Women's Role In The Odyssey Essay

Even the goddesses appealing offer, “Remain with me and share my meat and wine” is an enticement for Odysseus, since by staying back at Circe’s island, he would get to relish all the luxuries he had missed ever since “[he] sailed away from stony Ithaca”. Naturally, as a mortal, no matter how great he may be, Odysseus seemed to get drawn into the temptations offered by Circe; however, his perseverance triumphed over the crafty advances of the vile goddess when he tells her, “O Circe, now you must keep your promise… /Help me sail for home/Day after day my longing quickens, and my company gives me no peace, but wear my heart away” Regardless of how tempted Odysseus initially was by Circe’s wealthy promises, he admits that “day after day [his] longing

In the Odyssey, women played a major role in Odysseus’ return home. Even though Odysseus was a great warrior, who was very crafty and intelligent, his abilities were challenged by women’s temptation. There are various examples of women playing the role as seductresses such as Circe, Sirens, and Calypso.

The Odyssey, in essence, is a tale of Journeying. After Odysseus has endured countless near death experiences, he lands in the land of the Phoenicians. We follow Odysseus and his crew as he recounts his laborious journey from war and violence, to home; his wife and son. We are forced to understand the importance of each of Odysseus’s trials, from the battle with the Ciconians, to the underworld, to his seven year stay with the witch-goddess, Circe, and finally to match his own wife’s suitors at his home in Ithaca. Odysseus’ wanderings are equally as important as the stops between. The relevance and importance of Odysseus’ courage and cunning in each of his trials and journeys

Facing their temptation of their string appearance, he determines to choose loyalty. First, after his 22 soldiers were turn into swine, he have to stay on the island of Circe for one years. Circe, as the daughter of sun god Helios, have charming face and great power. However, although Circe have the magical power, she fails to get Odysseus’s love because of his sacred fire and loyalty for his wife and child. Secondly, when he was imprisoned by the sea goddess Calypso who loved him so much, he never actually look at that beautiful goddess for once. Instead, he resists the temptation from this good-looking goddess in the long seven years. And the only thing he does is to sit alone upon the shore of the wine-dark sea and weep with longing for his wife and home. With the longing and his loyalty for his wife and his hometown, he passes through the difficulty as well as temptation successfully and finally go back to his kingdom Ithaca and meet his wife and

In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer contains the overall mission by the protagonist, Odysseus, while trying to sail back home after battling at Troy. Throughout his mission, Odysseus meets women who both affect his life positively and negatively. Women in The Odyssey either play one of two roles, the unfavorable person with consequences or a strong women who holds on her own. Odysseus’ first encounter, Circe when him and his men land on her island, she turns the men into pigs, and persuades Odysseus to stay with her. In the story Odysseus says, “Circe tossed them acorns, mast, and cornel berries-- fodder for hogs…”

Women in the Odyssey have had some very different roles as far as good and bad throughout the story. From being a key factor in Odysseus’s success to just being a nuisance to the other characters. Without some these female impacts Odysseus would have never been successful with his journey. But then again there are a few that he could have done without.

Women played a huge role in The Odyssey. Odysseus wouldn’t have been able to do almost everything he did without women. Women were sometimes real women, or goddesses. They help him get home back to Ithaca, transform him so no one knows him, and some are even crazy and try to keep him. Overall, women play a huge part in the Odyssey.

Women play an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The nymph Calypso enslaves Odysseus for many years. Odysseus desires to reach home and his wife Penelope. It is the goddess Athena who sets the action of The Odyssey rolling; she also guides and orchestrates everything to Odysseus’ good. Women in The Odyssey are divided into two classes: seductresses and helpmeets. By doing so, Homer demonstrates that women have the power to either hinder of help men. Only one woman is able to successfully combine elements of both classes: Penelope. She serves as a role model of virtue and craftiness. All the other women are compared to and contrasted with Penelope.

Odysseus later noticed that he made a mistake by staying with Circe all that time . Odysseys made the dession to leave Circe and go home to his son and wife. Circe didn’t make it easy she told Odysseus that he had to go

His description of women in the story has complexity with their character development. To clarify, while some women are characterized as seductive, clever, and empowering, other women give off intelligence, strength, and power. Among the roles of these women, one of the most powerful women in the story is Athena, who guides and supports Odysseus throughout his journey, instructing him to return home and once again be happy with his son and wife. Another example of a powerful woman is Penelope, because of her loyalty, strength, and patience. Despite the challenges

“She stood in the storm and when the wind did not blow her way. she adjusted her sails.” A quote by Elizabeth Edwards that shows the way that woman change when certain events happen in life. The Odyssey is an epic poem that is written by Homer. This epic is a story about Odysseus, king of Ithaca, journey back home after winning the Trojan War. His journey back home comes with many obstacles that makes the journey take ten years to get back home to Ithaca. Female roles in the odyssey are very important because they show how men and woman were both different 3,000 years ago. They also make the journey back home more difficult for Odysseus. In this epic poem women were either portrayed as seductresses, mothers or monsters.

Hermes helps him out and gives him a plan to help save his men. So our hero is saved by the god Hermes from a horrible fate. Still Odysseus is not content to sail on and leave the goddess behind (Odyssey 10:269-532). Here Odysseus lost sight of his goal, thinking he was in full control of the situation. Only after a full year has past does he even ask Circe to help them on their way and only at the urging of his crew. He forgets that it was only by the gods help that he was able to triumph over Circe. There was no other way he could have survived her magic. In a sense he is beat by her because he forgets his voyage home and wastes a year in tarring there. By forgetting the voyage he denies himself, a hero, and forgets his family and subjects in Ithaca. Exactly the same threat that the lotus eaters posed to Odysseus and his men. The temptation that Circe offers is a life of pleasure. Anything you desire: food, sport, beautiful women, anything at all. For a time Odysseus is taken in my her offer but thanks to his men he is able to break free of it and remember his home and family.

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,

Odysseus faces yet another temptation on the Aeaean island, where Circe, the "nymph with lovely braids and awesome power (Homer 234)," makes her home. After Odysseus rescues his men from her clutches, he decides to stay with her for a while. Most people might frantically dash away from someone who just turned their comrades into swine, but Odysseus and his men dwell. Perhaps this is because they are in dire need of rest. However, there is little doubt that Circe, a clever temptress, has something to do

The nature of the events described in the Odyssey and the character of Odysseus necessitated that many women had to be present in its verses. Beyond this, however, the poet had a rather free hand in choosing how to deal with them. The women of the Odyssey could have been treated as casually and cavalierly as Andromache and Helen were in the Iliad. Homer, however, made another choice. In a way, the Odyssey is not just the tale of the wanderings of Odysseus. The poet has made it, also, into a type of