The Odyssey - Women
Uploaded by chrisse145 on Jun 25, 2001
In “The Odyssey” by Homer, there were many great women that had conflicting personalities and adverse motives, but also they were alike. With these oppositions they helped Odysseus to get back home to Ithaca, whether they wanted to or not. These women from the novel that have opposing qualities, yet help Odysseus get home and finish off the suitors, are Penelopeia and Clytemnestra, Circe and Calypso, and Eurycleia and Melantho.
Clytemnestra is a disloyal wife and a cruel woman, while Penelopeia is a devoted spouse and a wonderful lady. When King Agamemnon goes away to fight at Troy, his wife, Clytemnestra, has an affair. When he returns, she kills him, not even letting him see his son after ten long years. “…Poseidon did not drown me in the sea, no enemy struck me down on dry land; but Aigisthos plotted my death with my accursed wife…”(132). Meanwhile, when Odysseus goes to Troy, his wife Penelopeia is loyal for twenty years. Clytemnestra also kills all of Agamemnon’s friends and followers, while Penelopeia had rude suitors in her house and she never once harmed them for the three years that they ate her out of house and home. The one thing that the two women has in common was that they are both very witty and smart; Clytemnestra for planning the massacres and Penelopeia for the weaving of the shroud. “…I used to weave the web in the daytime, but in the night I unravelled it by torchlight. For three years I kept up the pretence, and they believed it…”(216). With their conflicting personalities the women did help Odysseus to return. When Agamemnon told Odysseus Clytemnestra’s tale in the Underworld, it makes him think about what his wife is doing and it gives him an extra push to get home. In Penelopeia’s case, Odysseus hopes that she would remain faithful and he wants to get home to his loyal wife. Both women have many conflicting personality traits, but their actions give Odysseus a reason to hurry up in his homecoming.
Although Circe and Calypso are both goddesses and both keep Odysseus in their homes, their personalities are different yet they both help Odysseus to arrive home faster. Circe is rude and means harm to Odysseus and his men when they first arrive, but Calypso welcomes Odysseus with open arms. Though she has cruel intentions when they arrive, Circe didn’t force Odysseus to stay...