Gender Roles In The Penelopiad

Penelope was left behind when Odysseus left for the trojan war, but he didn’t come back after that. Penelope had to take care of their son, their estate, and their servants for 20 years. On top of all of that she had suitors demanding her attention. In all of this she stayed strong and independent, and despite the pressure of the suitors she stayed loyal to Odysseus, even when she didn’t even know if he was alive or not. Penelope’s character is also very clever and sly. She told the suitors that she would remarry after she finishes her weaving project, but each night she undoes everything she did that day. When the suitors find out about it they demand she choose someone to remarry. Penelope uses her intelligence and slyness again as she tells them whoever wins an archery contest using Odysseus bow, which only he could use, she would marry. Penelope is also very kind, which we see when she interacts with the servants and her son. Penelope is a very well portrayed character and she is needed in the story to be someone Odysseus could always be someone to come back

Penelope is a great example of how Greek women should act in early society. Penelope was loyal to her husband, she was clever, and she was a good mother to her son Telemachos. Penelope honored her husband and didn’t go against him even though he was gone for over 20 years. She also had to face over 100 suitors while Odysseus was gone. Penelope showed her cleverness when she told the town she would remarry when she finished weaving the rug. Every night Penelope would undo the work she weaved so she could buy time for her husband. She was very faithful to her husband and believed him that he would return to her. These traits that Penelope show are how other Greek women should act in society. The roles women played in society was that they

The role of men and women in The Odyssey is evident on numerous occasions as well as many references on the expectations of the two sexes. In the novel, Homer makes it quite clear how women are expected to act and the jobs they must do. When Penelope complains about the

The Odyssey by Homer is one of the two major Ancient Greek epic poems. This epic poem was mainly about Odysseus and his journey home to his family and loved ones in Ithaca. In "The Odyssey," Homer demonstrates the dominant roles played by men, while women occupied a more submissive position to their husbands /masters. Greek society was organized and directed by men who played the most important roles. Of course, women were as valuable, but their roles were not as powerful as men. In fact, they would only participate in activities that were approved of men. Homer used these themes in "The Odyssey" to differentiate between the two genders. However, gender roles were depicted in the poem by one of the main characters' Penelope, in which she plays a very important role. She provides the motivation for her husband Odysseus's to return to Ithaca. She is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemachus and Ithaca itself. The characterization of Penelope in the poem shows the expected role of women in Ancient Greece. Even in the household that she is supposed to be in charge, she lacks power. Her values are shown in her faithfulness to her husband even though he been gone for 20 years, and in the end, she is seen as a prize to be won. Even though women were considered valuable, they were not given important roles or any decision making power.

Unlike Odysseus Penelope is confined by the gender roles of her time and cannot use physical strength against the suitors or even direct verbal rejection, instead Penelope resorts to her emotional resilience and wit in order to challenge the suitors. She wrongly reassures the suitors that once she finishes weaving a gift for Odysseus’s father, she will choose someone to marry her, “’Young men, my suitors, let me finish my weaving, before I marry’…every day she wove on the great loom but every night by torchlight she unwove it.” (II. 103-104, 112-113) Penelope’s actions are strategic and well calculated. Her main goal, like Odysseus, is to successfully overcome her situation. She understands that she may not be able to physically fight the suitors but she can trick them until Telemachus or Odysseus are able to. By crafting a lie that delays the suitors from marrying her immediately, Penelope restrains the suitors from seizing Ithaca, her household, and posing a threat to Telemachus or Odysseus. Her lie gives Odysseus a crucial advantage in the physical fight against the suitors as he comes back to a city and household where Penelope

Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The nymph Calypso enslaves Odysseus for many years. Odysseus desires to reach home and his wife Penelope. It is the goddess Athena who sets the action of The Odyssey rolling; she also guides and orchestrates everything to Odysseus’ good. Women in The Odyssey are divided into two classes: seductresses and helpmeets. By doing so, Homer demonstrates that women have the power to either hinder of help men. Only one woman is able to successfully combine elements of both classes: Penelope. She serves as a role model of virtue and craftiness. All the other women are compared to and contrasted with Penelope.

