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Gender Roles In The Odyssey

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In the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Oresteia, and Oedipus the King these great works, we can see, the Greeks’ views on gender that Greek was a patriarchal society. In the Iliad, Agamemnon got a fair-cheeked girl named Chryseis as a prize after a war. However, under Apollo’s pressure, he needed to send her back. Therefore, Agamemnon took Achilles’ prize, Briseis, who had been awarded to Achilles because of anger. Agamemnon was angry because he considered beautiful Chryseis as his property and prize. From Agamemnon’s behavior and speech, in Greeks’ opinion, men were the main character in the society. Women couldn’t control their fates and freedom. Chryseis and Briseis didn’t get a chance to speak out their own mind. They didn’t even considered as married to Agamemnon or Achilles; they were “given” to them. Helen also said to Hector in the book: “Brother-in-law of a scheming, cold-blooded bitch, I wish that on the day my mother bore me…” This speech reflects the women’s view on themselves---Beauty is a crime. In Greeks’ world, marriage was considered one of the most important decisions and events in …show more content…

Because of Agamemnon’s ten years absence, Clytemnestra had entered an adulterous relationship with Agamemnon’s cousin Aegisthus. Eventually, she killed Agamemnon in the bath. This plot showed partly about Greeks’ view about how bad and bloody women could be. What’s more, it reflects Greeks’ opinion about the relationship between women and men. As a woman, to have a relationship with the other man except her own husband is terrible, but Agamemnon could have sexual relationships with the other women. It shows that men’s power was way too bigger than women’s. Also, when Agamemnon was absent from home, Clytemnestra couldn’t follow him, so she must wait at home. It means that women were restricted from participating in outside events in which men were

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