Roles Of Women In The Odyssey

Because Ulysses angered the Gods, mainly Poseidon, he was told he would never return home to his loving wife Penelope and his homeland of Ithaca. Throughout the poem, many women play very important roles that make this story what it is, an epic journey. If even one of these women were not there it would have altered the whole story greatly. From start to finish Penelope is always on Ulysses mind and in his heart. Penelope is the loving and always faithful wife of Ulysses.

The Odyssey is an epic poem about the voyage of Odysseus who is trying to return home to Ithaca. Odysseus is the main character but there are several women that played a role in his adventure. Three of the women are Penelope, Circe, and Calypso. They each have different character traits but in some way they all help Odysseus in his journey home. One female character in this unit is Circe, the daughter of Helios.

Even though all the stories in this unit had a male as the main character, that doesn’t mean females went unnoticed. In fact, they were crucial to the plots of the stories, and some of the things that happened wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t around. For better, or worse, for the main protagonists. One of the female characters in this unit is Circe, who plays a unique role in Part 2 of “The Odyssey”.

When Odysseus’ mother is introduced in the Underworld, she is presented by name, followed by her father’s name. All the women who subsequently come forward are linked to a man or men in order to indicate their importance – Odysseus calls them “wives and daughters of the brave.” These Underworld scenes exemplify a social value evident throughout The Odyssey, that except where goddesses are concerned, whether a woman is virtuous or irredeemable is dependant on the state of her relationships with men.

Prompt: Compare and contrast the role of women as portrayed in The Odyssey. Consider how they are loyal, strong—or weak, hospitable, etc.

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.';

In The Odyssey, by Homer, this time period sees women playing the role of housewives as opposed to men, who act as the figure keeping their families together. Although women have different positions from men, they play significantly large roles and wisely use their feminine delicacy. Throughout the novel, men expect women to “go back to [their] quarters, tend to [their] own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep the [other] women working hard as well.” While Homer evidently expresses the expectations of women, the expectations greatly contrast from the roles that they actually play. They use their chicanery to manipulate men, and to assist them. Although women use deception to their benefit, they also show loyalty

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.

The literature composed during the era when the Odyssey was written was directed by men. Woman characters were valued but the only participated in affairs when they had the permission of men. The men, for the most part, directed the women's lives. The themes used in literature were on the subjects that men would be interested in; combat; warriors, and rulers. Domestic affairs, for the most part, were not noted. There is a immense contrast between the Odyssey and other epic poetry of the period. There are several women characters in the Odyssey. All of them add to plot in significant ways and they are also treated with admiration. The women of the poem change the lives of the gods and men, and how they link in significant ways to one

“The Odyssey” by Homer is an epic poem about Odysseus’ return to his wife and son in Ithica after the Trojan War. Women play an exceptionally large role in this epic poem. Odysseus’s son, Telemachus attempts to gain authority in the presence of the suitors but it is difficult. Especially once he goes on his own journey under the guidance of Athena. Throughout the epic poem however, the women play their roles as mothers, servants, seductresses, some are a combination. These ones can be seen as women in power because they use these tools in order to control men.

Often times in ancient works, women do what they must to reach their goals. In the Odyssey and the Theogony, women use deceit to achieve their goals, with the difference being that in times of trouble Penelope is able to create and enact multiple plans on her own while Rhea must ask for help. While Homer gives some agency to his female characters, Hesiod does not.

In ancient Greece, women were rarely seen as equals to men and were consistently seen as inferiors compared to men. This led to women being unable to participate in numerous of everyday activities that women are typically able to do in contemporary society, such as voting and having a voice in their decisions. However, in a few writings of Greek men, women are shown in a different perspectives that were not normally portrayed in ancient Greece. Few writings, such as The Odyssey by Homer, help illustrate women as almost equals to men due to their variety of personalities, wisdom and intelligence. For example, in The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus encounters numerous of female characters throughout his journey that impacts his journey back to Ithaca and ultimately led to his arrival of Ithaca after twenty years of being away. These female characters are portrayed with diverse characteristics such as being supportive, powerful, intelligent and loyal. With the use of strong female characters in The Odyssey, Homer refused to conform with ancient Greece of their stereotypical ways of illustrating women’s roles as weak and not as important as men, instead he brilliantly portrayed them as almost equals to men with their unique personalities in order to portray them with roles such as being supportive, powerful, intelligent, and loyal women.

Women are weak, helpless, and have no real purpose other than to serve men and take care of children. . . or so they were perceived history. In the Odyssey, one can see that Homer’s portrayal of women challenges the portrayal of women during that time period. Throughout the book, many women intervened in Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca, for better or for worse. One will see Penelope, Athena, Circe, and other women impact Odysseus’ expedition home. These women influenced the conditions of the journey by guiding Odysseus in different directions, and aiding him crucially. Their power and authority show the idea behind a quote by Groucho Marx, which states, “Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife”. Throughout The Odyssey,

This shows that Helen knows she is responsible for the war and is the cause of many sufferings. She blames

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.