Theme Of Gender Inequality In The Odyssey

The women in Homer's Odyssey are judged largely by their appearance. If a certain man considers a woman beautiful, or if she is related to a man in an important position such as a nobleman or king, the woman is seen as successful. That is why Penelope has the kingdom but can do nothing with it without Odysseus by her side. Being a woman, Penelope has absolutely no power over what the suitors do and cannot get rid of them. The suitors want her wealth and her throne. They do not respect her enough to stop feeding on

Penelope, Odysseus's wife, is an exemplar of marital fidelity through her loyalty towards her husband for twenty years. During the absence of her husband, she ensures that Ithaca remains under Odysseus’s ruling, yet when he returns she doesn’t immediately accept him; rather, she treats him with distrust and aloofness In book 23 of “The Odyssey "Penelope is portrayed as a unique character, she is a hero herself despite not leaving home because she goes on a mental quest to rediscover her husband and remains strong and steadfast in her actions regardless of the judgements that are imposed on her.

Penelope plays a key role in The Odyssey because without her unwillingness to accept a suitor, Telemachus would never have gone on his journey to find his father. Fifteen years after the Trojan War ended, Penelope's husband Odysseus, still hadn’t come home. Throughout this time many suitors had come asking for her hand in marriage. She decided she would choose one suitor to marry once she finished weaving her father-in-law’s burial shroud.

In the Odyssey Penelope tries hard to embrace all the things women are given in life. She can do anything about the fact that Odysseus has been gone for almost twenty years, that her son does not know his own father and who he is supposed to take after, and that her home is almost in ruins because of all the suitors refusing to leave the house and trashing the house. Penelope is forced to choose a suitor, remarry and probably have more kids too. Penelope is not allowed to say if she wants that or not. We, as readers, can tell she is putting things off for as long as she can, but what if her alone was not enough. Helen was able to run away from Menelaus and go back to Troy with Paris. After a few years of her being said that she was kidnapped, she came back and had to suffer however Menelaus treated her. Helen found her own strength and told the truth of where she had been and how it was her choice to leave Sparta. Helen and Penelope are powerful greek women, but only Penelope is viewed as perfect for staying loyal to her husband. While Penelope was viewed as perfect for her loyalty to Odysseus, Aphrodite was able to sleep with whatever men she wanted to and she was viewed as a beautiful, perfect, goddess. How come Penelope and Aphrodite were viewed as perfect, but were doing the opposite things. That is all because of the

In Homer’s Odyssey, the over one-hundred suitors at Odysseus’s home of Ithaca threaten to overthrow the former king they assume dead. Their violence and careless living in his home impose on Penelope and Telemachas’s safety and privacy, causing Odysseus to hurry back home. However, the suitors present an even bigger threat: they threaten to destroy and absolve Penelope and Odysseus’s marriage. Faithful Penelope, though, delays her decision by promising to make a choice of a suitor after she finishes weaving a funeral shroud for Odysseus and undoing her work every night. If Penelope had given in to the suitors, they would live under the thumb of their suitors with Odysseus barred from his own home.

Homer’s The Odyssey tells the story of a man’s journey to return home but women play a significant role in the epic nonetheless. In particular, female characters Penelope, Circe, and Athena all play vital roles in Odysseus’ journey to Ithaca. To begin, Penelope is crucial because her character allows the reader to keep informed with the happenings in Ithaca. Penelope is depicted with cunning and wit traits similar to those of Odysseus although she is subjected to being downgraded and forced to follow the norm for women. Despite having to obey the orders of Telemachus as the man of the house, Penelope is able to curb the marriage proposals from the suitors by tricking them on multiple occasions into believing she will marry one. Next, Circe

When Odysseus finally returns back to his hometown, he is unrecognizable and rejected among his people

Penelope’s character displays how some women are able to exceed society’s standards and show strength and cleverness when it is necessary. For the many years that Odysseus has been away, Penelope is able

Women have been oppressed in male dominant societies since ancient times and still are in some present-day societies. Homer’s The Odyssey gives insights into the Greek culture through the story of Odysseus and the challenges he faces in attempts of returning home to Ithaca. The epic poem revolves around men, or in particular, their hardships and accomplishments while rarely providing women’s perspective of life. Millay’s “An Ancient Gesture” empathizes with Penelope’s difficulties and admires her fortitude, while the poem addresses Odysseus’s fault with his lack of understanding and empathy. In “An Ancient Gesture” Millay implies that the hardships women cope with are undermined using symbolism, vivid imagery, and subtle diction.

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

In the odyssey we learn that ten years after he defeats troy that he has still not returned home. A group of suitors who all think Odysseus is dead have taken over his palace, in hopes of marrying Odysseus wife Penelope and eating all of his food, all though that is not the whole story you can imagine with such an epic tittle that this was and still is an epic book. Throughout the epic, woman plays dominant roles in Odysseus’s voyage home. The rules woman can play is very cliche duties of what society would label them; a goddess, a wife or a scandalous seductress, each of these Each of these roles and events to Odysseus is the tale. Making the role of women more cliche. The goddesses in the Odyssey bring both suffering and petite immortals.

Women are not present on Odysseus’ journey to protect him from Poseidon's wrath. Athena, daughter of Zeus, notices his suffering and becomes his unseen maternal figure. In The Odyssey Homer portrays Athena as maternalistic towards Odysseus, “...she checked the course of all the winds but one,/ commanding, “be quiet and go to sleep.”/ Then sent a long swell running under a norther/ to bear the prince Odysseus…” (V. 400-403). Athena is now seen by all to be a caring and compassionate woman. She helps Odysseus throughout his struggling period regardless to the fact that helping him creates struggles of her own.

Women have always been portrayed as the weaker sex compared to men. It has been demonstrated in history itself and throughout literary works. Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Homer’s The Odyssey, however, portray women to be more powerful than men, even when their society thought otherwise and underestimated them because of their gender. Lady Macbeth, The Three Witches, Queen Arête and Penelope demonstrate the astute, charming, and ambitious side of women that was overlooked by men when it came to having power and making decisions. Both works show the hardships of being a woman in power. At the same time, they give their perspectives of the power women disclosed.

In “The Odyssey,” Homer provides a rather large cast of female characters, especially by comparison to the rest of Greek culture. In Homer’s depiction of women, most are characterized positively. The reason I say this is because even the “evil” goddess characters are characterized beautifully. Circe, Calypso, they are all characterized as beautiful characters, rivaled only by the Goddess of Love and Affection, Aphrodite. By comparison to the rest of Greek society, however, Homer was praising women beyond standards. Most women in Greek culture were considered to be useless creatures only for the happiness and comfort of men.

The role of women in Odysseus' voyage is very important. It's by virtue of women that this whole story even led the way it did. It was because of beautiful Helen that the Trojan war began, and because of Odysseus' love for Penelope that Odysseus needed to come back to Ithaca, and the famous Athena was an immortal goddess that made his voyage home possible. These three women shape the story of Odysseus. The women in this story are aimed to the point, and are have very meaningful roles in Odysseus' life.