Analysis Of The Poem ' Angelica Kauffman Painted Prolifically And The Odyssey ' Essay

In the first section of Odyssey, mortal women are presented to us as controlled by the stereotypes and expectations of the culture of the day, and it is only within that context that we can consider the examples Homer provides of women to be admired or despised. He provides us with clear contrasts, between Penelope and Eurycleia on the one hand, and Helen and Clytemnaestra on the other.

Brains over brawn, who will win this battle?Homer's tale of Odysseus' adventures in “The Odyssey” show that being intelligent and cunning can be far better than having physical strength. Being physically strong certainly has its advantages, but not in all circumstances. Strength in intelligence shows new meaning of strength. Odysseus is amused with himself when he defeats Polyphemus. His great skills with a bow outweigh the others abilities. Knowledge of the placement of his bed win his beloveds heart.

INTRO: Despite difference of around 400 years between them Greek poet Homer and tragedian playwright Euripides explore many of the same themes in their works the Odyssey and Trojan Women (written by each respectively). Both works are inspired by the events of 12th Century BCE Trojan War that Homer previously explored in the Iliad. The two examine the worth of cunning over brute strength, the dangers of temptation and the role of women in their respective time periods. Despite having extremely similar central ideas, the techniques employed by each are markedly different. These differences arise as the result of changes in socio-historical contexts and format of each work’s presentation, for example the critical shift of the 5th century which saw the rise of sophistry and a certain scepticism in regard to Athenian leadership and the very existence of the gods.

For this informative report I will attempt to point out the roles women and how they are viewed in ancient Greece. I will then show how these views are present in Homer’s "The Odyssey." How are women, goddess or mortal, conveyed in "The Odyssey?"

     Many people regard Homer’s epics as war stories—stories about men; those people often overlook the important roles that women play in the Odyssey. While there are not many female characters in the Odyssey, the few that there are, play pivotal roles in the story and one can gain a lot of insight by analyzing how those women are portrayed. Homer portrays the females in contradictory ways: the characters of Athena and Eurykleia are given strong, admirable roles while Melantho, the Sirens and Circe are depicted in a much more negative way. Penelope—the central female character—is given both negative and positive attributes.

Homer uses stylistic and narrative features to construct interesting and diverse female characters in his epic poem ‘The Odyssey’. Characters such as Penelope, Athene, Circe and Calypso are developed into varied and stimulating characters for Homer’s universal audience through the use of various literary techniques.

Religion, literature, and art have historically illustrated a virtuous woman as a submissive, fragile being. Her moral purity is desirable compared to the contrasting dangerous depiction of a woman that deviates from this male contrived ideology. Sexually liberated and independent characteristics in a female figure are often accompanied by malicious and cunning intentions. When femininity is used as a seductive tool of destruction, the concept of the femme fatale, or fatal woman, is introduced. Her attraction is irresistibly detrimental. Written works often utilize this archetype as a literary device to symbolize a threatening temptation. This concept is represented in the Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer’s The Odyssey. Both exploit luring women

The book the Odyssey of Homer by Richmond Lattimore an epic, is embedded with Female gender roles as with male gender roles. The perception and expectation of how women are expected to be are prevalent within more than 300 pages. This book is evident to the gender roles that are the norm in our society. Female gender roles can be connected within the Odyssey of Homer and the media. Regardless of the Odyssey of Homer being published in 1967, these roles still remain strong today. It seems nothing has changed these past 40 years. Female gender roles can be connected within the Odyssey and the media.

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

“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.

All female mortals in the tale of the Odyssey seem subservient and a source of weakness, but are underratedly clever and deceptive and control the men around them. The strong and adventurous men in Homer’s poem are the ones first thought of as the source of power. But whether it is as large and bold as starting a war like Helen, or as quiet and tricky and playing with men’s emotions like Penelope, the women have a great deal of supremacy. Although Penelope is portrayed as sorrowful and pitiful character, she leads the suitors on enough to keep their hopes up, with no intention to fulfill any promises of love or sex.

Don’t you love the idea that women are often portrayed as objects of sexual desire? In The Odyssey, written by Homer, men were put on a pedestal and were seen as the stronger gender. In the Ancient Greek society, once a woman became married, they would lose the little freedom they had and is under the control of their husband. The concept of gender roles was determined by the prevailing cultural norms. In addition, the way women are treated by men has an impact on the audience's view of women and men. Furthermore, the portrayal of women in The Odyssey not only shows how women are treated as an object in the culture of Ancient Greece, but it also reveals how the audience values women in the Greek Culture.

After reading the ancient Greek stories entitled The Iliad and Medea, authored by Homer and Euripides, respectively, I realized a startling and disturbing truth involving society during ancient Greek times. It seems as though no matter how similar the circumstances, or how similar the action undertaken and the reason for undertaking such an action, women in ancient Greek society were never, ever, regarded as being heroic. While a man who chose to commit selfishly rageful atrocities during this period was considered admirable, honorable, and was revered by others, the same truth did not apply to women, even if they were essentially forced into a similar situation. This conclusion was reached after an in-depth comparison of the

The role of women in Greek literature has demoralized them and showing them in a maligned light. The women are portrayed as frail, cruel, insensitive, or as seductresses. These characteristics have been integrated into today’s society and [have] built the standards and defined the moral outlook of women. However, in Greek mythology, powerful and strong women are not as well celebrated, such as Athena. Homer’s The Odyssey construes the positive and negative role of women through the epic poem. The women in the poem are depicted through the contrasting actions of Penelope and the maids, in addition with the opposite personalities between the goddess Athena and the nymph Calypso.

Homer’s Iliad is undoubtedly focused on its male characters: Achilles, primarily, but also Hector and Agamemnon. Nevertheless, it seems that the most crucial characters in the epic are female. Homer uses the characters of Thetis, Andromache, and Helen as a basis for comparison to the male characters. Homer wants his audience to see and understand the folly of his male characters in choosing war over peace, aggression over kindness, and honor over family. While the behavior of these characters clearly speaks for itself, the contrasting attitudes and behaviors of the female characters proffer an alternative; in comparison, the reader can hardly fail to concur with Homer’s message that war, aggression,