Preview

Roles Of Women In The Odyssey

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
86 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Roles Of Women In The Odyssey
In the world people put other people into categories. This happens especially with women, some of the categories that people use today are: beautiful, ugly, good, bad, innocent, whore, loyal, and unloyal, those are just a few. In Homer’s The Odyssey you see that there are different roles and types of women. I will prove that there are 5 main roles assigned to women: the good wife, the bad wife, the goddess, the monster, and the seducer, and these many times are related to each other.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Athena continues to show her care giving side after pleading with her father Zeus to free Odysseus which he does after he sent Hermes to tell Calypso to free him and she does which shows that she has a sense of decency despite her sexual ambitions to keep him on her island. After building a raft and sailing out to sea, he continues to receive bad treatment from Poseidon after he conjured up a storm that knocked him down into the water. Watching him being tossed like a rag doll around in the sea, a goddess named Ino, like Athena, showed a caring side for protecting Odysseus by providing him a scarf and with it he abandoned his raft and belongings and “dove headfirst into the sea, stretched his arms and stroked for life itself” (Book V, 411-412). While swimming toward the shore, he also had assistance from Athena who calmed Poseidon’s storm and stopped the winds by “commanding them all to hush now, go to sleep” (Book V, 423) and eventually he would make it toward land.…

    • 578 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homer wrote the Odyssey in 8th century and it is a Greek epic poem. The story background begins ten years after the Trojan War. After the war, Odyssey tried to go back to his home, but he had a lot of hardships. During that time, many people helped him, but not all of characters. There are various important characters and each of them has different personalities and roles. In 21 century, most of women play a big role. What about in 8th century? According to the book Odyssey, Penelope, Athena, Calypso are the powerful women in his trip. All of them play different parts in Odyssey’s life and they represent women in Greece.…

    • 414 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Each of the sources suggests certain aspects about the roles that women played in Ancient Greek society. Three things it suggests about women are that not all women were of the same social status, women were generally used as slaves or laborers, but were still a vital part to Grecian society.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Greek mythology, women are seen with numerous roles and given powers. An ideal example of different women with distinct aspects is the Odyssey. The Odyssey, a remembered ancient literature written down around the 800 and 600 BCE, is a well known epic poem. It is said to be composed by one of the first and greatest poets, Homer. In some stances, the Odyssey was written to be like a sequel to Homer’s Iliad. In the story of the Odyssey, Odysseus, hero and king of Ithaca goes through many obstacles and hardships to make it back home from the historical Trojan War. The story abides by the, “Hero’s Journey Outline”, theorized by Joseph Campbell as seen as having the required events, characters, emotions, and story settings. The Odyssey distinctly…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women In The Iliad

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Iliad of Homer, showed women as being items of exchange for the men who had possessed them. They are shown in their social roles as mothers and wives. He states stereotypical characterizations of them. The reader understands that women are being treated as prizes, and that the male hero has to win or he'd have to resist fulfilling his heroic destiny. The characters of Hera and Athena, who are among the immortals, they are certainly strong women. Hera is the wife of Zeus and queen of the Olympians. She tricked her husband so that she is able to play with in the affairs of the Trojan War. The goddess of wisdom, and war, Athena attacked Ares two different occasions and still had to have him flee to Mount Olympus in defeat.…

    • 808 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Greeks had a similar concept of masculinity as the modern Western world, including traits such as dominance, strength, and virility, all of which were reversed for stereotypical femininity. However, men were not ostracized or considered inferior if they did not conform to these ideals or deviated from the norms of sexual orientation or gender identity.…

    • 1016 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    While majority of the women in Athens at the time were not allowed to attend and the others being able to, where did they sit in the audience? Were they allowed to be seated wherever they wanted to? Did they have their own section? In fact they were seated in the part of the audience that was considered to be not important, and that part was the back and often times the women would compete with men for booths or complain about where they were seated, but it was based on the position your son or husband had, whether in the play or…