Penelope may not have as exciting of a life as some of the other characters in Homer’s The Odyssey, but she makes up for it by being very clever, which makes her a good match for her husband, Odysseus. Penelope plays a very important role in Odysseus’s journey home, in fact, she is the main reason for his return to Ithaca. When the suitors begin invading her house and asking, then demanding, her hand in marriage, Penelope knows she must handle them herself. Being a woman in ancient Greece, she does not have the ability to force the suitors to leave her house, and neither does Telemachus. This means that Penelope must continue to allow them to abuse the hospitality that was expected at that time, and all she can do is try to outsmart the suitors until her husband comes home. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope is a good match for Odysseus because she is clever, and she shows that cleverness when she stalls the suitors by weaving the burial shroud, when she devises the contest with

Women in The Odyssey desire power and equal opportunities, but strict gender roles do not allow them to achieve equality. An example of this is Queen Penelope. Her husband, King Odysseus, has been gone for 20 years and missing for 10 of those, and she's completely helpless against the suitors who have overrun her house. The intention of these suitors being is to marry Penelope (against her will) and take over the thrown. In book two Telemachus calls a meeting of all these men to share his exasperation and anger over the fact that all the suitors have been taking his cattle, wrecking his home, and longing after his mother against her will. Nobody spoke up, except for Antinous. He was a sly man who had discovered Penelope’s secret, and decided

Throughout the ancient world women possessed few rights and privileges. A woman’s freedom varied depending on where she was born, in this case Athens and Sparta. But it can be said that most women were second-class citizens during this time period. Most women had limited social roles, little education, and no involvement in politics. Power and freedom was something that only existed in a man’s world, while women were expected to be submissive, docile, bear children, and take care of the household. Surviving records from ancient Greece show that women’s roles did not differ much from city-state to city-state but there were exceptions that include noble women and most notably, Spartan women. Some civilizations treated women with respect

Women are important to the plot and overall theme of the Odyssey. In fact, without many of the women there would not be a complex plot to this epic poem. In the narrative and in Greek society women played a variety of roles, as mothers, herons, and many other strong roles yet, they were treated as less significant, and were made to be loyal and submissive to men. The women were required to wait on and sulk for love, as Penelope did for 20 years. In Greek society, the women had very little authority but the little control that they did have was sort of a sexual power, which at times they could use to outwit the men. Obvious examples of this sexual power would be Circe and Calypso. Calypso and Circe however, are not the

Penelope, just as Odysseus, portrayed the great human trait of patience. She did what it took to fend off the suitors with hope that her husband would come back for her. Penelope didn’t give up hope because she felt in heart that Odysseus would come

In the three plays that we have discussed in class, Antigone by Jean Anouilh, The Infernal Machine by Jean Cocteau, and Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry, there is a prodigious depiction of female characters and power that come in numerous ways. In The Infernal Machine there are female characters, such as Jocasta and the Sphinx, who show power and authority. Likewise, in “Antigone,” characters, such as Antigone and her sister, Ismene, also show power and supremacy. In Ubu Roi, the main character that showed power through rule was Mere Ubu. From being a woman of authority, to rebelling against men with a greater authority than them, to doing what you want no matter if it was right or wrong for the people, these characters truly show what it is to be a woman of power in one way or another. Characters in both plays display power in innumerable means, and it shows the leadership of women. John C. Maxwell once said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Women in these plays do what they can to show power, in their each individual ways.

This was the only woman in Europe who truly had power. Aside from queen Elizabeth, Shakespeare was in a time where men ruled and women followed. Women cleaned, took care of the kids, and obeyed their husbands. The women of this time were groomed. They learned from a young age that boys had more privileges and they were to do whatever the men deemed them worthy of doing. The women were rarely educated and knew nothing other than what they were taught by the men. The women’s sole purpose was to get approval from first their father and then eventually a husband once (once approved by her father). For them, there was little reason or opportunity to do anything beyond domestic tasks. When not performing these tasks, their role was to sit doll-like, looking prim and

Since the men have so much power, the have an huge influence on others. Power was given to men because of the strength they are perceived to possess. They are said to be strong and prominent, which gives them power over women. Odysseus' wife, Penelope, had been probed by the suitors while Odysseus was gone. “Suitors plague my mother- against her will”. When Odysseus was gone, each of the suitors had been trying to wed Penelope. Although she had turned down each and every one of them, they had all forced to love and care for them. Odysseus and Penelope’s son, Telemachus, had the power to just leave his mother behind, and voyage out to find his father. He was able to do this because he was a man. "If I hear he's dead, no longer among the living,/ then back I'll come to the native land I love,/ raise his grave-mound, build his honors high/ with the full funeral rites that he deserves”. Telemachus had decided to journey out to find his father, leaving his mother behind, and only returning if he hears his father is dead shows that he has the power to do whatever he feels. This asserts the legitimacy of patriarchy since he had enough power to do as he pleased, only being a young man, he was able to take a dangerous voyage out. Men dominate women in a sense of roles, influence, power and

During this century, women were present, but they weren’t thought to be nor do much where they lived. This idea was common amongst almost every civilization during this time. In Greek civilization, they had this attitude towards women. In Ancient Greece, women had very few rights, especially compared to those of their male counterparts. Women were unable to vote, own land, and inherit things. They were also not allowed to run for any position in office, nor attend public assemblies. Some women during this time were also prostitutes. The