Throughout The Odyssey, Homer enlightens us in the tribulations Odysseus faces as he fights to return home to his loving wife and son. He uses his mind and cunning abilities to outwit the creatures he encounters along the way. As we follow his travels, he faces many different types of women. Including Athena-the protector, Penelope-the loving wife, and Calypso-the devastatingly beautiful goddess-nymph.. These women are all so different, yet all so alike as well. Homer illustrates the importance of women in The Odyssey by describing the roles in vivid detail of these different women and how each of them is treated in relation to the men of the epic. He shows us a goddess whose only goal is to protect a mortal, even though she must do so in
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Although she had not seen her husband in twenty years, she continued to wait for him to return home day in and day out. Penelope has many young suitors trying to seduce her into marriage, yet she remains entirely faithful to her husband, devising a cunning plan to keep the suitors at bay. “She set up a great loom in the royal halls / and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun, / the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: ‘Young men, / 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. . . ” (102-107). In these lines, it seems as though Penelope has all but given up on Odysseus returning home and plans to remarry, however, she has another plan that involves remaining completely faithful. “So by day she’d weave at her great and growing web-- / by night, by the light of torches set beside her, / she would unravel all she’d done. Three whole years / she deceived us blind, seduced us with this scheme. . .” (115-118). The men in this epic, especially Odysseus, are marveled for their wondrous cunning abilities throughout The Odyssey, while the women are portrayed as “fragile”, needing their men to protect them. The knowledge Homer gives us of Penelope’s “great and growing web” illustrates that “fragile” Penelope has some cunning abilities of her own and is more than capable of protecting herself, to some extent. Her “web” …show more content…
Without Athena, Odysseus may have never made it home to his faithful and loving wife Penelope. If Penelope had not been strong and brave, he would’ve returned to a home that was no longer his. Calypso’s capture of Odysseus made him even more determined to return home to his wife and son. While we can see that these women play big roles in this epic and are slowly being portrayed as more independent and cunning, they are still a long way from where they will end up. To this day, women are growing and becoming more and more independent. They are learning how to survive on their own two feet, and not stand on the shoes of their
Although she had not seen her husband in twenty years, she continued to wait for him to return home day in and day out. Penelope has many young suitors trying to seduce her into marriage, yet she remains entirely faithful to her husband, devising a cunning plan to keep the suitors at bay. “She set up a great loom in the royal halls / and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun, / the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: ‘Young men, / 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. . . ” (102-107). In these lines, it seems as though Penelope has all but given up on Odysseus returning home and plans to remarry, however, she has another plan that involves remaining completely faithful. “So by day she’d weave at her great and growing web-- / by night, by the light of torches set beside her, / she would unravel all she’d done. Three whole years / she deceived us blind, seduced us with this scheme. . .” (115-118). The men in this epic, especially Odysseus, are marveled for their wondrous cunning abilities throughout The Odyssey, while the women are portrayed as “fragile”, needing their men to protect them. The knowledge Homer gives us of Penelope’s “great and growing web” illustrates that “fragile” Penelope has some cunning abilities of her own and is more than capable of protecting herself, to some extent. Her “web” …show more content…
Without Athena, Odysseus may have never made it home to his faithful and loving wife Penelope. If Penelope had not been strong and brave, he would’ve returned to a home that was no longer his. Calypso’s capture of Odysseus made him even more determined to return home to his wife and son. While we can see that these women play big roles in this epic and are slowly being portrayed as more independent and cunning, they are still a long way from where they will end up. To this day, women are growing and becoming more and more independent. They are learning how to survive on their own two feet, and not stand on the shoes of their