Throughout time and history, patriarchy has taken over. The Penelopiad, a novel by Margaret Atwood set in ancient Greece shows a group of characters differently than The Odyssey. Before, The Odyssey portrayed the maids as promiscuous, evil, and wanted the audience to think badly of them. The Penelopiad, however, shows them as innocent and harmed, and wants the audience to have sympathy for them. Before, The Odyssey made the maids appear to be evil. The Penelopiad, though, shows a more innocent side to them. When the situation of the maids having sex with the suitors is brought up in court during Odysseus’ trial, the judge states; “The Suitors raped them. Nobody stopped them from doing so. Also, the maids are described as having been hauled …show more content…
When the maids compare their dreams to their reality, “In dreams, we all are beautiful...all is mirth and kindness/There are no tears of pain.../But then morning wakes us up:/Once more we toil and slave,/And hoist our skirts at their command/For every prick and knave” (126). In The Penelopiad, the maids’ more childlike side is shown. They dream of men taking them away, being princesses, and actually being loved. But then, they must go back to slaving away, being property. The Odyssey makes it seem as if the maids actually liked being this way, that they actually liked the things they did and the things that happened to them. The Penelopiad alters this. It shows that they did not want this, and they hated their lives. Thus, it makes the audience’s perspective change because the new information that is brought up paints a much different picture than The …show more content…
The maids plead and pray for their horrid lives to change because they are simply slaves, and others control their lives: “Oh gods and oh prophets, please alter my life,/And let a young hero take me for his wife!/But no hero comes to me, early or late-/Hard work is my destiny, death is my fate!”(52). The Odyssey shows the maids as people who deserve to be punished. However, Atwood in her novel shows how the maids are victims, and that it is the others who deserve to be punished. This urges the audience to have sympathy for them. The Penelopiad shows how the maids are living terrible lives, even though they don’t deserve to be. It shows how they dream of being treated with respect and dignity, but then compares it to the horrible reality they live in. The maids accept their fate as simple slave girls, and cannot do anything to change it. This makes the audience feel sympathy for them. The Penelopiad portrays the maids differently than in The Odyssey. Before, The Odyssey expected the audience to think badly of the maids, but The Penelopiad wants sympathy. This is shown throughout the novel. Margaret Atwood’s take on The Odyssey shows there is two sides to the
The Greek gods and goddesses are the ultimate representation how Greek culture. Since the gods and goddesses did not mention Odysseus’ lack of sexual fidelity, this shows that the values for men in Greek culture were not infringed upon. Sexual fidelity and how it is dealt with by the story’s most important characters in The Odyssey show the morals of Greek
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 the Hum 3 class, we read the Odyssey for our fall term reading. The Odyssey was written by Homer, a greek author. Some people might think this wrong, I am here to prove them wrong. (Can you express this without using first person?) Since the maids are considered as slaves, the maids were also seen as property.
In Homer’s Poem, The Odyssey, Penelope is the exceptionally patient and clever spouse of the infamous hero, Odysseus, and the mother of Telemachus. One poignant factor of Penelope’s character is her patience and devotion which is displayed throughout the poem. With her husband absent for a great majority of her life for the later of twenty years and his location unknown, Penelope stays, patiently awaiting Odysseus’ return, all whilst preserving their estate and raising her son by herself. Throughout this time, she had many persistent suitors in pursuit of her, abusing her husband’s absence.
Penelope, his wife, is greatly affected; as many greedy suitors disrespect her and move into their home to try and win her hand in marriage. Throughout ‘The Odyssey’, the greed and folly of men play a huge part in increasing the difficulty and severity of Odysseus’s situations and ultimately change his fate and the directions of his journey. The greed and folly of men are largely represented by Penelope’s suitors. In the very first book of The Odyssey, the disgusting actions of the suitors were introduced to the readers.
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.
There are many themes in both O Brother where Art Thou and the Odyssey which seem to be strongly similar. Many similarities between the characters and their actions surface through their actions. In my essay I will not only compare and contrast the most important elements of the mentioned works, but will also discuss the importance of heroic figures and the less favored themes, such as revenge and foolish fearlessness. It is important to note that both works are taken place during hard times. Odysseus’ journey is dated around 1200 BCE, or the ‘Dark Age’.
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.
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.
In an epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus struggles to come back home while his wife, Penelope, faces barbarous suitors who plague her house to court her for the marriage in order to claim the kingship of Ithaca. With an absence of the man of the household and a son who is not old enough to rule over the country and handle the domestic complications, Penelope endeavors to keep the household orderly and civilized. In order to prevent further chaos in the household, Penelope maintains her role as the Queen of Ithaca and Odysseus’s wife through her loyalty and cunning. For a woman who does not know when her man will return home, Penelope is extremely strong to keep hope and wait for her husband; thus, her unwavering loyalty to her husband
Both works show the hardships of being a woman in power. At the same time, they give their perspectives of the power women disclosed. Homer demonstrates how women in The Odyssey possess power over men. In the epic poem, is it seen how queen Arête has the upper hand over her husband and is the one in charge of making decisions. When Odysseus talked with Nausikaa about a way to get back home, she responded with: “Go straight through the megaron to find My mother…
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.