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Discuss the treatment of women in The Odyssey
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What is questionable within the epic, is if the killing of the
maids was truly necessary
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So by day she’d weave at her great and growing webby night, by the light of torches set beside her,
She would unravel all she’d done
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This character is presented as faithful to her
missing husband, and has done everything possible in order to deceive and delay the suitors,
therefore she is presented as an ideal wife within the society
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This interpretation is reinforce by her dreams that
appear to be prophecies that foreshadow the future of the epic
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This presentation of fortune telling depicts Penelope as a powerful character who is independent,
and does not really require being looked after, therefore she does not really allow mistreatment to
take place
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On the other hand, Penelope does not avoid the mistreatment that sources from her
suitors and her son, who doesn’t want her to grief any longer because it was not just Odysseus
that has possibly died in the battle of Troy
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Courage, mother
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Others, so many others dies there too
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Tend to your own tasks,
The distaff and the loom, and keep the women
working hard as well
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(I, 406-414)

The action of scolding his mother may be interpreted as ironic, as the character has clearly
expressed his grief over his father, yet he has constructed the idea of Penelope being a
representation of patience and endless grief
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Of course, masculinity is presented to be
made of physical strength and power itself, which is why he can be seen to take on this ‘manly’
task of giving orders within a kingdom that does not belong to him
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The power struggle of Telemachus over his mother is quite significant when looking at
the treatment of women within the epic
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Helene Whittaker goes on to argue:

“Telemakhos emphasises that he is the head of the household and that he makes the
decisions
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The house has been occupied by a
horde of suitors who with very little regard to Telemakhos' position are wasting his
inheritance
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Telemakhos is unhappy with the
situation that his mother is in and that causes him to plan his revenge since he is powerless
within his own home
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Telemachus prevents his mother from being involved in any sort of violence or
weaponry, which may too be seen as protective, since at this point he knows that his father is
present within the competition that Penelope has set up
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So mother, go back to your quarters
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As for the bow now,
men will see to that, but I most of all:
I hold the reins of power in this house
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Penelope is shown to transcend
between the female and the male roles within the society, as it was her idea for the competition
to take place in the first place
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She is therefore treated purely as an object of affection of the suitors, as
well as an object in her own eyes, she respects the hierarchy of the society
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As a mother with a missing husband she
is presented as powerless, and therefore has no choice but to listen to the orders of the only male
representative of the family, since it is men who are in power
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One may argue that Penelope is purely respected because she possesses the most
important qualities of an ideal Greek woman: fertility, loyalty and submission
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Athena manipulates Penelope
throughout
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(I, 416-419)

Even though this manipulation is very welcome, as it assumedly soothes Penelope, it is
questionable whether this action of sealing is necessary
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On the other hand, it is also observable that Penelope’s situation
changes each time after she wakes from her sleep
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In other words, Athena uses Penelope as a tool to bring peace to Ithaca along with Odysseus
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By keeping the suitors at bay thanks to Athena’s plan for justice and peace, Penelope is
shown to be powerful as she manipulates her suitors
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(II, 95-100)

Here Antinous acknowledges the fact that Penelope is a manipulative character, but this is in her
favor and is not mistreated for that in any way, in fact what appears to happen is quite the
opposite
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As readers we are aware that she cannot defeat the suitors
on her own as she doesn’t have enough knowledge of violence, therefore her only option of

survival is to use her charm to drive the suitors to compete with one another for her hand in
marriage
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By outwitting
the suitors and not marrying them, she prevents herself from becoming subservient to them, and
she ensures that they are forced to follow the custom of guests
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If that hadn’t happened, then she could have been forced into marriage
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Although a goddess, Athena is still a female character within the epic, who is presented
as a powerful guardian, she is treated with a lot of respect as she aids the characters throughout
their troubles
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“Hold back, you men of Ithaca, back from brutal war!
Break off - shed no more blood - make peace at once!”
So Athena commanded
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(XXIV, 584-548)

Here Athena is shown to hold power over the men of Ithaca, this is to the point of where the
mortals flee from her
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The medial caesura that follows her

command creates the effect of imminent action taken by the men to stop the brutality
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The presentation of this character is quite contrasting to Penelope who has
been told to stay away from brutality because she was a woman
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This shows that treatment of women within the epic really
varies based on one’s position within the hierarchy and specifically whether the character is a
mortal or immortal
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Firstly, one may argue that she is presented as
a self-empowered woman, who chooses to “shamelessly” abandon her family for another lover
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The second point of
view on her situation and treatment, is seeing her as the cause for the Trojan War, the cause for
loss of many men’s lives
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(XXIII, 245-250)

It is clear that Penelope blames Helen for starting the tragic war, which has caused a lot of
suffering for many of the characters, to which Penelope referred to as “doom”
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Penelope seems
so angered with Helen’s decision that she even goes on to blame the gods for this unfortunate
turn of events
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She has abandoned her family by her own choice; this would be considered extremely shameful,
in some cases, even punishable, yet she chooses to become disloyal to her family nevertheless
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Arguably, this shows that women within this epic are
presented to be objects of affection, who do not appear to be knowledgeable enough to make
their own decisions
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Athena was respected because she was a goddess that was widely
worshipped, Penelope was respected because of her loyalty to Odysseus
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Bibliography
Homer, The Odyssey, trans
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New York: Penguin, 2006
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Bergen: Papers from the
Norwegian Institute at Athens 2
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Brit Berggren and Nanno Marinatos
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March
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29-40

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