Women’s Roles in the Odyssey

Women play a significant role in the text that forms an important part of The Odyssey, an epic written by Homer in the 7th century B.C. Within the poem there are three basic types of women: the goddess, the seductress, and the good hostess/wife. Each role helps to create a different kind of element and is essential to the completion of the story.

The first female in the Odyssey to be seen in full effect is the beautiful goddess. Although she is a supernatural being in all of the epic poem she is in a position to pity the mortals, which in turn puts in her a position to stay by Odyssey' side to help him throughout his long journey back home. Athena is the most eminent example of this role; at the beginning of the book she is seen begging Odysseus to return back to his home. Athena after this point helps Odysseus throughout his entire journey back to Ithaca, his homeland, after twenty years of battling in Troy. Athena, goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice, and skill, is the propulsive force behind assembling Odysseus' return home after becoming captured by Kalypso, daughter of Atlas. Athena helps Odysseus bribe Kalypso to release him and making sure Nausikaa, daughter of King Alkinoos, found him on the mainland of Skheria.

Within books 1-4 Athena also extends a helping hand to Telemakhos, Odysseus' son, gain the courage and strength to finally realize that he must go out and gather news about his father and his return. Besides the goddess Athena, there were many examples of goddesses having pity for the mortals, usually Odysseus, and helping him throughout his struggle to Ithaca. Poseidon didn't really care for Odysseus and eventually in the epic sent a huge storm in the ocean that would eventually wipe out most of his men. While Odysseus is suffering in the storm, Ino, a Nereid, gives him an immortal veil that helps him keep his life. Even Kirke and Kalypso help Odysseus tremendously with gathering enough information and supplies to make his way home to Penelope and his son. It is the role of the goddesses and not the male gods to pity and impose help to the afflicted mortals.

The next womanly roles within The Odyssey are the seductresses. The seductresses are certainly the least compassionate of all of the women within the text. While reading the text, there are two stories about such women that are referred to in The Odyssey. They are those of the half-sisters Helen, wife of Menelaus and Queen of Sparta, and Klytaimnestra. The entire Trojan War was mostly caused by the unfaithfulness of Helen to Menelaus; her affair caused many deaths and Odysseus would have never had to leave his home, wife, and son to go fight in the Trojan War if she had not run away with Paris. When Helen decided to runaway with Paris to Troy she had set the reasoning to send out thousands of ships to war. At this time Helen was the most beautiful women in the world and who wasn't to question if she was the most beautiful women of all time? When Helen left for Troy with Paris she was there for nine years and then another ten years throughout the Trojan War. During this time her and Paris were considered man and woman, but there were no children produced during those long years of being together. Although Menelaus did not kill Helen when he found her in Troy after leaving, she was given to another Trojan after Paris was killed in the war. Eventually when Menelaus found her, he was going to stab her, but he caught sight of her breasts and did not. They were on their way back to Sparta but were blown off course and landed on Egypt and stayed there for eight years together, happily. The other sister, Klytaimnestra, also caused pain and suffering by having an affair with Aigisthos and then eventually in the end killing her husband, Agamemnon, with her lover on his very first day back home.

Within the text the seductresses are always looked upon as being extremely dangerous and harmful to mankind, because of their distractions and interruptions within the occurrences throughout the epic poem. The Seirenes symbolize this role of danger; depicts as birds with either the head or upper body of a woman used their songs to seduce and subdue anyone listening to linger around until their death is brought upon them. But when Odysseus passed by them and escaped the great struggle the Seirenes were so distressed to see a man hear their song and escape that they eventually threw themselves into the ocean water and drowned. Kirke tries to seduce Odysseus before she helps him, and