Does Atwood Dehumanize The Oppression Of Women In The Penelopiad

However a female slave was treated and used different type of needs. This Narrative is different because it highlights how the females were beating, mental torture, sexual aggravation and also the loss of her children. The agony of slave mothers having their children sold for profit, but were girls kept because they were sexuality victimized by the white

Within Greek society, men were prominent figures in literary arts. Authors were dominantly male, as women were seen as not being fit to produce this work. Women were seen as inferior and submissive within this society, and with the abundance of male authors, women were portrayed this way in many literary works. However, despite the sexist roles within the society, works of literature such as The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh show a surprising side of women, that of assertiveness and intelligence. For example, Penelope, from The Odyssey, tells the suitors that she will marry one of them when she finishes weaving a burial sheet, but she deceitfully weaves and unweaves it.

The Odyssey, written by Homer, introduces the idea of gender roles in ancient Greek society by telling the tale of a great hero who encountered many women on his journey. While gender roles in Ancient Greek society were more pronounced, similarities are still present in today's world and issues are ongoing. Despite the indispensable role women play in the story, they still remain undervalued. Preserving the patriarchal ideals of Ancient Greek society. The success of Odysseus's journey can be merely credited to his individual efforts, but rather heavily based on the predominant roles women played in the story who made crucial contributions, but were never given credit.

The Women of The Odyssey posses more than skin deep beauty. They show both good and bad qualities. Homer’s The Odyssey is about the trials and tribulations of Odysseus, a warrior of the Trojan War, on his quest to return home.

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,” 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.

The Odyssey by Homer showcases the varying roles and treatment of women across different times and places, throughout the poem, highlighting limitations in their agency and power. Generating a comparison to modern society and Homeric worlds for women in ancient Greek communities and the 21st century. Homer’s depiction of Penelope, Athena and Calypso formulate the clear cultural dismissal of women’s voices and rights. Homer establishes the relationship between women and men to be diminishing and that of a power game, practically between powerful woman characters and the protagonist, Odysseus. The epic poem formulates ideologies in ancient culture and forces the audience to conduct thought and opinion on his insight on the role of women.

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,

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 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.

In the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, the men and women has a double standard. Throughout the poem, the male characters such as the protagonist Odysseus are the ones fighting, leading and known as hero’s. On the other hand women are serving under the males and shown to be the seducers and prizes by Homer. Even a strong and cunning answer to a man.

Everyday women like Penelope were believed to have no purpose in common society other than being confined to a kitchen each day and complete domestic house duties. The name Penelope was deliberately selected as it translates to mean pulling, or spinning which is an allegorical phrase in itself, the first meaning associates her cunning weaving of plots and schemes which proves her to be sly and the secondary referring to cloth which was a part of an everyday life duty for women, producing articles of clothing. Being a hospitable host to guests was also a key function, which is first noticed when she offers help to Odysseus in disguise “Give him a wash and spread a couch for him here, with bedding and coverlets and with shining blankets”. It is argued that Penelope is secretly a spider, weaving her own web of lies getting stuck in her own trap which is hidden from the public as women were not meant to be clever or be known for any kind of crafty intelligence. In contrast to this old way of societies expectations, Atwood utilizes Penelope’s strength in character to warn women not to follow in her footsteps by giving them the advice of “Do not look the other way”, “Tell them (referring to males) what you think”, “Argue with them”, and “make them squirm”, these pieces of wisdom create a stronger emphasis on having equal respect and appreciation for women which also conflicts the differences between Ancient and Modern times and highlights the evolution of society.

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.

The Odyssey by Homer contains multiple moments where female characters are oppressed or fit into a patriarchy, but there are several moments where these character show signs of rebellion against this oppression. Applying a critical lense of feminism to these characters and relationships create complexities and conflicts within the novel that shine meaning on the world. The character Penelope offers many of these moments. Analyzing the actions, situation, and comparisons with other characters using a the feminist critical lense will show a more enriched version of Penelope and offer a deeper insight of the patriarchy, and how is affects the world.

This proved when the narrator’s mother always tried to get the narrator to do work that appropriate for a lady instead of outside work, however it was not something that she enjoyed. The narrator also was not considered of real helper to her father because she was a female. This proved when her father introduced the narrator as ‘his new hired hand’ to a salesman, he replied, “I thought it was only a girl” (line 76, paragraph 10).This shows how the society view girl as ‘just a girl’ at that time and it means that their roles are not really significant in the society. As being said by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Most women have no character at all.” (Bressler, C.E., 2011).