The Role of Women in the Odyssey Essay - 1212 Words

The Role of Women in The Odyssey Homer wrote the classic epic The Odyssey more than 2,500 years ago. At that time in ancient Greek society, as well as in the whole of the ancient world, the dominant role was played by men. Society was organized, directed, and controlled by men, and it was accepted that women occupied a subservient and inferior position. Women, of course, were valued, but were expected to possess certain traits and perform certain tasks that men demanded of them. Does Homers writing in The Odyssey support or refute the common belief of his time regarding women? Homer endorsed the dominating belief of his time concerning women by treating the female characters unequally and differently compared to the male characters in†¦show more content†¦However, Odysseus, after encountering his mother, Anticleia, in Hades and discovering that Penelope was still alive and faithful to him, he still slept with Calypso! When he then returned to Ithaca and was reunited with Penelope, he told her of his encount ers with Circe and Calypso without hesitation or shame! Another example of how the rules and expectations for women did not apply to men in The Odyssey is when Eumaeus, the loyal swine herdsman of Odysseus, recounts how he came to Ithaca as a captive of a slave woman, Phoinikia. This woman was seduced by a roaming seafarer who, #8230;made such love to her as women in their frailty are confused by, even the best of them.; The god Artemis later kills Phoinikia for her treachery.; Odysseus is doing nothing wrong when, despite knowing his wife was alive and faithful, commits adultery with two other women. However, it would most likely be unforgivable to Odysseus if Penelope had been unfaithful and remarried not knowing whether her husband was still alive, and desperately needing a husband. Male seducers are represented by boys sowing their oats; a normal part of male life. Seduced females are viewed, however, as weak, frail, and treacherous. These examples speaks volumes about Homers view regarding the inequalities between men and women in his epic. Many times throughout The Odyssey men speak condescendingly toShow MoreRelatedRole of Women in the Odyssey1201 Words   |  5 PagesThe Role of Women in The Odyssey The Odyssey, by Homer, is an epic poem based on the story of an ancient Greek hero, Odysseus, and his twenty year journey—ten years spent fighting in the Trojan War and the other ten spent traveling home. In the poem, Homer presents the theme of the role and nature of women. Men were the dominant gender in ancient Greece, and women, who were inferior, were only valued for their beauty and their ability to reproduce. However, in this poem, Homer both exemplifiesRead MoreThe Odyssey : The Role Of Women In Homers Odyssey966 Words   |  4 Pagesinteractions. The Odyssey portrays what is right or wrong in relationships between god and mortal, father and son, and man and woman. In the epic poem, the role of women is a vital demonstration of Ancient Greece. The women in the epic are unique in their personality, motives, and relationships towards men. In Homers, The Odyssey, all women are different, but all of them help to represent the role of the ideal woman. Homers epic describes the world of women in Ancient Greece, a time where women were seenRead MoreEssay On The Role Of Women In The Odyssey739 Words   |  3 PagesImagine living at a time in which women were only seen as second-class or lesser beings. The Odyssey, by Homer, is an epic poem based on the story of an ancient Greek hero known as Odysseus. The Story follows his twenty-year journey, ten spent fighting the war, and the other ten spent getting home. Throughout the Poem, Homer presents the roles and nature of women. In The Odyssey, Greek society is controlled by men, while women face an entrenched societal expectation to be subservient and loyal withoutRead MoreCultural Role of Women in the Odyssey1025 Words   |  5 Pages   The cultural role of women in the Odyssey In Homer’s Odyssey the cultural relevance of a preferred woman’s role in society generally stands out in the roles of the female characters of Athena and Penelope simultaneously rejecting the negatively viewed characteristics of Calypso and Circe. The entire structure of Ancient Greek culture boasts its men in more superior roles than that of women. Greek society was largely built upon an idea that good women were only around to faithfully serve andRead MoreRole of Women in the Odyssey Essay1582 Words   |  7 Pagesmasculine point of view† (Ibsen). This saying also applied to the times of the Odyssey, an epic constructed by the blind, eight century B.C.E. poet, Homer. As one of the few representatives of ancient Greek social order, the blind, Homer witnessed women as substandard to men, regardless of their actions; many of them existed as seductresses, prostitutes, or slaves. He engraved into his poem women’s role s; the roles of women, as mothers, wives, seductresses, and goddesses are exemplified in this epicRead MoreThe Role Of Women In Homers Odyssey1165 Words   |  5 Pages The Role of Women In The Odyssey In literature, are women used as important roles or only used as love interests and for their beauty? This question has been around for a long time and there is still no clear answer. One literary example is the women characters in Homer’s The Odyssey- the ancient Greek epic of Odysseus and his journey home to Ithaka. When on his journey, Odysseus meets many women who are ultimately used as alluring characters to distract Odysseus on his journey home. ThroughoutRead More The Role of Women in Homers The Odyssey Essay695 Words   |  3 PagesThe Role of Women in Homers The Odyssey Women form an important part of the folk epic, written by Homer, The Odyssey. Within the story there are three basic types of women: the goddess, the seductress, and the good hostess/wife. Each role adds a different element and is essential to the telling of the story. The role of the goddess is one of a supernatural being, but more importantly one in a position to pity and help mortals. Athena, the goddess of wisdom,Read MoreRole of Women in the Odyssey Essay examples810 Words   |  4 PagesNatasha Castillo October 3, 2012 Role of Women in â€Å"The Odyssey† â€Å"The Odyssey† by Homer is an epic poem about Odysseus’ return to his wife and son in Ithica after the Trojan War. Women play an exceptionally large role in this epic poem. Odysseus’s son, Telemachus attempts to gain authority in the presence of the suitors but it is difficult. Especially once he goes on his own journey under the guidance of Athena. Throughout the epic poem however, the women play their roles as mothers, servants, seductressesRead More The Role of Men and Women in Homers The Odyssey 1173 Words   |  5 PagesWho is the ideal Greek man? It can be argued that through the illustration Homer weaves throughout the Odyssey, Odysseuss character traits cast a lens as a prime example of a man in ancient Greek society. He appears to be brave, intelligent, well-spoken, and clever. Much of his knowledge is discovered by his travels, absorbing the local culture around him and using it as a guide. Aristocratic and a warrior. Perhaps the best warrior of al l time. It is the Iliad which presents these attributes initiallyRead MoreThe Demeaning Role Of Women In Homers The Odyssey1280 Words   |  6 PagesThe Odyssey is one of two poems written by Homer describing the drama of the Trojan War, more specifically, the catastrophic journey of the hero Odysseus back home. Throughout the tales, female characters exhibit the many and diverse roles of Greek women, and also their significance in a world dominated by immortal beings.   Like countless others, the goddess Calypso’s beauty and elegance could be the cause of circumstances both good and evil. Calypso is remembered most for keeping Odysseus as a prisoner

