug forces her to face her beauty, her smile, and her strength but still the Mister wanted to get rid of her. The reason Shug can get away is through her voice, her talent, and her attractiveness. But in The Odyssey some women are known for the deeds of their sons or husbands, and never for a heroic deed of their own, their personalities, what they do themselves. The only accomplishment women could achieve was being beautiful. 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, tells Telemachus "...but you should know the suitors are not to blame- it is your own incomparably cunning mother "(Homer 21). Even Telemachus doesn 't respect his mother as he should. When the song of a minstrel makes her sad and Penelope requests him to stop playing, Telemachus interrupts and
“A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view” (Ibsen). This saying also applied to the times of the Odyssey, an epic constructed by the blind, eight century B.C.E. poet, Homer. As one of the few representatives of ancient Greek social order, the blind, Homer witnessed women as substandard to men, regardless of their actions; many of them existed as seductresses, prostitutes, or slaves. He engraved into his poem women’s roles; the roles of women, as mothers, wives, seductresses, and goddesses are exemplified in this epic, when shown in comparison to the men of that era.
Judged by modern Western standards, the treatment of women by men in Homer's Odyssey can be characterized as sexist. Women in Homer's Odyssey are judged mainly by their looks. If important men and gods consider a woman beautiful, or if her son or husband is a hero or has an important position such as king, the woman is successful. The way women in The Odyssey are treated is based on appearance, the things men want from them, and whether the woman has any power over men. During Odysseus' journey to the underworld he sees many different types of women. We hear about their beauty, their important sons, or their affairs with gods. We hear nothing about these women's accomplishments in their lifetime. Odysseus tells how Antiope could "boast a god for a lover,"(193) as could Tyro and many other women. Epikaste was called "that prize"(195) her own son unwittingly married.
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.
By examining the women of The Odyssey one comes to one conclusion about women in Homer's epic. Homer's male characters in The Odyssey consistently treated women differently and unequally throughout The Odyssey. Concurrent with the time's belief that women held a subservient position in society to men, the male characters in The Odyssey often expected certain traits and actions that they didn't expect from men. Also all the societies and lands Odysseus visited that were inhabited by mortals were dominated by men.
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.