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Odysseus’ greatest strength is the way he has with women. According to my old Greek history teacher, women had a relatively low and unimportant role in Athens. They didn’t have representation in government and were often described as vile and untrustworthy by the Greek writers. In the Odyssey, however, we see women in a different light, powerful and noble, as well as cunning and manipulative. They play all the supporting roles of Odysseus’ journey while the men of the story are less impressive, bumbling fools who can’t resist eating sacred lambs are keeping themselves from prying in to magical bags. In fact, the Odyssey is basically about a traveling jigalo going from women to women, convincing them with his charm, to lend aid to him.
The most important woman in the Odyssey is, without doubt, Athena. She plays Odysseus’ patron goddess and is the one who first speaks out for him at the mountain of Olympus to Zeus and the other Gods. She laments for Odysseus’ undeserved fate and argues that it was time to send him back home, which convinces Zeus sparks the start of his journey.
“Let them all die so, all who do such things.
But my heart breaks for Odysseus,
That seasoned veteran cursed by fate so long.” (Pg. 78, 56)
She initiates and provides guidance for Telemachus in place of Odysseus who is not there as a father.
“You must not cling to your boyhood any longer-
it’s time you were a man. Haven’t you heard
what glory Prince Orestes won throughout the world.”
She again assists Odyssey with his trials in Scheria by disguising him with mist as to protect him from the weary eyes of the Phaecian people. She encourages Nausicca to help the stranger. Once home in Ithaca, Athena gives direction to Odysseus and tells him of the evil plot of the suitors to kill Telemachus. During the fight she gives him the deceptive appearance of a beggar and once shed, the strength to slaughter the knaves insulting his house. Why did Athena or any of the other women help Odysseus? Part of his charm is in the ease that people have in admiring him. He has a certain amount of showmanship and cleverness that makes him attractive to women. Even though Athena is not fooled by him, she is impressed by his sweet talking and helps him charm others with illusionary tricks making him more or less attractive and massive as the situation calls for it. Without Athena, Nausicca and Queen Arete may have never decided to help the unlucky stranger. However, Odysseus remains a powerful Jigalo capturing the hearts of both Calypso and Circe without her help.
Calypso is the nymph of Ogygia who keeps and sleeps with Odysseus for eight years. Although Odysseus seems to suffer, crying out everyday to sea yearning to return home, it is not clear exactly when Odysseus started to want to return home. Never stuck myself on a secluded island with a beautiful goddess where my sole responsibility and worry was to indulge in carnal pleasure every night, I don’t what it would be like, but I can’t imagine it would be such a harsh punishment. Perhaps, Odysseus enjoyed his stay for at least a little, but grew tired only after several years with the same woman.
Eventually Hermes comes to tell Calypso that she must let him go. Her bitter reaction gives us an idea to what effect Odysseus had on her.
“Hard-hearted
you are you gods! You unrivaled lords of jealousy-
scandalized when goddesses sleep with mortals,
openly, even when one has made the man her husband,…” (Pg. 156, 130)
She even offers him immortality if he stays, but he makes the choice of returning home. Perhaps this is evidence of how badly Odysseus wants to see his family and homeland, but on the other hand I don’t discount that the reasons could be something more human, more along the lines of being bored of her. It is hard to tell with such a vast chasm between the time of this epic and current society, the culture of affairs no doubt have changed and so have social rules that dictate what is proper for the “ideal hero” to do. In America culture it would definitely be frowned upon that Odysseus would sleep with any of the woman he encountered on his journey, let alone most of them. The extreme difference in narrator’s attitude between Penelope’s infidelity versus Odysseus’ illustrates a double standard between men in women. Penelope’s main conflict is to resist the suitors and keep waiting faithfully for Odysseus (more than twenty years!), while Odysseus’ is to just return home, by any means necessary. This paradox between mortal women staying faithful while immortal women (Calypso, Circe, Aphrodite) do as they please, gives us conflicting expectations on women.
Nausicca and Queen Arete are the daughter and queen, respectively, of the Phaecians. With a little of Athena’s help, Nausicca is enamored with Odysseus right off that bat. With his smooth talking, he is able to find out what needs to be done in order to get home, which is plead at her mother’s knees. “Ah, if only a man like that were called my husband…Give the stranger food and drink, my girls” (Pg. 176, 210). It is clear that Odysseus can manipulate his grip over Nausicca, being fond of him, to get what he needs. He is especially skillful in his means of doing it, without offending her or breaking her heart. It is interesting the way Odysseus doesn’t take advantage of Nausicca like he did with Circe and Calypso. I see three possibilities here for explanation: one, Odysseus didn’t want to get in trouble with the King risking being stuck there; two, it wasn’t proper to for a hero to sleep with mortal women; or three, she was too young for him and he didn’t want to break her heart. Any of these would explain why it’s ok for Odysseus to sex up the immortals while dodging such action with the young beautiful maiden Nausicca.
All the women in The Odyssey and their reactions with Odysseus represent the perspectives of the Greeks. It is important to take note that the Greek civilization lasted several hundred years and surely their ideals fluctuated during their reign. Although not explicitly powerful, these women have a sort of unseen influence over what happens. Odysseus, who recognizes their abilities, uses his own to elicit their help; without which, he would have ended up like the rest of his men.
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Posted by Rudolph Klemencic on 5/9/04; 1:21:39 PM
from the dept.
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