The Demeaning Role Of Women In Homer's The Odyssey

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.

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.

In the poem "Calypso" by Suzanne Vega, the reader understands that Calypso really did care for Odysseus an is sad when she has to let him go. In the poem Vega states,"It's a lonely time ahead/I do not ask him to return/I let him go"( Vega lines 38-40). Many years ago there was a war between the gods and the titans. Unfortunately, Calypso chose the wrong side to oblige. Therefore, when the gods won the war, they punished Calypso by placing her on an island for eternity and sending her heroes to fall in love with. In addition, after awhile she had to let them go eventually. Odysseus got sent to her island and, as predicted, the "regular routine'' of her falling for heroes and releasing them started once again. In conclusion, when Odysseus leaves her island for good she is left heartbroken, but in the end acknowledges that she has to let them

      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.

This time spent on Circe's island was a test of whether he could resist lust from a goddess, and he fails. At first it appears as though the only reason Odysseus sleeps with Circe is to regain his companions, but she easily persuades them to stay. What makes it worse is the fact that Odysseus is not even the first one ready to go. His men are the ones who urge him to leave: "What ails you now? It is time to think about our own country" (Book X, line 472). At a glance, it appears that Odysseus is merely succumbing to Circe's schemes for reasons related to their health and well being, if we read between the lines, we soon begin to realize that Odysseus is weak in the voracious hands of lust. Odysseus arrives on Calypso's island in her cave. At first, it seems like Odysseus doesn't seem much to mind her taking care of him, but over time it is plainly evident that he is unhappy with her. When Hermes arrives on Calypso's island to give her the message from Zeus to release Odysseus, he is bawling on the beach-- a daylong activity for him. Calypso is holding him with her by force; she has no companions to help him back to Ithaca, nor has she a ship to send him in. Athena pleads with Zeus to give Odysseus good fortune,

She is a “bewitching nymph” and “lustrous goddess” (206). She forces Odysseus to stay with her as her lover for many years. Odysseus was able to escape from the Cyclops’ cave. However, neither his strength nor his cunning can free him from Calypso. He is doomed to remain there until the gods intervene. Women’s irresistible charm leads Odysseus to disaster.

The gods are constantly involved with mortal women and are not shamed for it, Zeus’ being especially guilty of this. However, Calypso argues that when an immortal women such as herself sleeps with a mortal man she is berated and the man is whisked away. She refers to the gods as “scandalized” in result of her involvement with Odysseus, yet they are unimpeded to sleep with any women they desire. Calypso wishes the power to be held to the same standard as the gods, but the etiquette of a goddess is to not freely become involved with mortals, as it is of a god. Calypso angrily must give up Odysseus, and in book six he finally makes his way onto another island after a near death experience awash in the sea. On this island lives Princess Nausicaa who also must undergo gender roles. The goddess Athena, disguised as a friend of the princess, convinces Nausicaa that she should take a trip to the river to wash and bathe her clothes as a plan to get her and Odysseus to meet up. Odysseus finds Nausicaa at the stream, and first she is scared because he is dirty and very fatigued. He then talks to her, and she offers him help. She asks that he accompany her back to the palace where he can get help of her parents, the king and queen. He is about to ride in the Nausicaa's wagon, but then she asks that Odysseus must follow behind, telling him about what would possibly happen if the were to ride

Calypso fell in love with Odysseus and wants to marry him. She was possessed by her ‘love’ for Odysseus. Although Odysseus did not

Homer’s “The Odyssey” takes place ten years after the events in “The Iliad”, to which the Odyssey is an indirect sequel, and the fall of Troy; even though the story is believed to have been composed some time during the eight century B.C.E. it is estimated to be set sometime between 1300 and 1000 B.C.E. in Mycenaean Greece during the Bronze age. In this novel all Greek heroes have returned home after the fall of Troy, except for Odysseus who after a three year journey has been held captive by the goddess Calypso, who has fallen in love with him, on her island, Ogygia. After the ten years have passed Odysseus is presumed dead, his wife Penelope is courted, and his estate is auctioned off by the Suitors, the young men of Ithaca who attempt to win Penelope’s favor and hand in marriage.

Calypso's trait is vanity, and she keeps Odysseus captive for seven years in order to fulfill her selfish desires. Despite her efforts and hospitality, Odysseus still longs for home as he sits each day by the rocky shore. After Hermes brought the message that Calypso must release Odysseus, Calypso tries to persuede Odysseus to stay. "..if you could only know how much suffering is in store for you before you get back to your own country, you would stay where you are, keep house along with me, and let me make you immortal, no matter how anxious you may be to see this wife of yours...Yet I flatter myself that I am no whit

Does Homer exhibit gender bias in the Odyssey?  Is the nature of woman as depicted in the Odyssey in any way revealing? Upon examining the text of the Odyssey for differential treatment on men and women, it becomes necessary to distinguish between three possible conclusions.  One, differences in treatment reflect the underlying Homeric thesis that  women are "different but equal in nature,"  Two, different treatment  of men and women in the text reflect a thesis that women are "different and unequal in nature" -- arguments about misogyny fall in here but a host of other interpretive possibilities are possible too. Three, the different treatment reflects simple ignorance. How much do we attribute what we discover to male authorship -- or

Within the masts of ships, the tests of loyalty, and the authority of the social pecking order lays the similarities and differences among powerful female characters. The Odyssey by Homer was written as a sequel to his previous work The Iliad. These books follow The Trojan War and the events following this massive war. Specifically, The Odyssey follows the journey of war hero Odysseus on his way back home to Ithaca. On his campaign filled with trials and tribulations, Odysseus received help from many important women. Bright-eyed Athena, the goddess of strategic warfare, serves as a mentor throughout Odysseus’ journey to his homeland, Ithaca. Calypso, the nymph with the human voice, houses Odysseus on his journey home. Eurycleia, the nurse in his placae, provides care and support to her superior, Odysseus. These three women can all be compared and contrasted to one another because of their close relationships with Odysseus, master of tactics. Odysseus would not have been successful on his journey home to Ithaca if it were not for women such as Athena, Calypso, and Eurycleia.

Penelope is also important because she (along with Telemachus) is the main reason for Odysseus to return home. Odysseus shows his great love and determination when goddess Calypso offers him immortality (Book 5) on the condition that he remains on Ogygia as her husband. At Odysseus's first opportunity he builds a raft and sails away, leaving the lonely Calypso behind. When he reaches Phaeacia, he is then offered the hand of King Alcinous daughter, Nausicaa, who must have been beautiful because Odysseus had mistaken her for the goddess Artemis on first site. Instead Odysseus wished to return to Penelope.

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.

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