Odyssey- Patriarchy Essay, Research Paper

Patriarchy in The Odyssey

Women were always looked upon as inferior to males since the very beginning of time. This method, called patriarchy, was much displayed in Homer s Odyssey. The Odyssey favored the male specie, and viewed the men as more dominant than the females. For instance, Odysseus wife, Penelope, had been probed by the suitors while Odysseus was gone. Penelope s son, Telemachus had left her and his homeland of Ithaca to go to try and find his long-lost father, Odysseus. There was also the thought that women were evil. The many thousands of years ago that The Odyssey took place in, was considered by many as a male-monopolized society.

The duration of the time that Odysseus was gone, each of the suitors had been trying to make Penelope his wife. Although she had turned down each and every one of them, they had all forced her to sleep with them, and to take care of them. As Telemachus says, Suitors plague my mother- against her will-/ sons of the very men who are your finest here!/ They d sooner die than approach her father s house/ so Icarius himself might see to his daughter s bridal,/ hand her to whom he likes, whoever meets his fancy. (page 95). This patriarchal environment, was in other words males pursuing female. Telemachus had soon played a part in this patriarchal idea as well.

Telemachus had decided to journey out to find his father, leaving his mama behind, and deciding what to do with her when she comes back (whether to marry another man or to stay as she is, wed to Odysseus). This asserts the legitimacy of patriarchy since he had enough power to do as he pleased, being a young man, to go and take a dangerous voyage out. If I hear he s dead {Odysseus}, no longer among the living,/ then back I ll come to the native land I love,/ raise his grave-mound, build his honors high/ with the full funeral rites that he deserves-/ and give my mother to another husband. (page 100). Telemachus makes sure that his mother does not find out that he is gone until many days have past, though, not to cause her grief. If this myth was not patriarchal, Telemachus would have stayed home with his mother or asked for her permission to go on such a journey. He also wouldn t have to give his mother to another husband, she would normally be able to decide for herself.

In The Odyssey, there was also a belief that women were evil. Odysseus had said of his own wife to Alcinous, …But she-/ the queen hell-bent on outrage- bathes in shame/ not only herself but the whole breed of woman kind,/ even the honest ones to come, forever down the years! (Page 263). This stresses on how much men are better than women. This emphasizes that women are like monsters, and men excel to a far higher and preferential level than females. According to this passage, one should be ashamed to be a woman.

The Odyssey is a strictly patriarchal myth that amplifies the greatness of man, and the weakness of women. It shows that men are capable of achieving far more than a woman ever could, and reiterates that women must do as told by their spouse. Although not all women are looked upon in a bad way in The Odyssey, the central idea and stress is upon patriarchy. There may be many opinions on different subjects within The Odyssey, but there would not be a question on whether this myth was patriarchal or not.