Penelope's Role In The Odyssey

Odysseus is portrayed as a handsome man in the Odyssey because during the Mycenaean and Homeric period men that had any trace of an athlete in them were considered to be good looking because of their masculinity, strength and toned bodies. Whereas in the Penelopiad, Odysseus is portrayed to be the opposite of that. Because Atwood has drawn from the information given in the Odyssey, there is not a clear picture drawn of Odysseus excluding the influence of society’s views during the time, so Atwood has portrayed Odysseus in a way that she sees him. In the 21st Century BCE most men whose strength is in throwing events, like Odysseus, are seen to be short and stocky which is what is seen of where Atwood draws Odysseus’ looks from.

Reasons for

When she does feature in the epic poem it is usually during a time when she is being instructed by a male figure or when she is weeping. Penelope lacks in self decision making, instead she is ordered around for other’s needs. “Making decisions must be men’s concern, and mine in particular; for I am master in this house.” Penelope is shown to be on a low section of the social structure than her son Telemachus. Reason being is that in ancient Greece women were strictly controlled by the men in their lives; first by their fathers then later, at the age of 15, by their husbands. They were always controlled by a male which limited their freedom, however a poor woman who’s household did not own a slave had more freedom than that of a rich woman who did. Women were required to work in their household by cooking, cleaning, supervising slaves and bearing children to carry on bloodlines. If a woman behaved in a way that her husband did not agree with, he had the right to lock her up in the house. Penelope is also seen as loyal to her husband Odysseus through her cunning and deceitful manner. She made a promise to the suitors that she would choose and marry one of them once she had completed the shroud for her father-in-law Laertes however that was just a set up for her to deceive them. “So by day I used to weave the great web, but every night I had torches set beside it and undid the work.” This loyal portrayal of Penelope relates to

They are given no trial; instead their consequence as decided by Odysseus is death. “So the women’s heads were held fast in a row, with nooses round their necks, to bring them to the most pitiable end. For a little while their feet twitched but not for very long.” The maids are portrayed as being disloyal to their master to show the power that men had over their maids by the extreme lengths that they could go to for the consequences of maids. In the 13th Century BCE maids were classified as their master’s property; their masters had the right to treat them how they saw fit because maids had no rights. The maids are shown to be sleeping with the suitors in the Odyssey while Odysseus was away. “Their secret love-making in the arms of the suitors.” They are portrayed as this to show that they had no right to be sleeping with any men with their master being an acceptation. If maids had been raped by men other than their master is was still seen as them being disloyal and sleeping around and was not accepted so the master had the right to punish them. Ancient Greeks saw maids as mere objects that were powerless over the control of their life and were not given a respectable title for their