Essay - The Role of Women in the Odyssey and Oedipus the...

The Role of Women in The Odyssey and Oedipus the King

In both Homer's ***** Odyssey and Sophocles' Oedipus ***** King the role of women is subordinate to ***** central male figures, as was the norm in Greek Society. ***** were expected to follow establ*****hed roles and Sophocles and Homer made sure that they did. Both works are named for the men who ***** the heroic focus, but both are structured around wo***** who are essential to the artistic purpose. In The Odyssey, being much larger in scope, Homer presents a variety of female figures, while in Oedipus ***** King ***** offers mainly Jocasta to represent his vision of womankind.

***** Odyssey centers ***** the travels of a male hero, but it is women who provide the core of his adventures. Odysseus is trying to get home to his beloved woman, after the Trojan War, which was fought over a woman. Athena, a female goddess, l*****erally guides and *****ms the action. Odysseus is a hero *****s his journey begins, but ***** women he meets, enlarge his quest for self-knowledge ***** ***** heroism. ***** attitude toward women sometimes seems inconsistent, but he is simply depicting varieties of women in h***** world. The ***** is a portrait of his society's ideas of gender *****, and *****s toward women. All the women, human and div*****e, who interact with Odysseus, are important, ***** none are as ***** ***** the hero. Homer echoes his culture's conception ***** women as ***** either helpers of men or hindrances to them, but always essentially insubstantial in their own right.

*****, loyal wife of Odysseus, waits two decades for him ***** return from the ***** War, not knowing whether she is wife or widow. She is Homer's model of the perfect Greek wife and mother. ***** loves *****, shedding many tears ***** misery and longing. Penelope is forced to play the traditional woman's role of frailty and powerlessness, yet she is a complex character. Although strong-willed in resist*****g ***** sui*****rs, she is helpless when it comes to getting rid ***** them. She is stereotypically depicted ***** a wom*****n who uses her weaving, a typic*****l feminine pursuit, as her only defense, yet she shows intelligence, strength and resourcefulness through the ruse of weaving and unraveling. The wit ***** ingenuity of young Telemakhos further reveal the intelligence ***** his mother, ***** h***** raised him alone during the absence of Odysseus. Penelope must, however, subject herself to Telemakhos, because in the traditional Greek view, man is superior to woman. On several occasions Telemakhos puts ***** mother in her place so that she withdraws ***** her room "her son's clear w*****dom ringing in her head" (I 409).

In his effort to show many possible k*****ds ***** women, Homer introduces us ***** *****'s opposite, Klytaimnestra, who we don't actually meet, though we often hear about her. Penelope is the best of all possible wives, Klytaimnestra ***** the worst, as vile as Penelope is virtuous. ***** waits faithfully fending off suitors. Klytaimnestra helps ***** lover,