The Towering Inferno Essay, Research Paper

The Role of Women in The Odyssey Women form an important part of the folk epic, The Odyssey. Within the story there are three basic types of women: the goddess, the seductress, and the good hostess/wife. Each role adds a different element and is essential to the telling of the story. The role of the goddess is one of a supernatural being, but more importantly one in a position to pity and help mortals. Athena, the goddess of wisdom, is the most prominent example of the role; Athena has intelligence and independent through the entire poem. Athena also has compassion for Odysseus, devising the plan to help him return home because she feels sorry for him. In the very beginning of the story she is seen making a plea for Odysseus’ return home, and throughout the first half of the book she assists him in his journey. She is the driving force behind arranging Odysseus’ return home from getting Kalypso to release him to making sure Nausikaa found him on Skheria. In books 1-4 she helps Telemakhos, Odysseus’ son, gather the courage to go out and get news about his father. ?You?ll never be fainthearted or a fool, Telemakhos, if you have your father?s spirit;he finished what he cared to say, and what he took in hand he brought to pass.The sea routes will yield their distances to his true son, Penelope?s true son,- I doubt another?s luck would hold so far. The son is rare who measures with his father, and one in a thousand is a better man, but you will have the sap and wit and preduce- for you to get that from Odysseus ? to give you a fair chance of winning through. So never mind the suitors and their ways, there is no judgment in them, neither do they know anything of death and the black terror close upon them- doom?s day on them all. You need not linger over going to sea.?(Book 2, lines 285-302). Athena also guide Telemakhos on his journey. “You will not lack either courage or sense in the future,Telemakhos , for we see now that there is a drop in you of your fathers fine spirit. …. There is hope for the future and I tell you that you will succeed.” She also guides Telemakhos and Odysseus when they take revenge on their house.

Other than Athena, there are many examples of goddesses taking pity on a mortal, usually Odysseus, and helping him out. When Odysseus is suffering in a storm that Poseidon sent for him, Ino, a Nereid, gives him an immortal veil that saves his life. Even Kirke and Kalypso help Odysseus tremendously with information and supplies. It is the role of the woman goddess and not the male god to pity and proffer help to the suffering mortal.

The next and less benevolent role is that of the seductress. Two stories about such women referred to in The Odyssey are those of the half-sisters Helen and Klytaimnestra. The entire Trojan War was caused by Helen’s unfaithfulness to Menelaos; her affair caused many deaths and Odysseus would not have had to leave home if she had not run away with Paris. The other sister also caused pain and suffering by having an affair and then killing her husband, Agamemnon, with her lover on his homecoming day. The seductress is always looked upon as dangerous and harmful to mankind. The Seirenes symbolize this role; their song seduces and compels anyone listening to linger until death. Kirke tries to seduce Odysseus before she helps him, and the beautiful Kalypso entices him with sex and immortality and will not release him to go home. It is the hero’s job to resist the temptation of the seductress or it will lead to his downfall. In direct contrast with the seductress is the good hostess or wife. Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, is the most important of these characters. She is the image of steadfastness, waiting and hoping for years for Odysseus’ return. Penelope, is the perfect wife and mother. She is also independant and intelligent. Penelope’s character is Homer’s model of the ideal woman. Her attributes are listed many times; she is clever and talented, :She may rely too long on Athena?s gifts-talent in handicraft and clever mind;?? (Book 2, lines 124-134). She is described as ?She is too wise, too clear-eyed, sees alternatives too well.?(Book 11, lines 519-522). She worries when her son Telemakhos sails to locate his father and grieves over the absence of her husband. Many times throughout the poem Penelope cries herself to sleep, yearning for information of her husband’s welfare. Even after nearly twenty years of absence, Penelope still praises of her husband. At any time Penelope could have married one of the suitors and provided a father figure for her son. This fact demonstrate

Penelopes loylaty to her husband, ?she sits where ou left her, and her days and nights go by forlorn, in lonely weeping.?(Book 13, lines 425-426). Standing before the suitors, Penelope announces that whoever among them can string the bow and shoot an arrow through the twelve axes will win her hand. At first reading, one may be surprised that Penelope will give up hope for the return of her husband, however, Penelope knows that Odysseus’s bow was a gift from a god, and Odysseus’s strength was unmatched by any mortal. Although Penelope may not have absolute power without her husband, her cleverness gives her some space to distance herself from the suitors and to remain loyal to her husband. Along with Penelope is Eurykleia who matches Penelope in steadfastness to her job as Telemakhos’ nurse. Nausikaa is a good example of a girl who is an excellent hostess to Odysseus (she provides him a bath, clothing, food, and advice), and also cares about her image as a virtuous woman. The role of the hostess is similar to that of goddess because they are both assisting those in need, Odysseus. More significantly the role of the good woman is to provide a model that makes up for the seductresses. They are there to show that Agamemnon’s statement about his women, “that woman (Klytaimnestra) plotting a thing so low, defiled herself and all her sex, all women yet to come, even those few who may be virtuous,” is untrue. The women in all three of these roles embody an essential part of the events of the story. The hero is helped by the goddess and the good woman, and must overcome her opposite, the seductress. The relationship between the hero and the women, in fact, forms the majority of the story.

Consequently, these female characters are very important to the story. Their roles have great impact on the development of Odysseus?s character. His mentor is Pallas Athene, who guides him on his journey. He is married to a woman that is shrewd, yet still remains loyal to him. The women of The Odyssey are the most important characters in the poem. They not only act as the mentors and intellectuals, but as the sensitive lovers that has been stereotyped throughout.