Bad Paper

English III
Section G
6/5/2012
Final Paper

Women in the Odyssey and A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Throughout history, women have usually been seen as weak and without power. However, women such as Helena, Hermia, Titania, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Helen, Circe, and Penelope in The Odyssey are not weak. Instead, they are very powerful but in different ways. The women of The Odyssey and A Midsummer Night’s Dream threaten male power but in different ways. In The Odyssey, Helen is a very powerful woman. She is the reason for the Trojan War, and so she is responsible for all of the men who have to leave their homes and fight in the war. A lot of men die in the Trojan War, and thus Helen is responsible for their deaths. This is a great deal of power – the power to decide a person’s fate – to have. She also almost kills more men because when Odysseus and his crew are hiding in the Trojan Horse, she tries to lure them out of the horse, which would have gotten them all killed. “Three times you sauntered round our hollow ambush,/feeling, stroking its flanks,/ challenging all our fighters, calling each by name -- / yours was the voice of all our long-lost wives!/And Diomedes and I, crouched tight in the midst/ with great Odysseus, hearing you singing out, / were both keen to spring up and sally forth” (Homer 133). This quote demonstrates how much power Helen of Troy had over the soldiers who were in the Trojan Horse. Helen also has power over the men when she drugs them. She “had drugged the wine and ordered the winecups filled,/resuming the conversation, entertained the group” (Homer 131). This proves the Helen has power over the men at her table because she is able to drug and distract them. Starting the Trojan War, almost killing the men in the Trojan Horse, and drugging the men at her table are all examples of how powerful Helen is in The Odyssey. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania is also a powerful female character. Like Helen of Troy, Titania is a queen, which gives her power over all the subjects in her kingdom. Her power is obvious when she fights with Oberon, the king. Titania claims responsibility for harsh winds, “contagious fogs”, “river[s] made so proud,/That they have overborne their continents” and fruitless fields that will not produce crops, despite the ox who “stretched his yoke in vain” and the ploughman who “lost his sweat” (3.1.90, 92, 93-94). Titania also shows how powerful she is when she denies Oberon who “begs a little changeling boy,/To be my [his] henchman” (3.1.120). Titania says she “will not part with him” (3.1.137). By denying Oberon’s request, she demonstrates power. Another powerful female character in The Odyssey is Circe. Circe is powerful because she is able to transform and imprison Odysseus’ men at her palace. They are “cooped like swine, hock by jowl in the sties” (Homer 239). Hermes also gives Odysseus a potion so that Circe will be “powerless to bewitch you [him]” (Homer 239). This shows that Circe is powerful because Odysseus needs something to make her “powerless” (Homer 239). Hermes also tells Odysseus that Circe plans to “plot some new intrigue to harm you,/once you lie there naked--/… strip away your courage” (Homer 239). If it weren’t for Hermes’ help, Odysseus would have fallen victim to Circe’s power. This proves how powerful Circe is because she could have killed the great Odysseus, he needed the help of the gods to stop her since she is so powerful. Penelope is also a powerful woman. Instead of trying to hurt anyone with her power – like the other women – she uses her power to avoid sleeping with the suitors while Odysseus is away at war. Antinous calls her the “matchless queen of cunning” and accuses her of “dangling promises, dropping hints to each – but all the while with something else in mind” (Book 2, lines 95-99). This proves how powerful Penelope is. She also tricks the suitors by “unweaving her gorgeous web” (Book 2, 121). Penelope, like Titania and Helen of Troy, is also a queen, which gives her lots of power. Even when Odysseus returns, she has power over him. She tells Eurycleia to “move the sturdy bedstead out of our bridal chamber” (Book 23, line 198). This is impossible to do because the bed cannot be moved. Penelope uses this as a trick to expose whether Odysseus is really Odysseus. Because she is able to do this, it shows she is powerful. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hermia is powerful because of her purity. Because she is sexually pure, both men want her. Hermia is pure because she rejects Lysander when he tries to have sex with her in the woods. “Nay, good Lysander; for my sake, my dear,/Lie further off yet. Do not lie so near” (3.2.49-50). In the first scene, Lysander and Demetrius argue with Egeus and Theseus over Hermia because she is so pure (1.1.91-110). Later, Demetrius asks Hermia, “O, why rebuke you him that loves you so?/Lay breath so bitter on your bitter foe” (3.2.43-44). This shows that he desires Hermia and the power of her purity and Hermia has the power to be mean to him and he can not stop her. Helena is also a powerful woman. Unlike Hermia, she is impure, but she is still powerful in her own way. After Puck puts the magical potion on Lydander’s and Demetrius’ eyes, they both fall in love with Helena. This makes Helena powerful like Penelope. All the suitors want to be with Penelope and all the men want to be with Helena. Neither young man wants to be with Hermia anymore; but rather Helena. This gives Helena so much power over them. They will do whatever she wants to be with her. Being the most wanted woman in the play makes her very powerful. Women in history and literature have been seen as weak and without power. Shakespeare’s play and Homer’s epic poem both prove that women can be powerful. Helena, Hermia, Titania, Penelope, Circe, and Helen of Troy are all powerful women in these texts. These stories are important because they demonstrate how powerful women can be.