Role Of Beauty In The Odyssey

While beauty standards have changed throughout time, beauty consistently emerges in literature from the time of the ancient Greeks to now. Often, villains are ugly while heroes are beautiful, showing that the link between a person’s appearance and their character is consistently reinforced not only by a natural humanistic appreciation of aesthetic and symmetry but also by society. In The Odyssey, the timeless and eternally desired human quality of beauty is blatantly wielded as an active tool of manipulation and not a passive characteristic. This convention of using beauty as a strategy has not persevered to the present day, where society strives to meet beauty-blindness yet is hypocritical; while it is less acceptable to actively utilize …show more content…
For example, beyond just coaching Telemachus, Athena enhances his appearance before he speaks to the assembled Achaeans. Telemachus’ goal is to demand respect for himself and his family from the suitors, and his physical appearance helps meet this goal. When he walks in, she “[lavishes] a marvelous splendor on the prince so the people all gazed in wonder as he came forward, the elders making way as he took his father’s seat” (Book II, Line 12). The physical “splendor” that Athena bestows on Telemachus directs everyone’s attention to him; despite the suitors’ aversion to what Telemachus stands for, they “gaze in wonder” at his appearance. Additionally, not only is the focus of the room directed to Telemachus but it also seems that his appearance manipulates elders into showing respect and even deference. Typically, people reserve the greatest courtesy for elders, as their maturity and wisdom usually merit it. However in this scene, the elders “make way” for Telemachus, who is still a boy in many ways, showing that the beauty Athena has gifted him induces obeisance even beyond the respect usually shown to