Roles Of Women In The Odyssey Essay

Women are everywhere. Fifty percent of every species is a female, yet only human females are treated differently, as less. This is not a new attitude, and while it cannot be determined if it goes back to the beginning of the human race, it can be traced back to one of the first stories ever recorded, The Odyssey. In The Odyssey, by Homer, the main character, Odysseus, faces a series of trials, many of which include women. In this work, women often must use what society expects from them to gain power; often they fail due to being depicted as seductresses who tempt men, and have little to no rights, while being mistrusted based only on their gender.

Firstly, when it comes to gender roles, women were seen to have a set role for them …show more content…
It is hard not being prideful, lazy, wrathful, eating too much, and being envious and greedy. Yet, lust has been a source of power and downfall for many women. In The Odyssey, two nymphs seduce Odysseus into sleeping with them before he returns home to his wife. As goddesses, they have great powers and know that Odysseus is a war hero. They become infatuated with him. Homer described them as lustrous goddesses. These epithets describe them almost as if the were lust given flesh. They offer him comfort, and Calypso, one of the nymphs, even offers him immortality. Yet he denies them to return home. Lust is not always a source of power for women, especially when it is not reciprocated. “Seven states don't have any laws preventing a rapist from claiming parental rights” (CNN). It is almost unimaginable for a woman who was raped to have to face her attacker in court over child custody rights. Yet these women have no power to stop it. Unlike the nymphs with the lovely braids and the ‘lustrous goddesses’, these women have no power to stop men from doing horrible things. Calypso had complete control of every situation she got into with a man, unlike many women