The role of women in Homer's “The Odyssey”

By examining the women of The Odyssey one comes to one conclusion about women in Homer's epic. Homer's male characters in The Odyssey consistently treated women differently and unequally throughout The Odyssey. Concurrent with the time's belief that women held a subservient position in society to men, the male characters in The Odyssey often expected certain traits and actions that they didn't expect from men. Also all the societies and lands Odysseus visited that were inhabited by mortals were dominated by men.

The main thrust of Homer's "The Odyssey" centers upon the adventures of Homer as he endeavors to get back home, which he finally does. He overtakes the suitors through his cunning and the tale ends happily. Throughout "The Odyssey" by Homer however, there are quite limited presentations of women and many of them, if not servant girls or deities, are assigned to the narrow role of mothers, seductresses, or some combination of both.

Mothers are persistent figures throughout "The Odyssey" and are seen as the givers of pity and sorrow rather than true “supporters” of their sons and husbands in terms of military or personal quests. In most instances of depictions of mother figures in "The Odyssey", these are women in need of support and guidance as they are weak and fragile. Without a steady male hand to guide them, these women appear to be lost and inconsolable. As one scholar notes, “Telemachus first asserted his manhood by ordering Penelope from the public rooms of the palace, indicating to the suitors of his intention to assert his claim to his father's throne. The dependence of mothers on their son's devotion to them is made clear elsewhere in Homer, as in the case of Anticlea and her statement that she died not of illness ...