    • 104 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    During the sixth century BCE, women were given very small roles in the Greek community. The female duties were glorified in literary such as Antigone and The Odyssey. The typical housewife was made to have children and take care of the home while the men worked and fought. Women were given very few rights and didn't have an input in political issues. Women could exercise very little power in Ancient Greece due to literary, social, and political ideals.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In Classical Greece, men's domination over women is clearly apparent in each social, economic, and political arena. According to this period, women exist because their existences are necessary in order to produce male heir for the continuity of the state. For this reason, women's roles are limited to procreation and marriage and they are not allowed to have economic and political rights, and their social roles are very restricted. According to Classical Greece, women only exist to produce male heir for the sake of the continuity of the state so women are expected to serve to this aim by being married a male citizen and producing children and their social role is only to be a mother; as a result of that, even if Spartan women have more economic,…

    • 2216 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Though there are female characters in The Aeneid who are commonly interpreted as having a negative impact on Aeneas’ journey, Juno and Dido contribute to Aeneas’ legend as a mythical hero. The female characters, Juno and Dido, are known for wreaking havoc in the epic, since they both express anger toward Aeneas. Because of their treacherous actions, Dido and Juno play significant roles in the epic as they impact Aeneas’ conquest to found the Roman Empire. Therefore, Juno’s and Dido’s actions help Aeneas learn from his past, and they both challenge him to become a legendary warrior, in order for him to achieve his final destiny.…

    • 628 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The common view in ancient societies was often that this was a world of men; that women were inferior. There is often debate on the role of women in society, but in reality, women play an important role in any type of society, whether it be good or bad. Women in ancient Greece, China, and the Roman Empire were able to exercise influence into their culture despite the discrimination toward them. Although each society was different, women shared similar influences in their power, and restrictions in the aspect of marriage. Although most of these ancient cultures viewed women similarly, of these three locations, the women in the Roman Empire had it best.…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A myth is a traditional story particularly one regarding the early history of people or clarifying some social or natural phenomenon, and naturally encompassing supernatural beings or events. The Romans based their mythology from the Greeks, however, the way the Heroes and the gods acted reflected their civilized culture. Being an empire, it needed imperial gods. About this, Zeus leveled out slightly, his love affairs were less but was more kingly. Moreover, Jupiter Hera was jealous and less flighty. Juno Ares's was one of the favored who became more strategic as Mars and less like carnage. The gods exemplify their civilization so that their followers understood their existence. The gods in Rome became warlike, never mingled with mortals as much, much harsher and more powerful depicting the gods of an empire. They stored for discipline, strength, and honor.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The women in Homer's epics are portrayed differently through the characters own personalities yet they all fall in similar categories. They were portrayed as possession, motherly figures, and temptresses with the exception of the goddesses who were portrayed as cunning, and powerful. Take Calypso for instance, although she has power “ you would stay where you are, keep house along with me, and let me make you immortal,” she has to obey what the Gods especially Zeus orders. She delivers an impassioned indictment about the double standards of male gods complaining how men of the mortal world as well as male gods can get away from promiscuous behavior, yet society expects females to be faithful at all times. In the Iliad women were portrayed mostly as possessions or women who had little or no control over their destiny. “The epic poem, generally regarded as “a male-dominated world” focuses centrally on the rage between men but it also happen that most of the time this rage is affected, initiated, and inspired by a woman.” For example, Chryseis and Briseis, they were captured maidens who were also the reason why the…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women in ancient Greece and Rome struggled to exist. Women were not allowed certain privileges such as going to school, getting essential jobs, and some were even made into slaves. This was not the case for all women, but, the great majority of women were not treated as equals. Women even had certain duties in the public depending on their marital status. Women in ancient Greece and Rome did not have valid opinions, only the man’s opinion mattered. Women have struggled from the beginning of times in every aspect of life in ancient Greece and Rome to find their place and to be treated like equals; unfortunately it has taken many centuries to do so.…

    • 1323 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although women occupied an entirely different position in society compared to men, they too held a certain sphere of influence and power; they simply exerted it in ways that were distinct from men’s strategies. By observing the many female characters in The Odyssey, for example; Penelope, Circe, and Calypso, we are able to understand that back then women were inferior to men yet they had power in that they were able to draw men in so quickly and easily (for example sirens, they sing so beautifully that men get drawn in from lust for these things with such beautifull voices, but the sirens are killers and they kill any man on a ship that passes), also they are portrayed as being very wise in The Odyssey, Athena’s appositive most of the time is “bright-eyed Athena” which is portraying that as the godess of wisdom, even in disguise, as mentor etc., she still has her bright sparkling eyes which portray her as a very wise woman. This is the same with Penelope as she is portrayed as wise throughout most of The Odyssey.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays