The Oppression Of Women In Homer's 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.

Women: A.K.A. Powerful Manipulators Thesis: Men seemingly have more power in The Odyssey, but Homer portrays the women as manipulators and influencers, which allows them to gain control and power. In The Odyssey, Penelope is able to manipulate men using her sexuality, symbolizing that women have the true power and control in society. With many suitors at home, Penelope chooses to seduce them only to lead them on, “For three years now, getting on to four,/ she’s played it fast and loose with all our hearts,/ building each man’s hopes–/ dangling promises, dropping hints to each–/ but all the while with something else in mind” (Homer 2.96-100).

      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.

After Odysseus “dies”, Penelope is forced to remarry because women were supposed to be wives and listen to the head of the household. She takes action to delay her forced remarriage by weaving a loom, but was caught in the act and did not succeed in canceling the wedding: “They rush the marriage on, and I spin out my wiles./ […] So by day I'd weave at my great and growing web-/ by night, by the light of torches set beside me,/ I would unravel all I'd done. Three whole years/ I deceived them blind, seduced them with this scheme./ Then, when the wheeling seasons brought the fourth year on/ and the months waned and the long days came round once more,/ the suitors caught me in the act and denounced me harshly./ So I finished it off. Against my will. They forced me./ And now I cannot escape a marriage, nor can I contrive/ a deft way out” (19.152-177). Penelope was mourning her husband and did not want to be married to anyone but him, and drastically fooled her suitors for almost four years before the maids relayed that she had been unweaving her loom by night. Here, Penelope is not given the choice of remarriage, she is forced to remarry because of her beauty, status, and lack of a man to take care of her, which was normal in these times but is completely outrageous nowadays. Although Penelope was Telemachus’ mother, it made no difference in how she was treated by him and it was made clear his status of superiority over the household: “So, mother,/ go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks,/ the distaff and the loom, and keep the women,/ working hard as well. As for giving orders,/ men will see to that, but I most of all:/ I hold the reins of power in this house”

Despite these few instances, Odysseus remains faithful to Penelope in their twenty years apart.  He does not love either Calypso or Circe as he did Penelope, and thusly chooses not to stay with either of the two.  Although the principle might get lost in the tale, Penelope played the part of the goal for Odysseus to obtain, or re-obtain by the end of the

While traditional readers of Homer’s, The Odyssey, view Odysseus as a hero, they often reduce Penelope to Odysseus’s helpless wife, but Penelope is more than just a damsel-in-distress. Penelope proves to be Odysseus’s heroic equal, as through her resilient, witty and strategic actions she ensures Odysseus fighting advantages over the suitors.

Homer’s Odyssey is an epic tale set in the world of ancient Greece - a world dominated by men. Admirable men such as Odysseus, the story’s protagonist, are strong, cunning, and wise; they have control over their lives and the people within them. In The Odyssey, the quintessential man is characterized by his authority, including control of the women who surround him. As is suggested throughout the novel, the patriarchal world would fall into disarray without the force of intrinsic male authority. Odysseus’s struggles with his wife, his son’s search for manhood, and the wiles of cunning women like Clytemnestra and Calypso highlight the disordering powers of women. These disordering powers justify, to the men within this world, the necessity

While Penelope is pursued vigorously by some of Ithaca’s most powerful men, this lust is shown to give Penelope some leverage of her own. The Suitors themselves say “, (Telemachus) it’s your own dear mother, the matchless queen of cunning. Look here. For three years now, getting on to four, she’s played it fast and loose with all our hearts, building each man’s hopes(96).” While Penelope remained heartbroken, awaiting Odysseus’ return, she was able to tug on the hearts of her suitors to postpone her forced marriage for years. Circe doesn’t just seduce men for her own protection, she seduces men to

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?"

Odysseus is doing nothing wrong when, despite knowing his wife was alive and faithful, commits adultery with two other women. However, it would most likely be unforgivable to Odysseus if Penelope had been unfaithful and remarried not knowing whether her husband was still alive, and desperately needing a husband. Male seducers are represented by boys sowing their oats; a normal part of male life. Seduced females are viewed, however, as weak, frail, and treacherous. These examples speaks volumes about Homer's view regarding the inequalities between men and women in his epic.

With Penelope, a faithful and loving wife to Odysseus, Homer reveals to us how the Greeks believed wives should act. She was loyal to Odysseus the entire time he was away on his journey, and even when it appeared as if he had passed on she still had faith that he would return. She resisted the suitors on the sole basis that she loved Odysseus and could not see herself with another man when he could still be alive. She was smart, and cunning. She shows us this in Book II when we

In The Odyssey, Odysseus's wife, Penelope, proves herself in many ways that she is the mistress of her own heart because of her ability to control her reactions in certain situations, and manipulate others. Penelope is Queen of Ithaca. She is the mighty Odysseus's wife, and she has been grieving over the loss of her husband ever since he left for Troy. Though she hasn’t seen her husband in 20 years, and suitors who want to marry her keep lining up at her door, she still has some faith left for Odysseus’s return. The suitors are eating her food, messing up her home, and later plan to kill her son to get him out of the way.

The Homeric simile, The Odyssey , tells the tale of Odysseus’s extended journey home with the help of women and challenging obstacles to overcome. Telemachus and the aiding Athena devise a plan to bring Odysseus home and have him reunited with his. Women are portrayed negatively in the Odyssey because they play roles in helping, serving, and aiding men as their only purpose in life. Throughout The Odyssey the goddess, Athena, schemes with Odysseus and aids him on his long, strenuous journey home after 20 years of absence from Ithaca.

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

Then, with a flick of her wand, she turns the crew into mere swine and leads them to a pigsty. In this scene, Circe is able to seduce twenty men with her sexuality. This goes to show the extent of her potent sexuality, that even when faced with clear signs of threat, Odysseus’ crew venture inside Circe’s house solely because of her beauty. Later, before Odysseus enters Circe’s house, he is aided by Hermes, who gives him a drug to prevent Circe’s magic from working on him. He is able to prevent her magic, but when he tries to run through Circe with a sword, she coaxes him by saying, “‘Come, sheathe your sword, let’s go to bed together,/ mount my bed and mix in the magic work of love/ -we’ll breed deep trust between us’”