Roles Of Women In The Odyssey

Women are often looked upon as weak; how men are more superior and more dominate in the world. What happens when the roles are reversed? What happens when women turn malicious and do what ever it is they can, to come out on top? Throughout the Odyssey and Oedipus, the roles of women in both plays are different as one will do anything in their power to be more powerful and as the other is doing anything to become powerful on her own. Each woman differs in their abilities as it has both positive and negative effects. The story of the Odyssey is about Odysseus and his journey home from the Trojan War. During his journey home, he runs in to numerous encounters complicated by women. His first encounter, for example starts with the rape of King

Circe, encounters the men, drugs them, and turns them into swine. Her seduction lands the year long stay with Odysseus, before he and his men escape to continue the journey back home. Right away, they come face to face with the Sirens. The Sirens use their powers wisely. Their sweet singing voices attract the passing passengers as they pass by. With every positive power comes a negative down fall. The Sirens can only lure men with their beautiful voices, but they can not destroy or trap men as seen from previous episodes of Calypso and

The two haven’t seen each other in the twenty years he embarked on his travel. Despite his “romances” with Calypso and Circe, Odysseus was always aware of his plan to return home to his wife and child. Through her eyes, and portrayal of the story, she draws the attention to him and his goal to claim his position back as king. Her positive traits made Penelope faithful to her husband in his absence in the two decades he was gone.

When reaching the end of Muriel Rukheyser’s poem, “On Oedipus the King, Myth” Oedipus states, “When you say Man, you include women too.” He continues on, “That’s what you think.” The phrases are signifying are the similarities to women in both today’s society and the play. We can agree that the character of Oedipus states woman are equal, but their true role is brought up throughout the poem and presented in the