Women in the Odyssey

Women play a more vibrant role in the Odyssey than they do in the Iliad. From the Iliad, one might get the impression that women were simply property. The Odyssey appears to portray women as powerful agents in the world of men, however. From the beginning of the epic, Kalypso exercises power over Odysseus. While she is a goddess, this does not mean that her power cannot be resisted. Often the desires of the gods are resisted by mortals, and yet Odysseus is powerless to resist Kalypso. Later in the poem we find Odysseus’ men trapped and transformed by Circe. The Sirens are often portrayed as seductive females, though Greek pottery often pictured them as winged bird-like creatures. In short, the women of the Odyssey appear to have a seductive and physical control over men in that poem. This is also consistent with the picture of women from other Greek authors, such as Euripides or Aristophanes.
However, the picture of women is not confined to these goddesses and creatures. Penelope and Helen also present vivid pictures of femininity to the readers of the Odyssey. When Telemachos visits Menelaus in Sparta, Helen sits at his side, but does not shrink from making an address in the meeting. The details of war and death are not hidden from her ears, nor is she silenced from talking in the presence of men. In like manner, Penelope flashes across the epic as a model of feminine virtue and strength. While she does not take up arms against her suitors (she is no feminist) she does what she can with what she has to delay and wait for her husband to return home.