Roles of Women in Homer's Odyssey

Introduction

In Homer's The Odyssey, a poem about an aging hero, Odysseus, trying to find his way home, there are several female characters that can lead us to draw conclusions about the roles of women in ancient Greece. Homer does this in two ways: the first way is he uses supporting female characters, such as Nausikaa and Arêtê, to represent the classic roles of females. The second way is that that he has a cast of main female characters, such as Athena, and Calypso. Both of these women represent a trait that was not stereotypically female, and he makes sure to point to point this out.

Thesis Statement: Throughout the poem, one can draw from the text conclusions about the roles of women in ancient Greece.

Discussion

Homer uses Arêtê, wife of Alkínoös, to outline the ideal woman in this time period. Arêtê e is beautiful, wise, and godlike. Athena demonstrates it when she is speaking of her to Odysseus in Phaiakia:

No lady in the world, no other mistress of a man's household, is honored as our mistress is, and loved, by her own children, by Alkinoos, and by the people. When she walks the town they murmur and gaze, as though she were a goddess. No grace or wisdom fails in her; indeed just men in quarrels come to her for equity. (113)

The acceptance of an inferior position is a very important feminine value. In Book I, Penelope tells the minstrel to "sing no more this bitter tale that wears my heart away" (12). Telémakhos responds to her as though he is the parent, telling her "you must nerve yourself and try to listen. Odysseus was not the only one at Troy never to know the day of his homecoming. Other, how many others, lost their ...