In a patriarchal society, women lie at the bottom of the social hierarchy. A patriarchy judges women for their beauty and innocence rather than merit and intelligence. Throughout the twenty-four books of The Odyssey as well as Game of Thrones, a modern day rendition of medieval society written by George. R. R. Martin, women struggle for power in society. Most of the women in these two plots are mothers and seductresses. In the Odyssey, Penelope plays the role of the mother, innocent to all and caring, on the other hand, Circe: the goddess of magic is the seductress. Convincing unsuspecting men into her household, only to experience physical transformations. In Game of Thrones, Cersei Lannister, the oldest daughter of Tywin Lannister, represents …show more content…
To achieve this they need complete control of all elements of life around them, especially women. Men do not just want to control their women; they want to guide their movements, influence their thoughts. These ideals are only functional when the woman is submissive. Usually these women happen to be mothers which is why they are so well respected in society. Sadly these women become infused with the shadow of their husbands, but this is the only way to gain respect and prestige. Penelope, wife of Odysseus is the paradigm woman. After the Trojan war, there is no news of Odysseus. No one knows of his whereabouts or what his plans were. Odysseus stays lost at sea for nearly twenty years, yet Penelope still says faithful and has no skeptic thoughts. Suitors come to wed Penelope and amass Odysseus’s treasure, however when asked when she would marry she says the time would come soon; it never did. Antinous, a suitor, tells Penelope’s story, “ ‘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… so this weaving won 't fray and come to nothing. This is a shroud for old lord Laertes…’ ” (2.104-109). Penelope offers to wed a suitor after her shroud is finished, while in reality she will never actually finish her shroud. She sits at home for years upon years, weaving and unweaving, waiting for Odysseus to return. As a depressed, solemn woman she can do nothing that can …show more content…
Similarly to Penelope, Cersei Lannister is noble mother figure in society. Rather than being accepted into society for her normal behavior, it is her submission to society which brings her social acceptance. Cersei Lannister is a powerful, beautiful woman. Sadly her Lannister title brings her into sinister situations where she is forced to make life and death decisions, both for her family and for her people of King’s Landing. Cersei is kidnapped by a rival group in the city, they hold her hostage and refuse her water and food. She is living in solitary confinement, the only way for her to go back into society is by submitting to the rivals. In tattered robes on a dirty floor, she submits to the rivals by confessing her sin:“I lay with a man outside the bonds of marriage, I confess”. The second part of her submission is the walk of Atonement, where she needs to walk naked in the streets in order to achieve acceptance into society. This is the ultimate punishment for a noble, nobles often are only seen for brief moments, dressed in luxurious clothes, for them to be naked is a horrendous blow. While she may not be accepted back into the higher echelons of society, she is finally released from captivity due to her full submission. Thus showing how submission brings women social
Penelope connects her actions to fate in the hopes that Odysseus, like his father Laertes, has not yet met his “deadly” and final fate. In addition to the Fates, she also references the myth of Arachne. She tells the men courting her, “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 … / so my weaving won’t all fray and come to nothing” (Homer 19. 157-160). Penelope refers to herself with mythical proportions, in terms of fate and Arachne, all of whom use textile skills to shape lives.
The treatment of women has always been different in different societies, cultures, and time periods. In the Odyssey, the treatment of the female gods is different than the treatment of mortal women because the gods are a powerful being, but the mortal women are property and owned by their husbands. If a women marries a man who she has more money then, they will live in her house, but he will be in charge of everything, including herself. In book 21 and book 3 show the power of the mortal women compared to the power of the goddesses. In the Odyssey, the mortal women are treated and used differently from the way that the goddesses are worshiped because of the gender and societal roles that each group of women are assigned.
In Homer’s Poem, The Odyssey, Penelope is the exceptionally patient and clever spouse of the infamous hero, Odysseus, and the mother of Telemachus. One poignant factor of Penelope’s character is her patience and devotion which is displayed throughout the poem. With her husband absent for a great majority of her life for the later of twenty years and his location unknown, Penelope stays, patiently awaiting Odysseus’ return, all whilst preserving their estate and raising her son by herself. Throughout this time, she had many persistent suitors in pursuit of her, abusing her husband’s absence.
The position of women in the societies of Genesis and the Odyssey grant them little power. Despite the pervasive gender hierarchy present in the ancient texts, Rebekah and Nausicaa wield their intelligence and wit to influence those around them. These two women utilize deception and indirect communication in order to alter the lives of prominent men as their means of exerting control within their patriarchal society. Due to their actions, these women become essential to the narratives of Genesis and the Odyssey, for Rebekah is integral to the perpetuation of God’s covenant through familial lineage and Nausicaa is fundamental to Odysseus’ nostos journey.
