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An essay over the odyssey
An essay over the odyssey
Essays on the odyssey
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
More handpicked essays just for you.
An essay over the odyssey
An essay over the odyssey
Essays on the odyssey
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Degradation of Women Viewed from Modern American Context On Tuesday, February 6th, the Crockett House Firm charged the epic poem, The Odyssey, for representing the degradation of women, specifically, women being objectified and misrepresented. The Crockett House Firm wants these charges to be judges from a modern, American cultural context. The Crockett House firm is the prosecution and finds The Odyssey guilty of the charges. The Griffin House Firm is the defense for this trial and finds The Odyssey not guilty.
“The Odyssey,” written by Greek poet Homer is an epic tale depicting the brutally enduring quest home of the Greek hero, Odysseus. Within this heroic story, women play a very large and pivotal role in Odysseus’s trip home from the Trojan War. In his attempt to get back to his wife, Penelope, Odysseus’s progress is constantly hindered by the intervention of women who will do anything in order to either convince the heroic figure to stay with them or have him killed. The intentions of the women in the epic are all very different but one of the most prominent roles lies in the seductresses and the alluring women who will deeply influence Odysseus. Most importantly, Penelope plays a large role in portraying the importance of women’s roles in the story.
Meanwhile, Penelope is in Ithaka busy dealing with the suitors who vie for her hand in marriage, tending to her loom, and directing her serving maids at work. In Homer’s epic poem, women, and goddesses are treated differently than men and gods when it comes to their freedom, expectations, and image. One common occurrence in this epic poem is unequal freedom for women,
Since the beginning of time, men have always been portrayed as stronger and more powerful than women. Throughout the epic poem, The Odyssey, women's role in society is made clearly evident. Homer wrote the poem somewhere between 1200-500 B.C.E in Ancient Greece. During that period, women were seen and treated differently than they are today.
There are different ways for women to be portrayed in the Odyssey. They can be disloyal, sexual, and loyal woman that gets used for these things. Could you ever grasp a point of how you would feel if you were the one being portrayed? In the first section of the Odyssey, women are presented to us as controlled by the culture of the day, and it is only within that area that we can consider the way Odysseus provides women to be admired or despised throughout his journey.
In many societies today, individuals are led to believe that the concept of women possessing their own strength or independence is abnormal. As a result, women experience the world in a constrained way in comparison to men, even if they are in higher classes of society. However, these extensive aspects of females are contradicted in some ancient Greek literature. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer portrays women as a vital and powerful force through the characters Penelope and Circe, who counter the normality of misogyny in Homer’s time. Penelope’s character displays how some women are able to exceed society’s standards and show strength and cleverness when it is necessary.
Women in The Odyssey Gender roles, specifically of women, were a little different back in 700 B.C. They played more of a typical role, expected to get married and have kids at a young age. They were expected to take care of the house and children, while their husbands were out fighting wars. However, while women in The Odyssey were greatly valued for their beauty, Homer reveals that they also had to be intelligent to be successful in their lives.
Though women play a central role in the Odyssey the portrayal and characterization of said women is often times sexist and places most of the women in positions of power until Odysseus or one of the male gods comes along and puts a stop to it. All of the women are characterized with few traits, most of which only describe their looks, while the reader is constantly reminded of all of Odysseus good traits. Even Penelope, who is portrayed as the ideal woman, is only ever described as ‘beautiful’ and ‘faithful’. Though this does make sense considering the time period and how during the time women were considered property of men. With all of the different character and how they are written one would expect some variety in the description of women.
Lotus-eaters, Polyphemus, sirens and suitors were all slain and outwitted by Odysseus, King of Ithaca and victorious fighter in the trojan war, but no one ever realizes that Odysseus could never have completed his trials without the help of goddesses, Athena and Circe. Homer’s famous epic, The Odyssey although thousands of years old shows a masculine-feminine balance through the imperative involvement of Athena and Circe in Odysseus' return home. The Odyssey tells the tale of the strong, godlike Odysseus on his voyage home from battle. What people don’t focus on are the women in his life like, Athena and Circe that give him the capability to endure a threatened homelife and the long journey home.
In spite of the fact that Homer’s Odyssey is an epic story of a man’s gallant journey, women play a huge part throughout. Their unique yet controversial personalities, intentions, and relationships are vital to the development of this epic and adventurous journey of Odysseus. The poem by Homer was written at a time when women had an inferior position in society, yet that didn’t stop them from being any less influential. All of the women throughout the Odyssey possess different qualities, but all of them help to define the role of the ideal woman.
In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, there are many female characters who play the role of a villain. Calypso, Scylla, Charybdis, and the sirens are among the women with the largest, negative impacts on Odysseus’ journey home. Though some women, such as Athena, Eurycleia, and Penelope, are loyal to Odysseus throughout the poem. With such a wide range of female characters, they all contribute different things throughout the book, whether the impact of their actions is negative or positive. Regardless of the outcomes, Homer has quite a modern view of female representation in his poem.
The odyssey, an epic story, written by Homer portrays women in several different ways and therefore women play an important role. Set in a period close to the Trojan War, Men were recognized as of higher status then women, and were seen as the stronger gender. Stereotypically, a woman was judged by the wealth and position of her husband or father. A woman would be required to be married at a youthful age and have children. Typically, women were not educated.
The Odyssey by Homer is filled with immortals. Odysseus met so many of these immortals though out his difficult journey but the most memorable immortals were the women. Some fell in love with Odysseus and tried to help him on his long and dangerous journey and tried to kill him. As immortal women they refused to accept standards of mortality; they decided that they will never die but also never be
The Odyssey, women are viewed as inferior to men by depicting them as “prizes”, expecting them to obey men, and forcing them to serve men. Helen and Penelope are viewed as prizes to be won, due to the view that men ruled over women. Each of these women have had men compete to be their husbands, through wars and competitions. The men “launch(ed)...headlong battles just for (Helen’s) sake,” (129: 161-162) and not for her protection or happiness, but because both King Menelaus and Paris wanted her to be their wife.
Women are weak, helpless, and have no real purpose other than to serve men and take care of children. . . or so they were perceived in history. In the Odyssey, one can see that Homer’s portrayal of women challenges the depiction of women during that time period. Throughout the book, many women intervened in Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca, for better or for worse. One will see Penelope, Athena, Circe, and other women impact Odysseus’ expedition home.