Roles Of Women In The Odyssey Essay

Unknown, easygoing, cheerful, and frail. These are all adjectives describing the way that women are personified in places like ancient Greece and in literature. Women are seen as nothing more than property to men. They are seen as frail and easygoing because they have no significant role. This is not the case in the Odyssey. Homer uses the idea of women being the property of men, and flips it to make the women seem more in control and powerful. Although this might be seen as a good thing, the switch in powers also has an effect on women’s reputation. Women in the Odyssey are seen as very powerful and power hungry, giving off an evil persona, because they will not stop until they get what they want and they are willing to kill if they …show more content…
He switches the roles of both women and men and gives the women the power. The women written in Homer’s way are personified as power hungry and very powerful. These women will not take anything less than what they deserve. This almost gives them an evil quality to them. Women are also usually personified as innocent and in Homer’s way of writing, they are not. This gives them more of a powerful, but evil, characteristic. Two significant women in the Odyssey that demonstrate the power that Homer gives women, are Scylla and the Sirens. Scylla is a monster that is very powerful. It is said that, “no ship’s company can claimed to have passed her without loss and grief; she takes from every ship, one man for every gullet,” (lines 692 - 694). Scylla is obviously very powerful and she is definitely no man’s property. Scylla also has an evil persona because of this power. She has the power to overthrow any ship that comes through her part of the ocean, which tells the readers that she is evil because the uses this power to get what she wants. The Sirens are also very powerful in Homer’s writing. The Sirens are creatures that draw people in with their lovely singing voice