The Evil Of Mortal Women In Homer's Odyssey

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While Penelope and probably Clytemnestra do not harbor evil emotions, it is still true that doom is brought from those attempting to pursue them. As aforementioned, this is precisely why Pandora was created – “to charm the hearts of all men as they hug their own doom” (59). Penelope brings the death of all the suitors once Odysseus returns, and Clytemnestra brings the death of Agamemnon. Since the many suitors in Odysseus’s home are captivated by seduction, the evil of mortal women is inherent. Penelope may not be malicious, but she satisfies the definition of the ‘evil’ of Pandora. This is true no matter how good a wife she is. Similarly, Goddesses of Greek Myth share many traits of Pandora’s. It is not immediately obvious that Goddesses …show more content…
With great haste she produced gray iron and made a huge sickle and showed it to her children” (CITE)
With trickery, she brought about Ouranos’s castration – an entire destruction of his manhood. However terrible this act was, it was only through this that she could free the Titans from her womb and continue succession. This is very similar to what Hesiod writes of women. While Pandora and her descendants are an evil for man, one who avoids marriage fairs no better. As this is true in the case of mortals due to Pandora, this is also true in the case of Gods. This same trickery and doom-bringing quality is also present in the Goddess, Rhea.
Rhea, like Gaia, uses cunning against her husband. In the Theogony, Hesiod details the trick of Rhea in which she saves Zeus against the will of Kronos. Rhea would have given birth to many of the Olympians, but “majestic Kronos swallowed each child” (Th. 459). As a result, Rhea devised a scheme to free her son, Zeus. As Kronos expected to be handed the next of her offspring for him to swallow, “she handed a huge stone wrapped in swaddling clothes” (Th. 486). After doing so, Zeus was raised elsewhere,
“sinuous-minded Kronos was deceived by
…show more content…
Mortals Clytemnestra and Penelope perfectly embody these traits in there cunning. Being woman, inherently evil by ancient Greek Mythology, they eventually pit men against each other in ways resulting in death. It is no coincidence that women play larger roles in Greek Tragedy than otherwise. Even with respect to immortals, the Goddesses are very similar, bringing doom to those seduced by them. The trickery of Rhea and Gaia is a perfect example of this. In one case, Ouranos is castrated and in another, Titans are exiled for eternity to

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