Treatment Of Women In The Odyssey

According to the ancient Greeks, men were superior to women and held more power. This can be illustrated in “The Odyssey of Homer” when Athene gives Telemachos

As he is sailing he is greeted by a goddess, Athena, and she becomes his guardian. He then sails to an island and is trapped by the goddess Calypso for seven years until Hermes comes to the island and tells her to let him go. He ends up going to another island and is trapped in a Cyclop’s cave. He pokes the Cyclop’s eye out and escapes the island. He ends up sailing away with his men and ends up on the island of Circe, a powerful witch, she turns all of his men into animals. Odysseus is given a flower so that he cannot be turned into an animal. He is told that he must go to the land of the dead and offer many things. He does what he is told then he is left to set sail again. They get back into the open sea and are attacked by Sirens, and murdered by the Scylla and Charybdis. He finally makes it home to Ithaca and he sees his son, his son helps him get into the castle. They suitors for Penelope are given a task to shoot an arrow through 12 ax holes. He then reveals himself as Odysseus and eliminates all of the suitors. He then goes to Penelope and reveals himself to her.As we go through life we are determined and always want to go back home to people we love. No matter how long it takes you, you will always want to go back to your loved

Robert A. Heinlein once said, “Yield to temptation, it may not pass your way again” which is similar to Odysseus’ motto in The Odyssey. It is his motto, because he submits to the alluring women who entice him with extravagant gifts. Odysseus is constantly dealing with obstacles that have been set in place by the gods. Mainly the complication involves a woman being a temptress to detour Odysseus from his journey home to Ithaca. Eventually, Odysseus resists the appealing women so that he can continue his journey home and once he is there he can finally reconnect his wife Penelope. In The Odyssey women have a narrow, but significant role similar to their role in ancient Greece. Every time there is enticement present Odysseus yields, especially when the

Women have been discriminated against by society for generations, but where is misogyny truly rooted? While there is no definite answer for when and where the practice started, Greek mythology constantly portrayed women as monsters rather than normal beings. An example is Circe, a nymph from Homer's The Odyssey. In the epic poem, she forces Odysseus, a married man, to sleep with her after imprisoning all his men. She forces him to sleep with her so that his men can be free once again.

Rewriting History with a Vengeance Homer’s The Odyssey poem centers on the hero Odysseus and his return to the kingdom of Ithica after the ten-year war in Troy. His journey would last almost twenty years and was full of challenges for Odysseus and his family, who resided in Ithica, his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. His wife and son would have many difficulties maintaining and fending off suitors and threats of taking the throne of Ithica. Although the poem's plot concentrates on Odysseus and all his troubles, the epic ignores Penelope and her agency.

Have you ever noticed that in Homer's’ the Odyssey women are usually a terrible monster or a distraction? During this time period when this was made women were treated terribly. Women had no political value, were sometimes treated as property and they would mostly stay and home and watch the children. I think that women were portrayed as items, property, or a person who just distracts men. Penelope, wife of Odysseus, when he was away many suitors came to try to take her hand in marriage.

Where women in the Odyssey treated all that fair? Throughout the book there have been many occurrences of women. I believe that the women in the Odyssey were seen as objects rather than people. Some examples of this are Helen of Troy and Penelope, Odysseus's wife.

Charlotte Wilkinson Mrs. Sandt English I Honors 10 April 2024 Penelope Analytical Essay Throughout the centuries, women are depicted differently depending on the time period and place in which they are written. Women can be seen having many different roles and characteristics in literature, which can help illustrate an idea of how some cultures view them. Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, follows the adventurous tale of Odysseus’ journey home after the Trojan War. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, has been fighting in the Trojan War for the past ten years.

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.

As Telemachus tracks Odysseus' trail through stories from his old Comrades- in- arm, Athena arranges for the release of Odysseus from the Island of the beautiful goddess Calypso, whose prisoner and lover he has been for the last seven years. Odysseus sets sail on a makeshift raft, but the sea god Poseidon, whose wrath Odysseus incurred earlier in his adventure by blinding Poseidon's son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, conjures up a storm. With Athena's help Odysseus reaches the Phaeacians. Their princess, Nausicaa, who has a crush on the handsome warrior, opens the palace to the stranger. Odysseus withholds his identity for as long as he can until finally, at the Phaeacians' request, he tells the story of his adventures.

In Homer’s The Odyssey female characters have a surprising amount of power over men. In Ancient Grecian times women were usually thought of a being less than men, only performing domestic tasks and serving them. In contrast, The Odyssey portrays many females as strong and having a lot of power over men. One specific example is the witch, Kirke. She exerts her power by tricking Odysseus’s men, making choices for herself, and finally helping Odysseus get to Ithaca in the end. In her actions we can learn that through womanhood there are powers that are even stronger than that of being a man.

Another example of how the rules and expectations for women did not apply to men in The Odyssey is when Eumaeus, the loyal swine herdsman of Odysseus, recounts how he came to Ithaca as a captive of a slave woman, Phoinikia. This woman was seduced by a roaming seafarer who, '…made such love to her as women in their frailty are confused by, even the best of them.'; The god Artemis later kills Phoinikia for her 'treachery.';

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.

The Odyssey of Homer is a fascinating epic of the homecoming of Odysseus, one of the most influential heroes of the Trojan war. This homecoming journey of Odysseus which serves as a means of teaching him greater lessons of life and humility. Furthermore, Odyssey beautifully portrays the transformation Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, from a scared little boy to a confident warrior.

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?"