Penelope proves that women can be just as smart, if not smarter, than men. She outsmarts the suitors that invade her home to escape marriage. For example, she weaves each day for years and tells the suitors that when she is done she will marry. Homer writes, “This was her latest masterpiece of guile: 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…” (Homer). She deceives them because she undoes all of her work after every day with the knowledge that they are too busy with feasts and wine to notice.
“The Odyssey,” written by Greek poet Homer is an epic tale depicting the brutally enduring quest home of the Greek hero, Odysseus. Within this heroic story, women play a very large and pivotal role in Odysseus’s trip home from the Trojan War. In his attempt to get back to his wife, Penelope, Odysseus’s progress is constantly hindered by the intervention of women who will do anything in order to either convince the heroic figure to stay with them or have him killed. The intentions of the women in the epic are all very different but one of the most prominent roles lies in the seductresses and the alluring women who will deeply influence Odysseus. Most importantly, Penelope plays a large role in portraying the importance of women’s roles in the story.
If Penelope were to be the one to sleep with a suitor I assure you she’d be killed among the other maids like in book 22. But of course, that wasn't the case and in book 23 lines 417-422, Penelope tells Odysseus, “Think what difficulty the gods gave: they denied us life together in our prime and flowering years, kept us from crossing into age together. Forgive me, don't be angry. I could not welcome you with love on sight”. Penelopes questioning if Odysseus was actually who he claimed he was, was the epitome of her character.
Always Submissive and Sexy Do you believe that the two sexes today are treated differently from one another? In the Odyssey, written by Homer, there is a constant comparison between the opposite sexes. Throughout this book, Odysseus struggles to get home to his submissive wife Penelope. He encounters challenges, one of which is beautiful tempting women who urge him to stay.
In many societies today, individuals are led to believe that the concept of women possessing their own strength or independence is abnormal. As a result, women experience the world in a constrained way in comparison to men, even if they are in higher classes of society. However, these extensive aspects of females are contradicted in some ancient Greek literature. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer portrays women as a vital and powerful force through the characters Penelope and Circe, who counter the normality of misogyny in Homer’s time. Penelope’s character displays how some women are able to exceed society’s standards and show strength and cleverness when it is necessary.
These women influenced the conditions of the journey by guiding Odysseus in different directions, and aiding him crucially. Their authority showed the idea behind an old proverb, which states, “Behind every great man there’s a great woman”. Throughout The Odyssey, the women exemplified their power during the course of Odysseus’ journey. Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, bravely held down the front in Ithaca while her husband struggled to find his way back home. In Book 18, Penelope spoke to the ever-so-desperate suitors about what Odysseus “told” her before he left.
Women in The Odyssey Gender roles, specifically of women, were a little different back in 700 B.C. They played more of a typical role, expected to get married and have kids at a young age. They were expected to take care of the house and children, while their husbands were out fighting wars. However, while women in The Odyssey were greatly valued for their beauty, Homer reveals that they also had to be intelligent to be successful in their lives.
Aristophanes Lysistrata and Homer’s Odyssey both show how women can thrive in their society and fight for what they believe in, even if that goes against the gender roles portrayed in Greek Civilization. In Aristophanes Lysistrata, the author portrays how one woman can fight for what she believes in and make a difference in society. Lysistrata ultimately wanted to end the Peloponnesian War, she knew the only way to do so was to take advantage of the Men. Men were dying day after day because of this war and Lysistrata had enough, she wanted to end it. Lysistrata decided to take a stand; she voiced her plan to
However, for a woman in Homer’s society, who belongs to either her father and her husband, she is the head of the household for 20 years in the absence of Odysseus. She does not preserve peace in the household, but she takes actions to prevent the destruction of ranks of the household by delaying her marriage so that when Odysseus come back home, he can reclaim the kingship, or when Telemachus is old enough, he can take the throne which is rightfully his. In the position where women have no power, she uses her intellectual strength to control the suitors. Penelope promises the suitors that she will choose one of them to marry after she finishes weaving the shroud for Laertes because it is shameful if she does not do anything for her father-in-law. The suitors eagerly comply to her request without knowing what Penelope plans to do.
However, Penelope still loves Odysseus and remains loyal to him by stalling the marriage. She still continues to persist in being hopeful and refuses to believe that Odysseus will never return to her, so she creates several excuses to help her evade marriage for as long as possible. She presents tasks to keep the
In spite of the fact that Homer’s Odyssey is an epic story of a man’s gallant journey, women play a huge part throughout. Their unique yet controversial personalities, intentions, and relationships are vital to the development of this epic and adventurous journey of Odysseus. The poem by Homer was written at a time when women had an inferior position in society, yet that didn’t stop them from being any less influential. All of the women throughout the Odyssey possess different qualities, but all of them help to define the role of the ideal woman.