Zeus punished mankind by creating the first woman, Pandora. Aphrodite, Athena and Hermes gave her different attributes like beauty, cunningness and femininity. She received a vase from Zeus and told her not to open it under any circumstance, but she was so curious that she decided to open it, releasing evils and diseases in the world and by the time she closed the lid, hope remained trapped inside. Pandora, the first woman, through her creation her curiosity and deception her role was consequential in categorizing other mortal women and other female characters having the same attributes. Through her creation, reveals the sexism that existed in pre existing Greek society.
Pandora was curious, clever, deceptive and greedy. Many mortal women
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Pandora demonstrates that women were only important because of their beauty however, on the inside they were manipulative cheaters. One of Pandora’s traits, curiosity, lead her to release trouble and evil into the world. Pandora thought that inside the vase was some sort of valuable like money. Her curiosity, foolishness and selfishness drove her to open the jar. Her being the first woman, and mistakenly opening the jar full of evil has contributed to the typical attributes women were portrayed as. Curiosity can lead to destruction as exemplified by Pandora. A woman’s curiosity can get the best of them and bring harm. Interestly, this parallels to the story of Adam and Eve where Eve was curious about eating the apple after she was told not to and it ultimately bestowed the devil. Curiosity can cause harm and can get many in trouble. Furthermore, Pandora’s gullibility that lead her to open the jar is apparent in other mortal woman, such as Agamemnon’s daughter, Iphigenia. Iphigenia was tricked by her father by thinking she was going to marry Achilles and ultimately sacrificed her; her gullibility lead to her death. Another example of this in goddesses is the kidnapping of Persephone which Hades tricked her to eat 6 pomegranate seeds which caused her to remain in the underworld for 6 months. Moreover, when Metis was tricked by Zeus into entering her stomach which ultimately she was trapped inside there. Women’s foolishness is seen throughout Greek mythology, their foolishness ultimately leads them to their
Most people have experienced the feeling of receiving important advice, but not wanting to listen to it, and having to face the consequences later. This is presented in both the myths “Pandora's Box” by Louis Untermeyer and “Icarus Flies Too Close to the Sun'' by Josephine Preston Peabody. In “Pandora’s Box,” Pandora is told to never open the box she was given because she can never trust the gods, however, her curiosity keeps bringing her back to the box and its mystery. In “Icarus Flies Too Close to the Sun,” Icarus was strictly demanded to be careful about how high or low he flies, even so, he gets too exhilarated and forgets the words of his father and suffers the terrible fate of drowning. In the myths “Pandora’s Box” and “Icarus Flies Too Close to the Sun” the common message represented is if one should ignore the advice given by the wise, one
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.
She is portrayed as the average Greek woman, but in reality is very cunning. Though both these women are two different characters, their roles are similar, and they both are equally powerful. They are cunning; teach Xenia; develop Odysseus’ character; and an important role in their families. Athena is the cunning Goddess who guides Odysseus back to Ithaca for his family and countrymen without letting him know her reality – she disguises herself every now and then to help him by testing him and his knowledge.
“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.
Although there are many Greek mythical characters , the character that interest me the most is Pandora. It could have been because she was the first woman human ever created, or maybe what her curiosity caused. according to mythology, this character is the cause for all the evil on earth. The myth behind this character is pretty interesting and it also includes a little bit of romance. As I mentioned above, in the Greek mythology, Pandora was the first created woman.
Calypso both reinforces and manipulates gender stereotypes with her femininity, power, and confidence. Calypso has an ability to both draw in and overpower a man, which can challenge and reinforce the stereotype of a desperate woman. Women in the Odyssey are portrayed as fragile and naive, more like a useless side character than anyone of importance. Calypso, however, uses her emotions as a woman to fight and manipulate those who would be seen as a higher power.
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.
Everyday women like Penelope were believed to have no purpose in common society other than being confined to a kitchen each day and complete domestic house duties. The name Penelope was deliberately selected as it translates to mean pulling, or spinning which is an allegorical phrase in itself, the first meaning associates her cunning weaving of plots and schemes which proves her to be sly and the secondary referring to cloth which was a part of an everyday life duty for women, producing articles of clothing. Being a hospitable host to guests was also a key function, which is first noticed when she offers help to Odysseus in disguise “Give him a wash and spread a couch for him here, with bedding and coverlets and with shining blankets”. It is argued that Penelope is secretly a spider, weaving her own web of lies getting stuck in her own trap which is hidden from the public as women were not meant to be clever or be known for any kind of crafty intelligence. In contrast to this old way of societies expectations, Atwood utilizes Penelope’s strength in character to warn women not to follow in her footsteps by giving them the advice of “Do not look the other way”, “Tell them (referring to males) what you think”, “Argue with them”, and “make them squirm”, these pieces of wisdom create a stronger emphasis on having equal respect and appreciation for women which also conflicts the differences between Ancient and Modern times and highlights the evolution of society.
This paper will discuss the well-published work of, Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. New York: Schocken, 1975. Print. Sarah B. Pomeroy uses this book to educate others about the role women have played throughout ancient history. Pomeroy uses a timeline to go through each role, starting with mythological women, who were called Goddesses.
Women are greatly judged by their looks throughout the book. They believe that a woman is successful if any of her direct family have an important position (e.g. King, God) or is a heroic figure. Even though Athena and Calypso are very different, one evident similarity, is their ability to influence and control men. Athena greatly interferes in Telemachus’ and Odysseus’ lives by utilizing her intellect. Her power, influence and control on men can either be seen as a positivity or as a negativity.
During his trip to the underworld, Odysseus encounters numerous types of women. Homer tends to describe these women by detailing their attractiveness, successful kin, or scandalous sexual affairs with gods, but never by their own accomplishments. It appears that the only accomplishment Homer’s women can achieve is being remarkably attractive. For instance, Odysseus’ queen, Penelope, is admired because of her beauty and status as a newly single queen. The suitors show no inkling of respect for her.
Pandora was gifted her curiosity by Hera, which was a gift that ended up leading to the doom of humanity. In this case, Pandora followed her curious tendencies when she was gifted the box by Zeus. Although curiosity can lead to innovation or break-throughs, this case proved that there can be a negative side as well. Instead of following what she was told, Pandora allowed for her curiosity to take over, and ended up taking down humanity with her. This lesson is still important to this day, for many times in our lives curiosity can lead us into
The Odyssey by Homer contains multiple moments where female characters are oppressed or fit into a patriarchy, but there are several moments where these character show signs of rebellion against this oppression. Applying a critical lense of feminism to these characters and relationships create complexities and conflicts within the novel that shine meaning on the world. The character Penelope offers many of these moments. Analyzing the actions, situation, and comparisons with other characters using a the feminist critical lense will show a more enriched version of Penelope and offer a deeper insight of the patriarchy, and how is affects the world.