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Women's Role In The Odyssey

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A Women's Role in The Odyssey "So by day she'd weave at her great and growing web- / by night, by the light of the torches set beside her, / she would unravel all she'd done.", stated Antinous in book two on page 21 of The Odyssey. By saying this Homer, the author of this epic poem, shows that women used their wits to out smart men. Women mortal and immortal show great influence over the men in the poem. The women not only seduced and guided the men in The Odyssey they were also over looked and forgotten. The Odyssey is mainly describing a mans long journey home after the Trojan War, but women play an important role in the story. Different roles women present in The Odyssey can be explained by looking at Athena, Calypso, Circe, and Penelope. Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, used her knowledge and abilities to guide Odysseus. Throughout all of The Odyssey Athena majorly impacts Odysseus and his son, Telemachus. In the book one of The Odyssey, with Zeus' consent Athena disguised herself as Mentes, one of Odysseus' old friends and seeks out Telemachus. …show more content…
She was the mother of Telemachus and the wife of Odysseus. Through out The Odyssey Penelope was ignored and pushed around by her own son. Telemachus scolds his mother for weeping in public. In book one on page 14 he tells her: "Courage, mother. Harden your heart, and listen. / Odysseus was scarcely the only one, you know, / whose journey home was blotted out at Troy. / Others, so many others, died there too. / So, mother, / go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, / the distaff and the loom, and keep the women / working hard as well. As for giving orders, / men will see to that, but I most of all: / I hold the reins of power in this house." This quote represents how women held no power in their own household. Penelope's own son was able to tell her how to act in public. Although Penelope was sometimes over ruled she had her own schemes and

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