Safe Sex Vs. No Sex - 1504 Words

Safe Sex vs. No Sex. What’s Realistic? A Case for Comprehensive Sex Education Teenagers have been having sex since the beginning of time. Instead of telling them â€Å"just don’t† shouldn’t we educate our teens so that they can be safe? The problem with traditional Abstince- Only-Until-Marriage is that instead of educating they use fear tactics to unsuccessfully keep children ignorant. This causes children to turn to other outlets like porn and other children their age, it’s like a bad game of telephone where people end up getting pregnant or catching STI’s. The other problem with Abstince-Only education is that it does not cover all of the subjects of sexuality, there are the obvious things such as STI’s and pregnancy prevention but there are†¦show more content†¦It is of extreme importance for the children of today to be educated well regarding human sexual health, so America can have a future generation with less STIs and less teen pregnancies. The groups and people who oppose sexual education, what compreh ensive sexual education is, and comprehensive sexual education vs. Abstinence only until marriage are why America need sexual education. Groups and people who still oppose comprehensive sex education have their own reasons for opposing what they do. A major group that still opposes comprehensive sex education are groups with religious affiliation. Not every church opposes comprehensive sex education, in fact one church the First United Methodist Church of Madison, Wisconsin will be implicating a comprehensive sex education curriculum (thinkprosses.org). Many churches still oppose comprehensive sex education though purely because it goes against the â€Å"morals† of the church, sex before marriage is a huge no-no in the religious world, many churches believe that by educating about sex it will advocate the pupils to have sex before marriage. This is not true, in fact even in religious settings pregnancy and STI rates have gone down, comprehensive sex education has even been sh own to reduce the age of first sex according to Advocatesforyouth.com a

