what was the woman characters in the Odyssey
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Answer:
The Odyssey, woman are almost always portrayed as evil and inferior to men. Almost every single female character in the Odyssey follows the same path. A man determines how much power the woman has, then overtakes the woman, resulting in the man taking the woman's power. Circe is a great example of this. She originally has power because she turned Odysseus's men into pigs, but she loses her power when her poison doesn't work on Odysseus and he makes her swear "a binding oath [that she'll] never plot some new intrigue to harm [him]" (10. 382-383). Even Calypso, an evil seductress, has her power taken away from her. She originally has power, but then Zeus takes it away from her when he decrees that she must let Odysseus go. Another good example are the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis. Odysseus outsmarts the Sirens by having his crew tie him to the mast of his ship. There is also an interesting psychology around the Sirens, concerning the fact that it is dangerous to let men hear their song. It could possibly be hinting at the fact that it's 'dangerous' to let women tell their side of the story. Scylla and Charybdis are both monsters who were thought to be nearly impossible to survive, but Odysseus manages to make it past both of them. Odysseus didn't do it by himself though. He needed Circe's help to get by the monsters. Monsters and nymphs were not the only ones who were subjected to Homer's sexist view of women. Noble woman were also included in this. Penelope, Clytemnestra, and Helen were all considered to be bad at some part of the story. Penelope was called "the matchless queen of cunning" by the suitors for refusing their marriage proposals (2.95). Agamemnon claimed that Clytemnestra "bathes in shame not only herself but the whole breed of womankind, even the honest ones to come, forever down the years" (11. 490-493). Helen was evil because she ran away with Paris, when in reality, it wasn't even her fault. Aphrodite made her fall in love with Paris, it wasn't Helen's decision. Even Athena, a goddess, has to look to Zeus for validation and permission every time she wishes to so something in the story. The woman in The Odyssey are almost always evil, which proves that the Greek views of women were archaic and sexist. What more could we expect from a book that claims that Odysseus is standard for men? While the Greek views on woman were ancient and insulting, they do provide with some insight into the culture.
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Answer:
The most memorable and important women in the poem are Penelope, wife of Odysseus; Naussica, a young innocent maiden; and Anticleia, Odysseus' grieving mother who dwells in the Land of the Dead. Also such female characters as Arete, Circe, Calypso, Helen and Athena are impressive and intriguing.