Essay Odyssey

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.

      Circe and Calypso, while very tricky and sly, are still very strong feminine characters.  Circe takes Odysseus' crew and turns them into swine; when Odysseus is able to resist her spell, due to the Moly he had been given by Hermes, she is dismayed and takes him as her lover. She is mysterious and seductive and is strong even up against Odysseus.  Calypso is a sea nymph who keeps Odysseus captive for nine years, hoping to make him her husband.  She is a strong-willed temptress whose sultry ways are able to reel in even the most determined man.

These two female characters are especially enticing to Odysseus because they are goddesses. Though it is evident that Odysseus longs to return

Something common in the two epics about their journey is that both Odysseus and Aeneas are distracted from what they are destined for; by the lust and arousal of women obsessed by love. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is first encountered by Circe’s love and then by the over obsession of Calypso. Circe is an immortal goddess and enchantress who is extremely beautiful and sexy. In the Aeneid, Aeneas after reaching Carthage meets Dido who is a mortal woman and queen of Carthage. She is foreign, exotic, mysterious, sexually and politically potent. Talking about Odysseus, we see that Odysseus is approached by Hermes who warns him against Circe. She offers Odysseus to have sex with her and it happens. Odysseus now distracted, lives with her on her island for a year until his comrades remind him of Ithaca. The longest delay in Odysseus’ journey is at the island of Calypso. Calypso lives alone on an exotic and beautiful island. After Odysseus crash lands here, he is rescued by her and held captive for seven years. Calypso loves Odysseus unconditionally and offers him immortality. Calypso could never impress Odysseus like Circe did. But in the Aeneid, we see that Aeneas loses sight of his mission of founding Rome in Italy. Dido makes Aeneas forget about what he is destined for as they fall in love. Both Dido and Circe keep men away from their

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.

The monsters of Homer’s The Odyssey as written by Robert Fitzgerald all share traits in common, but there is always the small differences which make each close encounter more gripping than the last. When the not-so-glorious Odysseus, son of Laertes just manages to elude the cannibalistic clutches of the blinded Kyklops (IX) and takes to the high seas, he becomes arrogant and taunts his nemesis. He does not realize this, but the very words he uttered then sets the holy executioner upon the necks of his crew. Every island he passes or makes port at, his men become feasts for native monsters; however upon the beautiful island of Aiolia his men are not eaten, nor do they die at the hands of any mortal or immortal foe. What is so significant

     Other women in the Odyssey are not portrayed as well as Athena and Eurykleia. Melantho, for example, is one of the debauched maids in Ithaka. She is rude and inhospitable to Odysseus when he is disguised as a beggar. She says to him: “Wretched stranger, you must be one whose wits are distracted, when you will not go where the smith is at work, and sleep there, or to some public gathering place, but staying here speak out boldly…” (XVIII, 327-330). She is also

Women were very important to the Greeks, and they showed this value in many ways. In The Odyssey Homer shows us the different ways women were looked upon through female characters, such as Penelope, Naussica, and Anticlia.

Penelope: In the opening chapters of The Odyssey Penelope is angry, frustrated, and helpless. She misses her husband, Odysseus. She worries about the safety of her son, Telemakhos. Her house is overrun with arrogant men who are making love to her servants and eating her out of house and home, all the while saying that they are courting her. She doesn't want to marry any of them, and their rude behavior can hardly be called proper courtship. She has wealth and position; she has beauty and intelligence; most of all she has loyalty to her husband. But against this corrupt horde who gather in her courtyard shooting dice, throwing the discus, killing her husband's cattle for their feasts, and drinking his wine, she is powerless.

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

Athena and Leucothea, two of the most influential women in the story, play a prominent role in the story, for they help Odysseus complete his journey! Athena and Leucothea work together to save Oddyseus’s life when he is drowning out at sea. Odysseus had just gotten off the island of Calypso and was on his way home when Poseidon, the God of the sea created a massive storm and almost killed Odysseus. Poseidon was furious with Odysseus because he had blinded his son Polyphemus. Luckily, a mortal named Leucothea comes to his rescue. As Odysseus is drowning, Leucothea yells over the storm, “‘Strip off those clothes and leave your craft for the winds to hurl, and swim for it now, you must, strike out with your arms for landfall there, Phaeacian land where destined safety waits. Here, take this scarf, tie it around your waist—it is immortal.’” (Book #5) Athena then plays a role by helping him get through the storm to the land safely. If it weren’t for these two powerful and wise women, nobody would have heard the story of Odysseus and his completion of

In Homer’s Odyssey women are responsible for many of the problems that Odysseus faced during his journey back to Ithaca. This essay will analyse how far women were responsible and also compare it to far other things caused problems for Odysseus.

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

            There were far more restrictions placed on the women of the ancient world than on the men.  To many, this may appear to be an obvious fact.  However, the comparison of women to men in the Odyssey does not show such a discrepancy.  The women created by Homer had certain characteristics that set them apart from ordinary women.  Penelope was a woman who did not give in to the demands of her surroundings.  She suffered throughout the twenty year absence of her husband, Odysseus.  She maintained her dignity and her chastity through her refusal of the hoards of suitors that flocked to her home. Penelope represents the ideal woman for balancing her refusals of marriage and the preservation of her respect.  When ready to address her suitors, Eurymachus, a suitor himself, speaks out from the crowd in praise of Penelope.  He states, "Ah, daughter of Icarius, wise Penelope . . . You surpass all women in build and beauty, refined and steady mind" (18. 276,280).  The acts of Penelope would not have been allowed of an ordinary woman of those times.  Her loyalty to Odysseus was unflagging and quite contrary to Clytaemestra's loyalty, another character in the Odyssey, though she is never mentioned by name.

Odysseus loves his family and desires to return despite his act with the nymph Calypso and Circe. At the