Hobbes And Locke Essay Example For Students

Hobbes And Locke Essay Hobbes and Locke Outcome 2 . Thomas Hobbes was born in Wiltshire, England in 1588 just prior to the Spanish Armada. Philosophy is defined by Hobbes as the reasoned knowledge of effects from causes, and causes from effects. Hobbes was educated in Oxford where he learnt about the great classics and also of Aristotle, however Hobbes disliked Aristotles approach that democracy was the best form of government. Hobbes spent many a year on the continent and his disliking for Aristotles works grew, when he returned to Britain there was a civil war underway so he left the country again and wrote several pieces of literature, these include the, ?De Cive? and ?The Elements of law?. Later on his book the ?Leviathan was published?. Hobbes died in 1679 after becoming one well-known political writer, but he has not been forgotten and his political thought lives on. Hobbess most famous piece of work the, ?Leviathan? presents life before government was formed this was what Hobbes referred to as the, ?State of nature?. Hobbes believed that every man was naturally equal and due to this war was inevitable because every man was for himself. War would be inevitable as fought for material possession and for basic necessities like water and food. The first of these, ?causes of quarrel- maketh man invade for gain, the second for safety and the third for reputation?. With this continuing state of war and would produce a lifestyle in which there would be no society, industry or trading. As Hobbes states that there would be; ?No knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, contains fear and danger of violent death; and the life of man solitary, poor nasty, brutish and short.?For Hobbes the, ?State of nature? was a way of rationalising how people would behave in their most basic state. Ho bbes advanced from what Ren? Decartes stated ?I think , therefore I am.? Hobbes used the individual as a building block from which all his political theories arose. Hobbes formed his theories by way of empirical observation and he believed that the universe was just atoms in notion and therefore could be measured by geometry and mathematics and could be used to explain human behaviour. According to Thomas Hobbes people would willing give up all their rights to everything and anything as long as every individual was willing to do this. Nevertheless basic human nature would not allow this and with no way of controlling it people would soon break it in an attempt to control a greater share of power over one another. Hobbes recognised that in order to ensure the stability and peace in his opinion this could be achieved by means of a Social contract. Hobbes realising that the only way to maintain order among the people would by having an authoritarian government. He gave the government the name of Leviathan which when translated means monster. This meant that in exchange for individual rights the people would have in return peace, security and protection from one another. The people would not want to return to the basic state of nature and therefore would not protest against the government which would have power over their natural liberty. The social contract would at first be set-up by men to establish a commonwealth which in turn would be governed by a sovereign to whom in the interest of self preservation, simple right to govern oneself is abolished. The sovereign may be an individual or a group of individuals who are not part of the social contract. However the citizens themselves are part of the social contract and this means that they will obey the sovereign and obey the rules that the sovereign has enforced. Since the sovereign has all power there would never arise any contract between the subjects and the sovereign to break. To add this once the contract has been established the subjects need to seek the sovereigns permission to break it. As a result of forming this contract nothing that the sovereign does can be seen as unjust and as a result of establishing this contract an artificial man or leviathan is formed. Hobbes gives the sovereign absolute power. Enuresis EssayThis contract of society is formed when people give up their total freedom and move from the natural state into society. This society would roughly be split into two. There would be the property owners and the non property owners. As Marxist calls them the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In this society property owners who were industrious and hard working were given the right of suffrage and the non property owners seen a non- industrious were not. In order to fulfil contracts within society and government the society contracts an impartial third party to act as the government. This contract as mentioned earlier is sometimes known as the trustee relationship because the government has no rights but works for the good of the people. The government is given its power to act by the property owning portion of the population, and not by the society as a whole. Lockes theory also differs from Hobbes because the society has the power to overthrow the government. Locke stated that since the society made the government they have the power to abolish it, whereas in Hobbes theory the government was all powerful and the people would dread going back to the state of nature that the leviathan will not be overthrown. This is also because the leviathan being solely powerful will only check against itself. Locke however feels that the government could be abolished without returning to the state of nature because the social contract would be upheld. If the government was abolished then another would be elected through a majority vote. This has the idea that the government is accountable to the people. The above themes show that Locke favoured a limited government whereas Hobbes favoured an authoritarian one. Lockes society is designed to protect property, but Lockes definition of property is not the same as everyone elses. overall then, we are left wit h a society that is designed to prevent the abuse of power and to let people live peacefully and prosperously in an equal society. Hobbes however wanted the citizens to be restrained and have no say in the way the country was ran. Hobbes wanted there to be a dictatorship where decisions were solely in the hands of the sovereign and not the people whom lived in the democracy, so was this theory was actually liberal democracy. Bibliographyhobbes by jason graygoverning the state by samuel edwards

