Women's Role In The Odyssey

In her poem, “Circe’s Power,” Louise Gluck alters Homer’s description of Circe from a beguiling, yet submissive seductress to a calculating, powerful, and lonely witch to develop the theme that even those with great power are unable to force authentic love. Odysseus arrives with his crew on the Island of Aeaea, Circe’s home, after losing all but one of his ships to an attack from the Laestrygonians, a race of giants intent on killing Odysseus. On the island, Odysseus splits up his men to explore it, and one group stumbles upon Circe’s palace. Circe tempts them into her halls with “her singing, lifting/ her spellbinding voice” (Homer

Further along his journey, Odysseus sails upon the island of Aeaea, where Circe, a goddess with magical powers, lives. When he goes to confront her, after she has turned his men into pigs, “The god Hermes stops him to give him a

In Homer’s The Odyssey, “Book 10: The Bewitching Queen of Aeaea,” Circe is initially depicted as a powerful and commanding character who takes charge of whatever scene she is present in. This characterization is in contrast to the typical roles of women within ancient Greece; once she meets Odysseus and he proves himself to be more powerful than her through his immunity to her magic and his strength, she becomes subservient to him. She transitions into that traditional portrayal of what a woman is supposed to be: more subservient and hospitable. Odysseus uses the help of Apollo to trick Circe into thinking that he is immune to her magic.

Circe lured some of Odysseuses men in, and turned them into swine. Eurylochos ran back and warned Odysseus, who then armed up to rescue his men. Hermes gave Odysseus a magical herb called moly that would make him immune to Circe’s spell. Odysseus pulled out his sword on Circe as she tried to put the smell on him too. Then she bargained with him, he agreed to sleep with her,if she took the spell of his men and lets them

So, Odysseus and his crew are warned many times to not explore too much. Thus, people like Circe represents a whole different society. In her world, it should be noted that she considers men to be savages and “gives them a form to fit her opinion” (Felton 119). In the Odyssey, Circe is never actually described as a monster. However, her ability to manipulate and transform men paint her in a monstrous light because she is a threat to men’s humanity.

Have you ever noticed how women are depicted in media, such as in The Odyssey? The Odyssey is a story that revolves around the main character Odysseus and how he went to war, though it is mainly about his 20 year journey back home. Also, he was helped and tested by many people, gods, and monsters . This includes gods like Athena that helped him, or tempted by people like the witch Circe, and monsters like the sirens. In The Odyssey the role of women is complicated; they are depicted as either loyal, and wise or malicious, manipulative, Seductresses.

For instance, the text states, “Athena lent a hand, making him seem taller and massive too(105:243).” In this case, Odysseus is using his physical charm to win the young princess’s heart. In our modern society, if a guy uses his looks to deceive a girl into helping him, he would be considered a bad guy. Furthermore, he also hides his true identity when the king asks him “Who are you, and who has given you this clothing(118:255)?” In addition, Odysseus also abandons all of his shipmates and friends as the text states, “There all my shipmates, friends were drowned, while I hung on the keel board of the wreck and drifted nine full days

The representation of women in The Odyssey shows them as being mostly damning entities, who attempt to lead the men of the poem astray. Almost all of these women are depicted as being sexually corrupt beings in some way and must be overcome before the men can achieve their objectives. This can be seen all throughout the book in regards to the interactions of the two goddesses, Circe and Calypso, the Sirens, and even Penelope. The witch-goddess Circe is the first female to present a major problem for Odysseus and his men.

(Beers 654). Calypso compares her beauty to his wife's and offers him immortality. When Odysseus meets Circe, She turns his men into animals and he has to sleep with her in order to have his

Circe who was also a goddess was a beautiful sea witch. She played an important role in the “Odyssey Part II”. Circe acted as someone she really wasn’t. She would welcome men onto her island with a feast. Once she had them fooled, she would trap them and turn them into swine.

Circe has set up a matriarchal system where a woman is in charge, this is only achieved by trickery and magic. This is a relfection of Greek society being a patriarchly society, that on this island far from home a woman is not only in charge of men, but earned it through deciet and magic and is a disapproval of matriarchy. It also shows the dominance of the male position over the female in classical Greek soceity. That Odysseus through guile and male martial prowess (along with divine guidance in the myth) is what bests Matriarchy. Another attitude that is possibly implied about Matriarchy in this depection is that for men to become subsurvent to the female

She is seen as being her own person doing as she wanted. She can be seen as very smart and also loyal. She doesn’t remarry anyone in her husband’s 20-year absence. She tolerates the rude suitors for half that time yet never choosing to be with one of them continuing her loyalty to her husband. She is manipulative to the suitors once she realized Odysseus had returned and they were low on

In ancient Greek society, women were thought of as punishment for Prometheus’ theft of fire from the gods. “Prometheus, a demigod and thcreator of first men, steals fire from heaven and brings it to earth. Furious at being deceived, Zeus devises the supreme trick in the form of a ‘gift’ to men . . . Pandora” the first woman (Holland). This myth set the standard for women being treated unequally in ancient Greek society.

Circe, the queen of Aeaea, is too a seductress, who too extends Odysseus’ journey back home to Ithaca. Circe takes advantage

The Odyssey shows a lot of different stereotypes for women throughout the book, taking action to get what they want. Odysseus is trying to get back home after ten long years since the fall of troy, and his son is going out to find him. Throughout the book Odysseus meets lots of woman who vary in personality. He meets woman with the stereotypes: “mantis”- dominant, eats its mate, destroys to gain power, feared by many. “Damsel in distress”- persecuted maiden, woman placed in a dire predicament requires a hero to rescue her, relatively weak and frail. “Seductress”- reveals a man 's weakness, great beauty and sensuality, heavily chastised through alienationl rejection. He meets two woman named Circe and Calypso. Calypso whose is portrayed by Homer as a “Seductress” and Circe portrayed as a “Mantis”. He first has a love affair with the witch-goddess Circe, and later on gets imprisoned on Calypso’s island for 7 years. In Homer’s Odyssey, both Circe and Calypso seek power through female stereotypes; however, Circe and Calypso’s ability to understand helps them retain that power, conveying the message that once people understand each other good things can come out of it.