The Heroine 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.

      Penelope and Helen are the real human women who can steal men's hearts with their own feminine ways and they never let their man go.  Helen stole the heart of Paris and later married Menelaus-the love that Paris had for Helen began the long Trojan War.  Even with her shaded past, Helen is able to live her life as a proper adjusted middle-class matron.  Penelope and Odysseus were only together for a few years before he was sent off to war and, while he was gone for over twenty years, his love for her lasted.  Penelope is the symbol of marital fidelity, of trust, honor  and devotion.

The portrayal of women in society and literature is known to be sexist and male dominated. The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fagles, has similar portrayal of women and it presents women as deceiving in many cases, as well as, their subservience. From a feminist perspective, one would agree that women in The Odyssey compared to the men are deceptive and very dependent on the males in their families, including their husbands. The men, however, are demonstrated as independent and as the protectors of the household, while the women are forced to stay.

Although “The Odyssey” by the Greek poet Homer is very much an epic tale of a man’s heroic quest, women play an incredibly large role. Homer’s epic tale, “The Odyssey” revolves around Ulysses’ quest to return back to his wife, Penelope, so that he may be reunited with her and assume control over his palace, which has been overrun by suitors. Ulysses’ son, Telemachus attempts to regain authority in the presence of the many suitors but finds this difficult and embarks upon his own journey under the guidance of Athena and other deities. The main thrust of Homer’s “The Odyssey” centers upon the adventures of Homer as he endeavors to get back home, which he finally does. He overtakes the suitors through his cunning and the tale ends happily.

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?"

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

Professional football player Tim Cahill once stated, “A journey is best measured in friends rather than miles.” This statement can be applied to a person’s journey to find their meaning in life. An individual’s purpose in life differs from person to person, however, each person’s journey that leads to their purpose in life is relatable. Cahill’s statement expresses that a journey’s length is insignificant, while the lesson’s learned are crucial. Lessons are best learned from relationships with others, such as family, or friends as Cahill mentioned. Therefore, relationships are essential for a person searching for meaning in their life. Many fictional works of art, as well as non-fiction sources articulate this idea well. Firstly, the novel’s Fifth Business by Robertson Davies, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy

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

There are various female characters in Homer’s poem The Odyssey. While some of them play positive roles, others display the evil side of women. Penelope is a portrait of loyalty of a woman towards her husband. Athena is a symbol of helpfulness. On the other hand, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis represent the women who find it fair to fulfil their desires through unethical desire. During the ancient Greek, the societies were patriarchal; the women in the poem support this notion through their submissive personality despite the unfathomable powers they hold.

How does The Odyssey portray women in Ancient Greece? In The Odyssey, Homer depicts mortal women as individuals with little to no powers or rights and immortal women with more power than mortal men and unmatched beauty against mortal women.

The journey matters more than the destination. Although a person has a final goal, a destination no matter what that destination is, a person does not revolve everything around that. It is the journey that truly when going through that a person receives and gains. After the journey that person finally arrives at their destination, whether they are pleased with the destination or not, it was the journey that created the destination. While the destination is important it is the journey that defines the destination, because through the journey a person gains tolerance, wisdom, and experience.

Paulo Coehlo and Walt Whitman both use their works ¨The Alchemist” and ¨Song of the Open Road¨ to portray you embarking on a life fulfilling journey. It’s true, that’s what life does. It makes you cry and laugh and think and stop, sometimes. It’s all about the experience. Journeys try everything you are willing to give and both of these authorś works show that destiny, while inevitable, can be bent to accommodate your desires.

As a young cub grizzly bear follows its mother around as a young the cub will experience and try new things, and the most important is that if the cub learns new techniques and strategies to survive along the way, this is a prime example of where the journey is definitely more important than the destination. We as people are always going on journeys, either if it is to the grocery store, or halfway around the world to Africa, and a matter of fact life itself is a journey. At the end of every journey is a destination whether it is reaching a personal goal, or gaining something new, like hidden treasure. But in some instances the journey is more important than the destination.

Homer was born around sometime between the 12th and the 8th centuries BC. His exact place of birth cannot be pinpointed to any city or area. He is also the first to be credited for writing the Iliad and the Odyssey. Many believe that Homer compiled many stories together and they were not originally his own ideas and imagination because they say he was blind, so he could not write on his own. All that is known about Homer is taken from his works of writing and how he portrayed many of his characters in his poems.Many statues and portraits that depict Homer show him with a beard and sightless eyes.