The nuclearization of the family creates the gendered space of the household which is ultimately defined by a distribution of power and roles among its members. Men are understood to be the holder of power in the home and have access to the outside world, whereas women are understood to be the provider of hospitality and are confined solely to the home. In this way, the household can be understood as an institution which rests on the distinction between masculinity and femininity. Depictions of the household and domesticity in Homer’s Odyssey displays the moral complexity for women to exist in these domestic spaces without subjugating themselves to the inherently patriarchal system that they are forced to live in. The physical and metaphorical
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In fact, the only time it is mentioned that Penelope can leave the house is when suggestions of her returning to her father’s island arise. During the public meeting led by Telemachus, one of the islanders exclaims that “Let him urge his mother back to her father’s house” (2.217). Even Pallas Athena suggests to Telemachus that “As for your mother, if the spirit moves her to marry, / let her go back to her father’s house, a man of power” (1.316-17). Penelope is only allowed to leave the male dominated space of Odysseus’s home if she goes to the male dominated space of her father’s. Penelope has no home herself, but instead is a possession of the men in her life and is therefore confined to these domestic spaces. The moral code arising from this dictates that a woman’s only place is in the home, and the men can leave these spaces as they please. Furthermore, the invocation of purely masculine spaces evidentiates that women have no space of their own, but can only exist within spaces of men. Furthermore, this represents domesticity itself as being a facet of confinement and, as a result of this confinement women such as Penelope are forced to provide hospitality to the very suitors who are ravaging her home and disturbing its
In fact, the only time it is mentioned that Penelope can leave the house is when suggestions of her returning to her father’s island arise. During the public meeting led by Telemachus, one of the islanders exclaims that “Let him urge his mother back to her father’s house” (2.217). Even Pallas Athena suggests to Telemachus that “As for your mother, if the spirit moves her to marry, / let her go back to her father’s house, a man of power” (1.316-17). Penelope is only allowed to leave the male dominated space of Odysseus’s home if she goes to the male dominated space of her father’s. Penelope has no home herself, but instead is a possession of the men in her life and is therefore confined to these domestic spaces. The moral code arising from this dictates that a woman’s only place is in the home, and the men can leave these spaces as they please. Furthermore, the invocation of purely masculine spaces evidentiates that women have no space of their own, but can only exist within spaces of men. Furthermore, this represents domesticity itself as being a facet of confinement and, as a result of this confinement women such as Penelope are forced to provide hospitality to the very suitors who are ravaging her home and disturbing its