The Roles Of Female Characters In The Odyssey

Improved Essays
The female characters in the Odyssey is very different from traditional view of women in ancient times. The works of Homer – Odyssey described the role of women in the Dark Age, it is a time where woman held an inferior position in compare to man and their role are basically limited to only childbirth and household duties. The Dark Age society portray woman as man’s servants and the idea of woman cannot accomplish anything without the help of man is common. But in the Odyssey, female character is rather distinctive. Female characters in the Odyssey are strong, influential and smart. In the Odyssey, man cannot accomplish his goal without the help of woman. For example, without the help and support from the female character in the Odyssey, …show more content…
She conceal Odysseus from the world for seven years to keep him safe because she loves him. Calypso’s role in the Odyssey is rather seductive. She is a very beautiful female goddess, even Odysseus is impressed by her beauty and he addressed that she was more pretty compare to his wife Penelope. Odysseus and Calypso were lovers for years until the order of Zeus separated them. Another seductive goddess female character that has an affair with Odysseus is Circe, the daughter of the sun god, Helios. She made Odysseus and his man stay in her island for one year. Circe as a goddess knows the danger that Odysseus and his man is going to encounter ahead, thereby instructed them to visit the land of death and meet Tiresias, the blind man who gained the power of second sight by Zeus. With Circe’s instruction, Odysseus successfully gained information from Tiresias. He got to know about the suitors in his house and confirm his faith to return back to Ithaca. Tiresias also teaches him to way to honor the sea god Poseidon that is angry at

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    In The Odyssey, Odysseus had many personal relationships with the gods, like Poseidon, who wanted him dead, and Athena, who helped him and became his ally. Some other characters in The Odyssey had some mythical elements to them, like Circe, who had magical powers, and Calypso, who was a lesser-known goddess who wanted to make Odysseus her husband. Many of these magical characters are somehow related to the gods. For example,…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the “Odyssey”, Homer portrays the women as temptress of men and are below them in the presented hierarchy of this tale. This is portrayed at the very beginning when Telmachus (Odysseus son) tells him mother Penelope “You should go back upstairs and take care of your work, Spinning and weaving, and have the maids do theirs. Speaking is for men, for all men, but for me especially, since I am the master of this house” (page 340). Homer has the women use their beauty and bodies to seduce the men in this tale. One example is when Odysseus’s men come to Circe’s house and are lured by a voice, she gives them food and drinks and a ‘potion of Pramnian wine”.…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In this chapter, Foley describes the ideas that other ancient Greek has about woman and how wrong those ideas were. He continues explaining that back in ancient Greek, people used to believe that men will always be superior to woman, and that the only role the woman had to fulfill was to take care of the men. Now he contrast those ideas with the role of women in The Odyssey; a clear example he gives is Circe and Calypso. Both of those goddess manage to control Odysseus while he was in their land. Odysseus was attracted by a unique virtue that only woman can have, beauty; it did not matter how strong or how smart Odysseus was, at the end he was captivated by the glorious looking those goddesses had.…

    • 188 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus has several interactions with women on his journey back to Ithaca. No two women have the same exchange with Odysseus, but they all demonstrate different variations of the masculine-feminine relationship. Instead of the traditional masculine-feminine relationship, some women give Odysseus help instead, some don’t rely on depend on him entirely, but some however, swoon for him and give him her aid because of it. There is a strong masculine-feminine balance in the Odyssey, where the women are able to survive without depending on a man. The women all show individual versions of strength and all have contrasting relationships with Odysseus throughout his journey.…

