For hundreds of years, women have been perceived as lesser than men. Women were mostly restricted to their home and weren’t given the same opportunities that men were given. The Odyssey tells readers that men have more power than women. This is shown when Telemachus orders Penelope to not tell a man what to do and reminds her that she is not in charge; when Calypso is ordered to let Odysseus go by Zeus, and when Circe’s powers were subdued by Hermes.
Penelope is the wife of Odysseus and the queen of Ithaca. Even though Penelope is the queen of Ithaca, she doesn’t hold as much power as her son since she is a woman. This is shown when Telemachus orders Penelope, “So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the
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Calypso was infatuated with Odysseus and kept him on her island for seven years in hopes that he would reciprocate her feelings and marry her. When Hermes relays Zeus's message to Calypso to let Odysseus go, she becomes enraged and tells Hermes, “Hard-hearted you are, you gods! You unrivaled lords of jealousy— scandalized when goddesses sleep with mortals, openly, even when one has made the man her husband. So when……Zeus got wind of it soon enough, I’d say, and blasted the man to death with flashing bolts. So now at last, you gods, you train your spite on me for keeping a mortal man beside me.” (Homer 81) In this quote, Calypso brings up the fact that gods can get away with having mortal lovers but once a goddess has a mortal lover, other gods intervene and the goddess and mortal aren’t able to be together. Zeus is an example of how male gods could take mortal women as lovers. According to thecollector.com, “Zeus had an eye for ladies from all walks of life, and his affairs with mortals often resulted in mortal children. Some estimates have come up with around 51 children of Zeus” Zeus was able to have 51 children with mortals and never faced any consequences from it. In the end, Calypso had to let Odysseus go since she couldn’t refuse an order from