The Odyssey - The Placement of Female Character

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The Odyssey - The Placement of Female Character

Introduction

“The Odyssey focuses upon males heroes who perform exalted war-related deeds.” This is the statement in the book which clearly focuses on males, leaving females aside. The Odyssey is one of the two great epics of the Greeks attributed to the work of the poet Homer. Homer tries to explain himself in Book XIX, connecting it to the Greek verb which means, “To be hated.” Odysseus was the name of a sea god, who, following the invasion of Indo-European population, has been assimilated into the figure of Poseidon. This therefore makes sense that the Odyssey has its roots in ancient seafaring tales. In his scientific and engineering writings, he opened many new doors, most notably in the fields of radar and satellite communications (Homer, 2007). He not only inspired generations through his writing but also first envisioned the geosynchronous satellite system on which today's global electronic communication system based. His books and almost countless short stories have now been translated into many languages.

The Odyssey

There are twenty books in a series of “The Odyssey.” The summary of the first four books is that it describes the situation developed in the absence of Odysseus to Ithaca. It is said the ostensible Telemachia, or the journey of Odysseus' son Telemachus in Pylos, the king Nestor, and then to Sparta, with Menelaus and Helen, who in the end are reconciled. In this section, Odysseus appears as a character (Francis, 2009). The reason for discussing the summary of first four books is that it talks about the character which needs to be discussed here. The statement says that, “The Odyssey focuses upon male's heroes who perform exalted war-related deeds,” it means that more importance given to males of the society, leaving behind the females.

The Story

Telemachus, the son of Ulysses, was still a child when his father left for the Trojan War. After 10 years of war being ended, Telemachus was around twenty years old, and lived in his father's house with his mother. Despite Telemachus, there was a group of arrogant men, who wanted to persuade Penelope (Telemachus mother and Ulysses wife) to accept the fact that the disappearance of her husband is now final and that; consequently, she must choose between them as a new husband (Buckley, 2007). She being strong women, ignored the pressure of those arrogant men, and complains for her missing husband.

Telemachus calls to the assembly of citizen the next morning to ask them to provide a ship along with the crew. The assembly dissolved without having achieved anything. Telemachus achieved by Athena, who this time has taken the form of his friend Mentor, who promises him the ship and companions. The story goes on, and at the end of the story Telemachus achieves what he wanted. The reason for discussing the summary of the story was to prove that males had the power and females were suppressed. As Penelope got asked to marry some ...