Shiloh Essays - Battle Of Shiloh, Hardin County, Tennessee

Shiloh After Shiloh the South would never smile again. Known originally as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, The Battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest battle fought in North America up to that time. Pittsburg Landing was an area from where the Yankees planned to attack the Confederates who had moved from Fort Donelson to Corinth, Mississippi. The North was commanded by General Ulysses S. Grant and the South by General Albert Sydney Johnston. The Union army was taken by surprise the first day when the Confederate Army unexpectedly attacked, but after Union reinforcements arrived the fighting virtually ended in a tie. Lasting for two days, April 6 and 7 of 1862, casualties for both sides exceeded 20,000. The Battle of Shiloh was a message to both the North and South that the Civil War was for real. General Grant was anxious to maintain the momentum of his victory at Fort Donelson. His army had moved up to a port on the Tennessee River called Pittsburg Landing in preparation for an attack on Corinth, Mississippi, where the Confederate troops were located. General Halleck, Western U.S. Army commander, had ordered Grant to stay put and wait for reinforcements. Grant had given command of the Pittsburg Landing encampment to General William T. Sherman while he waited at his camp in Savannah, Tennessee. (1) At Corinth, Confederate Generals Albert Sydney Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard worked feverishly to ready the 40,000 plus troops there for an attack on the Union Army at Pittsburg Landing before U.S. Army General Buell and reinforcements could arrive from Nashville. The officers appointed as corps commanders for the South were Major General John Breckinridge, Major General William J. Hardee, Major General Braxton Bragg, and Major General Leonidas Polk. The South headed for Pittsburg Landing on April 4, 1862 but because of several delays the attack was postponed until April 6. The Battle of Shiloh began early the morning of April 6. Johnstons men burst out of the woods so early that Union soldiers came out of their tents to fight. The Confederate army drove the Yankees back eight miles that day. One area that was especially troublesome for the South was nicknamed the Hornets Nest and was commanded by Union General Prentiss. The area was a sunken road that Federal troops rallied behind and mowed down wave after wave of Rebel attackers until General Prentiss finally surrendered. The Hornets Nest got its name from Southern soldiers who reported that the sound of bullets and mini-balls flying through the air sounded like hornets. Prentiss fought, as he states, until half-past five P.M., when finding that further resistance must result in the slaughter of every man in the command, I (2) had to yeild the fight. The enemy succeeded in capturing myself and two thousand two hundred rank and file, many of them being wounded (The Rebellion Record, 1865 p 258). Prentiss was captured along with 2200 Union troops. In an interview with General Beauregard after being captured, General Prentiss stated concerning the Union Army at Pittsburg I am afraid that all of our men will be taken (New Orleans, Times-Picayune, 1862). When a bystander asked him about General Buell he stated Buell is not coming here, and if any forces are on the way they must be very small. I know nothing of them (New Orleans, Times-Picayune, 1862). Both sides had suffered devastating losses and injuries. That evening soldiers from both armies wash their wounds in a small lake. The pond took on a red tint from the troops blood loss. From then on, it was known as Bloody Pond. The South suffered a terrible loss at 2:30 in the afternoon of April 6, 1862. General Albert Sydney Johnston bled to death from a bullet wound to his leg. Beauregard sent a telegram to Jefferson Davis stating Loss on both sides heavy including our Commander in Chief, General A.S. Johnston (3) who fell gallantly leading his troops into the thickest of the fight (The Papers of Jefferson Davis, 1995, p 131). In a letter written to General Earl Van Dorn from Jefferson Davis, the president stated The report that General A.S. Johnston was killed sadly depresses me. Victory however great cannot cheer me in the face of such a