Women In Ancient Greece Had Very Few Rights In Comparison

She builds each of their hopes without letting them realize that she has absolute power over each of their hearts and minds. During this time period in Ancient Greece, men were often seen as more intelligent or clever. Penelope uses her sexuality as a woman to seem more foolish and unintelligent as a way to gain power and hurt the suitors. She misleads the suitors down a path so she is able to have the most control, “She set up a great loom in the royal halls/ and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun,/ the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: ‘Young men,/ my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more,/ go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until/ I can finish off this web…/

Unlike Odysseus Penelope is confined by the gender roles of her time and cannot use physical strength against the suitors or even direct verbal rejection, instead Penelope resorts to her emotional resilience and wit in order to challenge the suitors. She wrongly reassures the suitors that once she finishes weaving a gift for Odysseus’s father, she will choose someone to marry her, “’Young men, my suitors, let me finish my weaving, before I marry’…every day she wove on the great loom but every night by torchlight she unwove it.” (II. 103-104, 112-113) Penelope’s actions are strategic and well calculated. Her main goal, like Odysseus, is to successfully overcome her situation. She understands that she may not be able to physically fight the suitors but she can trick them until Telemachus or Odysseus are able to. By crafting a lie that delays the suitors from marrying her immediately, Penelope restrains the suitors from seizing Ithaca, her household, and posing a threat to Telemachus or Odysseus. Her lie gives Odysseus a crucial advantage in the physical fight against the suitors as he comes back to a city and household where Penelope

Penelope says she is weaving the shroud for the eventual funeral of Odysseus’s father, her father-in-law, Laertes. Penelope does a very good job of convincing the suitors to keep waiting for her. Antinous complains about it at an assembly in Book 2. He says “So she spoke, and the proud heart in us was persuaded thereafter in the daytime she would weave at her great loom, but in the night she would have torches set by, and undo it. So for three years she was secret in her design,” (2). Penelope spends all day weaving, but at night she undoes all of her work from the previous day, promising to choose a husband as soon as she finishes the shroud. Because the suitors see her working all day, they assume she is making progress. This buys Penelope nearly four years to wait for Odysseus, until a maid reveals her

Gender inequality has been a controversial topic for numerous religions and cultures throughout history. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender, an idea that was no different in Ancient Greece. Throughout Greek mythology, women were considered inferior and troublesome symbols, while men were known for courage, leadership, and strength. While there is no argument of the flagrant sexism that is illustrated in Greek mythology, it can also be claimed that women were given a situated position of freedom, necessity, and power as well. Many popular Greek plays and myths contain several complexes and well described female characters. These goddesses themselves, partook the role of victim, heroine, and villain as it illustrated the diversity of characters in which women were portrayed and seen in both Ancient Greek society and mythology, allowing us to question “Were the women of Ancient Greek mythology equally represented as free and superior?” The creation of the Greek mythological universe, the creation of multi-gendered goddesses or deities, and the free and superior personalities accredited to women in Ancient Greek mythology to answer the question that women were fairly represented as powerful in Ancient Greek mythology.

The #MeToo movement has brought the most recent revelations of misogyny in modern society. Sexism has been present throughout history, and the Greek society in Homer’s The Odyssey is no exception. It tells of the hero Odysseus’ journey back to his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemakhos, on Ithaka, including his delays by the nymph, Kalypso. Throughout the epic, Homer portrays that society’s perceptions of female inferiority lead to harsher expectations of and stereotypes for women, as shown by the powerlessness, sexual double standard, and seductive stereotypes of women.

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?"

     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.

Penelope: In the opening chapters of The Odyssey Penelope is angry, frustrated, and helpless. She misses her husband, Odysseus. She worries about the safety of her son, Telemakhos. Her house is overrun with arrogant men who are making love to her servants and eating her out of house and home, all the while saying that they are courting her. She doesn't want to marry any of them, and their rude behavior can hardly be called proper courtship. She has wealth and position; she has beauty and intelligence; most of all she has loyalty to her husband. But against this corrupt horde who gather in her courtyard shooting dice, throwing the discus, killing her husband's cattle for their feasts, and drinking his wine, she is powerless.

The situation that Penelope had found herself in for twenty years was not a comfortable one. Despite the lack of her husband, she single-handedly raised her son into a fine man and maintained her and her husband’s status in the kingdom. She always kept good fidelity with her spouse, even when she had one-hundred suitors lined up for her. Always calm, always level-headed, even in the event of her husband’s possible return she still remains composed. “Don’t laugh, don’t cry in triumph- not yet. You know how welcome the sight of him would be to all in the house, and to me most of all and the son we bore together…” (23, 66-68). Penelope proves time and time again that she is a capable and powerful female

Penelope’s determination to believe in her husband’s return shoes her loyalty to him and their relationship. In all the time that has passed, a regular woman would have started to believer he was dead, especially because that was what everyone was saying. Eumaios also mentions that men are less loyal. They take mistresses and tell lies. However,

Penelope has dozens of suitors falling for her, but she controlled herself and stayed loyal to Odysseus for the twenty years he was gone. The suitors were staying in Odysseus’ palace for about seven years. During these years Penelope still loved her husband and did everything in her power to keep them away and control herself. For three years, Penelope worked on a burial shroud for her father-in-law Laertes. Every night she sat by candle light and undid all of the weaving she had done that day. She told her suitors, “‘ Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me until I can finish off this web’” (2. 104-107). She was able to not only control herself, but control her suitors. She exhibits great self-control because even after being surrounded by so many men for so long she stayed herself and kept herself from all of the men wanting to marry

In The Odyssey, Penelope exhibits small amount of power over her suitors by using schemes and beauty. She deceives them by orchestrating a lie that she cannot marry until she finish weaving a shroud for Laertes. She admits to the in-disguise Odysseus her scheme:

Penelope, just as Odysseus, portrayed the great human trait of patience. She did what it took to fend off the suitors with hope that her husband would come back for her. Penelope didn’t give up hope because she felt in heart that Odysseus would come

After Odysseus becomes enraged when Penelope asks the maid to make his bed outside, she realizes that he knows the secret that only Odysseus and her share. She embraces him and praises his homecoming. Once again, Penelope is wise and patient in her decision-making. The suitors pursued her, overtook her home and aggressively pushed her to remarry as she was supposed to. If Penelope would have given in, The Odyssey would not have ended with Odysseus returning to a loyal home. Through cunning, independence and loyalty, Penelope is able to create a positive image as a woman. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has similar independence and cunning, but she makes her name as a domineering lady that chooses who she wants, and when she wants them.