In The Odyssey, the reader is exposed to the role of women in ancient greek society. The Odyssey would have been recited during a time when women were considered to be inferior to men. This is present in the poem; but, in The Odyssey women are given more substantial roles. The women of The Odyssey are complex characters; they are not always weak individuals that blend into the background, they are powerful and wise. The female characters also display certain traits that could not be shown by the male characters, thus giving women an essential role in the epic. There are three categories of women present in the poem: the goddess, the wife, or hostess and the seductress. Each of these categories can be represented by different prominent female
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She is fiercely loyal to Odysseus; even though she has no idea whether he is alive or dead, she refuses to remarry and holds on to the hope that he will come home. She also deeply depends on Odysseus, “That radiant woman, once she reached her suitors,/ drawing her glistening veil across her cheeks,/ paused now where a column propped the sturdy roof,” Penelope needs Odysseus, she relies on him for strength. In his absence, she leans on a pillar to give her strength. She is shown to be quite submissive when her son just dismisses her, “Tend to your own tasks,/ the distaff and the loom.” She then walks away astonished. This is her child speaking to her, in many modern societies speaking to one’s mother like this would be considered rude. But Penelope does not get angry, she does exactly what she was told. Penelope is also fertile, she gave Odysseus a son. Odysseus is a king and for the kingship to stay in his family, Penelope needed to produce an heir, and she did. Through Penelope, the reader is able to see what an ideal wife in Ancient Greece looked like. (The reader also sees that there is more to Penelope than a submissive …show more content…
The seductress is dangerous and harmful to men. Calypso and Circe are some of the most prominent examples of the seductress. Calypso used her power to entrap Odysseus and force him to be with her. Circe seduced men from Odysseus’ crew and turned them into pigs then later seduced Odysseus. The seductress accents the hero; it is the hero’s job to resist the temptation of the seductress or it will lead to his downfall. A direct contrast to the seductress would be the hostess or wife, but even Penelope has the traits of a seductress. Although she fends the suitors off, she also leads them to believe she will choose one of them, “my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more,/ go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until/ I can finish off this web .../ so my weaving won't all fray and come to nothing./ This is a shroud for old lord Laertes, for that day/ when the deadly fate that lays us out at last will take him down.” Penelope does not intend on marrying any of her suitors. Each night she would unravel whatever weaving of the burial shroud she had done so that she would never finish it, thus postponing her engagement. Instead of telling the suitors she would never marry any of them, she let them believe she would. She tells the suitors to “go slowly”, this give Odysseus more time to come back to
She is fiercely loyal to Odysseus; even though she has no idea whether he is alive or dead, she refuses to remarry and holds on to the hope that he will come home. She also deeply depends on Odysseus, “That radiant woman, once she reached her suitors,/ drawing her glistening veil across her cheeks,/ paused now where a column propped the sturdy roof,” Penelope needs Odysseus, she relies on him for strength. In his absence, she leans on a pillar to give her strength. She is shown to be quite submissive when her son just dismisses her, “Tend to your own tasks,/ the distaff and the loom.” She then walks away astonished. This is her child speaking to her, in many modern societies speaking to one’s mother like this would be considered rude. But Penelope does not get angry, she does exactly what she was told. Penelope is also fertile, she gave Odysseus a son. Odysseus is a king and for the kingship to stay in his family, Penelope needed to produce an heir, and she did. Through Penelope, the reader is able to see what an ideal wife in Ancient Greece looked like. (The reader also sees that there is more to Penelope than a submissive …show more content…
The seductress is dangerous and harmful to men. Calypso and Circe are some of the most prominent examples of the seductress. Calypso used her power to entrap Odysseus and force him to be with her. Circe seduced men from Odysseus’ crew and turned them into pigs then later seduced Odysseus. The seductress accents the hero; it is the hero’s job to resist the temptation of the seductress or it will lead to his downfall. A direct contrast to the seductress would be the hostess or wife, but even Penelope has the traits of a seductress. Although she fends the suitors off, she also leads them to believe she will choose one of them, “my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more,/ go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until/ I can finish off this web .../ so my weaving won't all fray and come to nothing./ This is a shroud for old lord Laertes, for that day/ when the deadly fate that lays us out at last will take him down.” Penelope does not intend on marrying any of her suitors. Each night she would unravel whatever weaving of the burial shroud she had done so that she would never finish it, thus postponing her engagement. Instead of telling the suitors she would never marry any of them, she let them believe she would. She tells the suitors to “go slowly”, this give Odysseus more time to come back to