The Characterization Of Women In Homer's Odyssey

Though women play a central role in the Odyssey the portrayal and characterization of said women is often times sexist and places most of the women in positions of power until Odysseus or one of the male gods comes along and puts a stop to it. All of the women are characterized with few traits, most of which only describe their looks, while the reader is constantly reminded of all of Odysseus good traits. Even Penelope, who is portrayed as the ideal woman, is only ever described as ‘beautiful’ and ‘faithful’. Though this does make sense considering the time period and how during the time women were considered property of men.

With all of the different character and how they are written one would expect some variety in the description of women. Instead they are all beautiful, lovely ‘divine’, they are hardly ever described as anything other than something to do with their looks or sweet. Meanwhile the men in the story are described as brave, handsome, clever, strategic, and other adjectives to help describe their characters better. The lack of representation of women in the odyssey

Just as well Odysseus never mentions all of the women he had sex with to Penelope, though based on what the Ancient Greeks society was like she probably already suspected he had done such a