The Odyssey mainly focuses on the male characters throughout the novel, as the point of views are all male, yet the female characters can get overshadowed as Homer brings immense power to their characters. From being able to sway with words or sexual charms, all of the women in this book often get what they want out of all of the other male characters; Athena sways Telemachus to find his father and the Sirens use their voices to compel men to come to the island. The women that Odysseus encounters on his journey home to Ithaca all have been prominent in his delayed return home. The female characters in The Odyssey by Homer, mortal and immortal, are portrayed as powerful. The goddess Athena is a very persuasive female figure.
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The Sirens are a great example as they are these powerful female characters. They use their voices to compel men as they are sailing by their island to come over. All the evidence left in the story is that all of these men that end up being seduced by the voices of the Sirens is that they never come back. When Odysseus and his men are about to set sail, Circe warns them about the voices of the Sirens and how no man has ever come back from that island, so the men put wax into their ears to block out the song and ties Odysseus over the boat without any wax in his ears. “ So they sent their ravishing voices out across the air/ and the heart inside me throbbed to listen longer.? I signaled the crew with frowns to set me free-? They flung themselves at the oars and rowed on harder” (Homer, 277, 208-211). Even though Circe warned him about the danger of the Sirens, all he wanted was for his men to let go of the ropes. He was compelled by them and if it wasn’t for Circe’s warning, they would have all ended up dead. These women are longing for something, craving for attention and are powerful sexual charms to men, and the Sirens ultimately use this to their
The Sirens are a great example as they are these powerful female characters. They use their voices to compel men as they are sailing by their island to come over. All the evidence left in the story is that all of these men that end up being seduced by the voices of the Sirens is that they never come back. When Odysseus and his men are about to set sail, Circe warns them about the voices of the Sirens and how no man has ever come back from that island, so the men put wax into their ears to block out the song and ties Odysseus over the boat without any wax in his ears. “ So they sent their ravishing voices out across the air/ and the heart inside me throbbed to listen longer.? I signaled the crew with frowns to set me free-? They flung themselves at the oars and rowed on harder” (Homer, 277, 208-211). Even though Circe warned him about the danger of the Sirens, all he wanted was for his men to let go of the ropes. He was compelled by them and if it wasn’t for Circe’s warning, they would have all ended up dead. These women are longing for something, craving for attention and are powerful sexual charms to men, and the Sirens ultimately use this to their