Treatment Of Women In The Odyssey Essay

In the text of The Odyssey there are many ideas that challenge the morals and sensibilities of the modern reader. By western standards, the treatment of women by men in Homer's Odyssey could be characterized as sexist. Not only this, but the main character, Odysseus, seems to be able to cheat on his own wife, pillage villages, and slaughter innocent people and still maintain his persona of a hero. His leadership also causes his his whole crew to lose their lives out at sea. These activities would seem quite deviant to our own social norms and morals. The women in Homer's Odyssey are judged largely by their appearance. If a certain man considers a woman beautiful, or if she is related to a man in an important position such as a nobleman or king, the woman is seen as successful. That is why Penelope has the kingdom but can do nothing with it without Odysseus by her side. Being a woman, Penelope has absolutely no power over what the suitors do and cannot get rid of them. The suitors want her wealth and her throne. They do not respect her enough to stop feeding on

He plunders anything he can get his hands on, and as a side affect many people lose their lives. He was able to return home after his 20 year trip, but only after his entire crew was fatally lost. Most of their problems can from his poor leadership and arrogance. After they had escaped the Kyklops cave he had to shout out “Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home’s Ithaka”(Homer 160). This inevitably enraged poseidon and cause his men's doom. Even when Circe tells him how to navigate Scylla and Charybdis, he doesn't tell his men that some of them will die and shows remorse.N ot only does this not match a modern view of what a hero should look like, but also shows Odysseus as not the cunning mastermind that many characters in the story perceive him