Women's Role In The Odyssey

In the Odyssey, Women are not the main character of the story but give the book depth and are great supporting characters throughout. They play many pivotal roles that help Odysseus fulfill his prophecy. The women in the Odyssey are agents of change in a complex manner that gives the story action and depth. Throughout this book, the female charter use deception and this trait makes the women more complex. The women in this story never have the role of being the main character of the story. When Odysseus has been away for so many years and Penelope has run the house, she still does not have power over Telemachus, even though she has been ruling the kingdom since Odysseus was gone. He tells her at one point, “So Mother go back to your quarters.

Athena has a major role throughout this story that helps Odysseus get home much faster than was planned for him. Odysseus journey home has already taken him over 7 years and he is still not home. Without help his fate had his journey home would taking much longer. “Think: not one of the people whom he ruled remembers Odysseus now, that godlike man and kindly as a father to his children”(152). Without the goddess Athena, Odysseus’s journey would have taken him much longer and would have been it is long pulse painful. Athena makes it so he gets home sooner and helps him get home safe, making her an agent of change for this book. Athena helps Odysseus a lot with his journey home. When he gets home she still helps him by giving her strength and wisdom to help him fight the suitors. “Gray eyes ablaze, the goddess urged him on: ‘Surely I’ll stand beside you, not forget you, not when the days arrive for us to do our work.” (299). Odysseus has the goddess fight beside him when he is slaughtering the suitors. Without the help of Athena, it would have made his journey and his mission to kill the suitors very hard to complete. Another example is when Penelope puts out the weapons so that Odysseus will slaughter the suitors with his own bow and arrow. Athena plays a role in helping Penelope “Athena with her blazing eyes inspired Penelope, Icarus’ Daughter, wary, poised, to set the bow and gleaning iron axes out” (424). Evening though Penelope doesn’t know that Odysseus is home, she helps him by having the trial and putting out great Odysseus’ weapon. Without her doing this it would have been very difficult for Odysseus to get his weapons and to fight off the suitors. Athena is also helping in this situation because she inspired Penelope to put out the weapons for Odysseus. The women were not only agents of change but are necessary for Odysseus to succeed. Athena helps Odysseus a lot throughout the book along