Roles of Women in the Odyssey, Sakuntala and Good Country People

Throughout the epic poem “Odyssey” we see many great characters who all bring a different feel to the story. “Odyssey” is a story that has a male main character and many male side characters, but it also has several female characters found in it. Each one of these females have an important role within the story and it would not be the same without them. Athena, Penelope, and Eucycleia are a few examples of female characters.

For thousands of years it can be considered debatable on the true view of women over the years but one thing is for sure, many women suffered one commonality - discrimination. For decades women have been told the classics; “you can’t”, “you’re not strong enough”, “stay in the kitchen”, and because of this, young women today believe this is what they are viewed as. In “The Odyssey” there are many characters that share their disgust with the female gender and many who worship them,just like today. There is a possibility, even though it’s 2017, that there may be some men who believe men were given certain jobs to do and women should stick to what they were “meant to do”. It’s an issue - it’s teaching young men and women that women cannot do the same as men. It teaches women the true heroes are men, that women cannot be the ones to sail across the sea, to fight monsters, or even to simply be in charge of themselves. Since specific roles are assigned in “The Odyssey” to both men and women, it can teach women that while times have changed, in society it’s somehow important for women to be second next to men, when in reality that is not true.

      Homer's "Odyssey" depicts women as strong subjects-they are real substantive characters. Women in this poem are tough, strong-willed and are treated with the respect and seriousness they deserve.  Homer characterizes the women in his poem as the real counterparts of men-they have real feelings, real plans and are able to accomplish them on their own.

What do we learn about male and female roles in Greek society from the Odyssey? In the ancient time setting women were subservient and submissive to men; their lives were restricted to childbearing and household duties.

The Odyssey, by Homer, was written with the Greek mindset that women were supposed to be submissive. If the woman in question was not submissive enough, she was depicted as cruel, selfish, a monster, or a whore. This is true for both mortal women, such as Penelope, and immortal goddesses, such as Calypso. Mortal women were expected to be good faithful wives who listened to everything the head of the household said, while goddesses were expected to follow the gods every order and were called sexist slurs if they ever got involved with a mortal man.

In the span of our history, women have always been outcasted as “something else,” to put lightly. Cultures tend to see women in different lights, usually ending up being the assumption that all women are home goers and weak, and not as strong and willed as their male counterparts. Not to say many women do not follow this assumption. Nonetheless, women can be perceived in many more lights than only one simple assumption. The Odyssey views women as strong, but ruthless and snake-like. Wonder Woman views women as strong, but weak and useless as well. Both these pieces of literature show women in the many limelights society has seen over the years. Both The Odyssey and Wonder Woman show women in different ways, together as strong, and separate in their own ways.

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.

A common theme shown throughout the text is that “Beauty may be dangerous but intelligence is lethal.” The Odyssey by Homer reveals intelligence in women and how they hide behind their beauty to manipulate men and gain power. Women today are viewed as independent and able to fend for themselves. In ancient Greece, which The Odyssey was set in women had less influence in society. Homer describes how women have two sides to them: how they are viewed upon first sight and how their future actions make their view differ from first meeting the women. It doesn’t show that second real side of the women just how the characters would predict based off of original interactions. They are viewed and judged on how kind and beautiful they are; as well as their Xenia (the way they treat their guests). Their actions and mindset during their actions reveal secret intelligence and trickery making the representation of women powerful but hidden.

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.

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

Prompt: Compare and contrast the role of women as portrayed in The Odyssey. Consider how they are loyal, strong—or weak, hospitable, etc.

In ancient Greece, women were rarely seen as equals to men and were consistently seen as inferiors compared to men. This led to women being unable to participate in numerous of everyday activities that women are typically able to do in contemporary society, such as voting and having a voice in their decisions. However, in a few writings of Greek men, women are shown in a different perspectives that were not normally portrayed in ancient Greece. Few writings, such as The Odyssey by Homer, help illustrate women as almost equals to men due to their variety of personalities, wisdom and intelligence. For example, in The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus encounters numerous of female characters throughout his journey that impacts his journey back to Ithaca and ultimately led to his arrival of Ithaca after twenty years of being away. These female characters are portrayed with diverse characteristics such as being supportive, powerful, intelligent and loyal. With the use of strong female characters in The Odyssey, Homer refused to conform with ancient Greece of their stereotypical ways of illustrating women’s roles as weak and not as important as men, instead he brilliantly portrayed them as almost equals to men with their unique personalities in order to portray them with roles such as being supportive, powerful, intelligent, and loyal women.

   Ancient Greek society treated women as secondary citizens. Restrictions were placed on the social and domestic actions of many aristocratic women in ancient Athens.  The women depicted in Homer's Odyssey, on the other hand, are the ideal.  Penelope, Clytaemestra, Athena, and Helen are all women with exceptional liberty and power.

While many patriarchal elements still exist in society today, women were oppressed to a much greater extent in earlier periods of human history. During the time Homer transcribed The Odyssey, women were not even allowed to participate in the theatrical performances; male actors played the female characters. Despite these conditions, female characters are very prevalent in the epic, and many of them even exert their independence outside of traditional gender norms at the time. At the same time, however, these women still exhibit a level of subservience, representative of the social constraints. Even though various women play strong, important roles in The Odyssey, their independence is diminished by the tendency to act submissively and often maternally, revealing the paradoxical nature of gender roles in general and specifically in Greek society.