    • 879 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Telemachos decides that she should not be present in the bow and arrow competition, that only men should be allowed to handle those types of events. He defines the fact that he is in charge of the belongings of the house and the house is yet under his power but not his and Penelope’s unified power. As he claims to be categorized with the men he wants to certainly play the role of one which would include demands and receiving obedience from a woman. The repetition of Telemachos’ statements, sending Penelope off to her bedroom shows him holding power. Penelope’s bedroom symbolically represents her emptiness and since there is nothing for her in the bedroom it shows that Telemachos is taking away her power as he holds his steady.…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    With this, Odysseus is infatuated with the “lustrous goddess” (Homer 167), and he and his men enjoy her generosity and her home for a year, rather than pressing to return to his Penelope. Responding to the pleas of his crew, Odysseus finally requests Circe’s aid home. Fulfilling her second role as threshold guardian, she reveals that, to return to Ithaca, Odysseus must travel “to the House of Death… to consult the ghost of Tiresias… the great blind…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The poem, The Odyssey by Homer is about a man named Odysseus, who travels a exhausting 20 year journey back to his home on Ithaca after leading his army in the Trojan War. Throughout his journey, the story conveys many significant ideas like a hero's journey, strategic thinking, Xenia, hubris, the role of the gods, and role of men and women that help develop the story. However, there are two ideas that are illustrated the most; the role of the gods and Xenia. The role of the gods in the story teaches us to face the everyday tests that happen in our lives and to respect the people above us such as elders or the gods while Xenia teaches us to take everyone in with a welcoming heart and be grateful for others in your life. One of the biggest…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Odysseus lands on Circe’s island, Circe seduces him, causing him to forget about heading home, his main goal throughout the story. She calls him to “the bed of love” and Odysseus climbs onto “the surpassingly beautiful bed of Circe” (161). With the comfort Circe provides from then on, Odysseus stays with Circe for a whole year until his men urge him to start heading back home (164). Back in Ithaka, Penelope is accused of having seduced the suitors and deceiving them with empty hope for marriage. When Telemachus reveals to the Ithakan men of the wrongs that…

    • 1046 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If his wife had pulled that, she probably would not be alive. Odysseus’s actions are hypocritical because Penelope herself represents the idea of “home.” Throughout his grand journey, the only goal is to return home, which is presented as the whole city and house and wife and son. Penelope is really the only important guiding factor to Odysseus—even while cheating with Circe he speaks of his love for his wife. The journey traveled in The Odyssey is both physical and mental, somehow strengthening the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Homer’s Odyssey outlines a hero’s journey back home from battles and encounters with troublesome Gods and powerful monsters. Throughout the poem, Homer indicates concepts of masculinity through not only the male characters, but the female characters as well. Masculinity is presented as strong and honorable, yet possibly unintelligent. The ideal man is one who is fit to fight as a soldier; therefore, intelligence is not necessary as long as a man can properly wield a weapon. The women in the Odyssey contribute to the presentation of masculinity by displaying characteristics that contrast the men.…

    • 1395 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, it often snatched the use of power for good away from them and left most females with abilities that made them monsters. It also encouraged unfair double standards and taught generations that certain male behavior was unacceptable for females. The Odyssey likes to think that its favor of Athena promotes gender equality, but in reality, the story is simply another pseudo-feminist one that will not help modern society to progress. Because of this, it is about time to change the epic that society uses as a base for books, movies, and television shows. Maybe the new epic will have male and female main characters.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Odysseus says, “’I wanted to see [the Cyclops] and claim the stranger’s gift… So we lit a fire and made our thank-offering, and helped ourselves to as many cheeses as we wanted to eat; then we sat inside till he should come back with his flocks’” (111). Odysseus is impulsive and does not think before he acts. He is very selfish and only wants to see what glory the Cyclops gives him. He expects everyone to bow down to him, let alone know who he is, contrasting Odysseus when he fights the suitors at the end of the story and receives glory from his city. When Polyphemus, the Cyclops who happens to be Poseidon’s son, returns home, he traps Odysseus and his crew in his cave.…

    • 1566 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the Odyssey women are normally seemed to be not as strong and hold significantly less power than their male counterparts. In essence it is historically proven that the males are the controllers and the females are in contrast, the controlled but one cannot simply forget that women are known to have exponential influences on the men around them. With that being said female sexuality seems to be dangerous and even fearful toward men which is why I feel like this is why Homer uses this “talent” that women have with their sexuality and multiples it within the story of the Odyssey in which he turns these influential powers and characteristics into goddesses. One can argue that men have this fear inside of them that they cannot control and this…

    • 1597 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The women in Homer’s Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles, deceive the men, in order to do what is right. Penelope and Athena contrast each other by displaying different portrayals of femininity. Penelope’s portrayal of femininity is old and outdated; a femininity in which a woman is loyal and submissive to a masculine figure. She is the perfect wife who is pushed to do everything her husband tells her. Penelope wants to live her life with her love and without any other purpose.…

    • 1239 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout The Odyssey, Homer enlightens us in the tribulations Odysseus faces as he fights to return home to his loving wife and son. He uses his mind and cunning abilities to outwit the creatures he encounters along the way. As we follow his travels, he faces many different types of women. Including Athena-the protector, Penelope-the loving wife, and Calypso-the devastatingly beautiful goddess-nymph.. These women are all so different, yet all so alike as well.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays