The Double Standard: Women Cast into the Shadow's of Men

Odyssesus had the choice to remain a faithful husband but instead choose to commit adultery. Odysseus has been trapped on the island of Ogygia for many years and is just informed he needs to prepare for his trip back home. Calypso, the woman who he has been cheating on Penelope with, is trying to convince Odysseus to stay and not leave her, but it is Odysseus “never-fading ache in [his] heart” (52) to return to Penelope. Odysseus talks about Penelope as if she is the only woman for him, but when faced with temptation Odysseus can not withhold and gives

“There’s something wrong with your character if opportunity controls your loyalty.” Throughout the story The Odyssey, Odysseus’ loyalty is majorly controlled by opportunity. Every path he chooses to take on his journey home, an opportunity arises which then makes his loyalty to his wife grow weaker and weaker. The Odyssey takes place after the Trojan war and depicts the journey home of the well known war hero and king of Ithaca, Odysseus. Odysseus encounters many different situations in which his loyalty to his wife is compromised. While it is true that Odysseus did a lot of things that he did not necessarily want to in order to get home, there were other options to help him get home that would have allowed him to still stay loyal to Penelope

Calypso lusts for Odysseus so much that she holds him captive for many years. Odysseus, however, does not feel this lust for her. At this point in the epic, he wants nothing more than to reach his home and his wife, whom he loves very much. Finally, the gods tell Calypso that is time to release Odysseus, and she obeys.

Homer’s The Odyssey has various examples of sexism and misogyny. Sexism is prominent in daily life and can be dated back as far as The Odyssey and other epic poems of the like. One of the first instances of sexism is when the suitors storm Penelope’s house, demanding her hand in marriage. The suitors forced themselves on Penelope in the sense of barging into her home and staying, harassing her mentally. More proof of sexism is how Athene babies Odysseus throughout the entire novel and he acts as if she is required to do so. At the end of the book, the maids that slept with the suitors are murdered unfairly. In Homer’s The Odyssey, women are thought of as stepping stools and are held to much higher expectations than men; examples of this are the suitors wanting to marry Penelope for her riches, how Athene consistently helps Odysseus with little gratitude, and

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

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

We see Odysseus relating to this story partially because he is a weeping Greek husband. In this instance, Odysseus is feminized as he begins to long for his wife and ponder about whether or not she is still alive. That is simply one interpretation of that particular scene. Penelope’s power is depicted in other moments as well, particularly when Odysseus is on the island with Calypso. Physically, Penelope does not play a very big part in the story. She remains in her room in Ithaka throughout the majority of the story, but her influence and emotional effect is wide spreading. On the island, we see Odysseus refuse eternal life with a goddess in exchange for a finite life with his mortal wife Penelope. This, in itself, demonstrates the driving emotional force that Penelope has over her husband. Although The Odyssey is a story of Odysseus’s journey and the decisions he makes along the way, it is really Penelope’s one decision that determines the outcome of the entire narrative. She must make one choice: whether or not to marry. And that simple decision determines Odyssey’s entire destiny as he makes his journey back to

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.

Calypso keeps Odysseus prisoner because she loves him and wants to keep him for herself. "Odysseus had spent seven years with Calypso "withdrawing into the cavern's deep recesses, long in each other's arms . . . [losing themselves] in love" (V.250-251)" (Howell, E. N., & Fink, L. S., R.W.T., 2012). Odysseus wants nothing more than to get back home to his home and wife. He wants to leave her island Ogygia but has no ship. Finally, after Zeus sends Hermes to rescue him, he convinces her to let Odysseus build a ship and lets him leave.

To begin, in the book The Odyssey, Penelope was the cunning and clever wife of Odysseus, and mother of Telemachus. Women were not exceptionally powerful in that time, other than the gods, so her rise to power and her ability to take on the role of a leader was peculiar at the time. Penelope waited twenty years for her husband Odysseus to return from the Trojan war, all the while trying to maintain the the Island of Ithaca, and raise her son on her own. Above all that, for twenty years she fought off the suitors who wanted to pursue her. She was loyal to her husband, and continued to hope that he would return to Ithaca even though there was little chance. She remained devoted to her choice of waiting for her husband, but she was not without temptation. The suitors pressured her, and threatened to take her to bed. She put forward sensible schemes to prevent the suitors from pursuing her, but she could only hold them off for so long. “ For three years now, going on to four, she's played it fast and loose with all

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.

Unlike Aeneas, Odysseus has already found his kingdom and is on a mission to return to his palace and home. However, like Aeneas, he is not reluctant to leave the woman he has been sleeping with on the island of Ogygia. Although Calypso is said to have trapped him on her island, the cunning Odysseus does not plot to escape. When Calypso relays the message from Hermes that Odysseus is free to go if he wishes only then does he start plans to leave. Like Aeneas, Odysseus “long[s] to travel home and see the dawn of [his] return” (Ody.V.242-3). His primary purpose is to make it home to his kingdom. It is clear that a woman is not Odysseus’ main focus, he states that his wife back home “falls short of [Calypso], [her] beauty, stature” (Ody.V.240). Therefore, if his main goal were to obtain a most beautiful woman he would have stayed with Calypso instead of pursuing his nostos. This example also shows that the main focus and goal of a man should be his kingdom and not women. It is acceptable for women to be short-term distractions and to have relations with them for

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

Calypso often feels powerless and relies on her perception of others perception of her to define her reality or happiness, often leading to her becoming detached from reality. The frustration experienced by Calypso is shown here, where she apparently blames the gods’ jealousy for her inability to have Odysseus,

Penelope is also important because she (along with Telemachus) is the main reason for Odysseus to return home. Odysseus shows his great love and determination when goddess Calypso offers him immortality (Book 5) on the condition that he remains on Ogygia as her husband. At Odysseus's first opportunity he builds a raft and sails away, leaving the lonely Calypso behind. When he reaches Phaeacia, he is then offered the hand of King Alcinous daughter, Nausicaa, who must have been beautiful because Odysseus had mistaken her for the goddess Artemis on first site. Instead Odysseus wished to return to Penelope.