Gender’s Effect on the Realms of The Odyssey In Robert Fagles ' translation of Homer’s The Odyssey, much of the plot centers around interactions between mortal humans and immortal gods. Odysseus is repeatedly visited and kidnapped by immortal women, and these interactions inform the plot and society immensely through their strong influence over his journey. The main tension for the female characters comes from the difference in power between gods and goddesses, as well as the difference in power between the mortal and immortal women. These variations in agency make Homer’s society seem hypocritical in that respect for females varies based on their immortality. Persephone is one of the often ignored, but still powerful goddesses in The Odyssey. Hades is absent throughout the epic, and when Odysseus visits the underworld, only Persephone is mentioned. The few times she appears are connected to events she willed to happen: “Even in death—Persephone has given him wisdom, / everlasting vision to him and him alone…”
…show more content…
She starts wars and manipulates those around her to attain her desires. In the Odyssey she’s not explored as much as in the Iliad, but she shows her power firstly by drugging her guests, and again by giving Telemachus a dress to give to his wife on their wedding day, telling him to think of her. Through drugging everyone, Helen has the power to mess with their memory, making them believe a story about Odysseus and the Trojan War that is questionable. She is also the only one capable of understanding the omen of the eagle who ripping apart the goose. Menelaus, the King of Sparta, cannot translate the omen: “The warlord fell to thinking— / how to read the omen rightly, how to reply?” (Pg. 324 ll. 188-189). This talent is a characteristic that could support the theory that Helen is Zeus’s daughter. She is the only mortal female with power similar in scale to the
She starts wars and manipulates those around her to attain her desires. In the Odyssey she’s not explored as much as in the Iliad, but she shows her power firstly by drugging her guests, and again by giving Telemachus a dress to give to his wife on their wedding day, telling him to think of her. Through drugging everyone, Helen has the power to mess with their memory, making them believe a story about Odysseus and the Trojan War that is questionable. She is also the only one capable of understanding the omen of the eagle who ripping apart the goose. Menelaus, the King of Sparta, cannot translate the omen: “The warlord fell to thinking— / how to read the omen rightly, how to reply?” (Pg. 324 ll. 188-189). This talent is a characteristic that could support the theory that Helen is Zeus’s daughter. She is the only mortal female with power similar in scale to the