Women In The Odyssey Term paper
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Frieda Torgueman March 14, 2001
The Odyssey of Homer
Regardless of the way an individual describes society in a given time period, women, over the course of the years, have always been an important issue to focus on. Rarely are they treated as true equals; neither in reality nor in the writing. Homer s Odyssey is one such writing, which poetically describes the daily life of the Greeks in antiquity. Although in his work, women are treated differently than men, and are shown to be of lesser status, Homer does not advocate a misogynistic view. Misogyny is the hatred of women by men. The Odyssey is not misogynistic. In exploring the ways that women are in fact of lesser status in this society, one can also see that they are not at the point of being hated.
Women in the Odyssey are very often seen and spoken about as sexual creatures. Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, is one such woman. Penelope was left home when her husband went to fight in the Trojan War. She had no way of foreseeing that she would be alone for twenty years. Chaos has taken over her household, and she is left with her only son Telemachos. Athene, the goddess of wisdom, decides to help Telemachos find out where Odysseus is and why he has not yet returned from his journey, however, she disguises herself first. She acts like an ordinary person and tries to have a typical conversation with Telemachos. He desperately wants to know if Mentes knows where his father Odysseus is. Athene asks him if he is sure that Odysseus is his father. Telemachos responds honestly and says that all he knows is what his mother has told him, for how could anyone possibly know for certain who his or her father is? (1. 206-223) This shows a tremendous amount about the people at the time. There was very little trust in the women, because the fact was that they were with many men over the course of their lives. Penelope is trusted by Telemachos, but only because he has no other choice. Women as mothers were spoken about in a very degrading manner. Telemachos considers what he will do with his mother when he finds out the whereabouts of his father. If he finds that Odysseus is no longer living, then he will wait a year to be certain and then give his mother to a husband. (2.195-223) Penelope is treated as a piece of property.
Klytaimnestra is another woman discussed as a piece of sexual property. She too was left behind when her husband Agamemnon went to Troy for the war. Homer describes explicitly how a man named Aigisthos seduced her. Klytaimnestra did not consent to the shameful act of having an affair with this man, for her own nature was honest. (3.265-68), and yet he persisted and charmed her. Aigisthos was proud of himself for having accomplished this monstrous thing he had never hoped for. (3.253-275). Although it is clear that Aigisthos is certainly the one at fault this situation, Agamemnon speaks about Klytaimnestra as though she were to blame for the entire incident. Odysseus recounts the conversation he s had with Agamemnon, in which Agamemnon refers to his wife as a sluttish woman who helped plan the death and destruction of her husband. (11.405-12) He continues on to say,
There is nothing more deadly or more vile than a woman who stores her mind with acts that are of such sort, as this one did when she thought of this act of dishonor and plotted the murder of her lawful husband she with thoughts surpassingly grisly splashed the shame on herself and the rest of her sex even on the one whose acts are virtuous. (11.427-434)
Not only is she said to be at fault for something that she clearly had no intention of doing, but Agamemnon also generalizes the entire female sex as being vile and dishonorable. Aigisthos was the real murderer and yet there is no statement made about men.
Eumaios, the noble swineherd of Odysseus, recounts how he came to Ithaka a captive of a slave woman, Phoenicia, who had been seduced by a roving seafarer. The man had made such love to her as women in their frailty are confused by, even the best of them. (15.120-47) Again, there is evidence that women were often generalized and spoken about in terms of sex. More often than not, the man is the seducer during the times of the Odyssey. The exception, however, is our main protagonist. Odysseus was the one being seduced on the Island of Kalypso. This sheds a light on the lack of misogyny. Granted, women were frequently referred to sexually as the weaker partner, the one who is seduced, and yet Homer...
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