The Evil Of Mortal Women In Homer's Odyssey

Improved Essays
While Penelope and probably Clytemnestra do not harbor evil emotions, it is still true that doom is brought from those attempting to pursue them. As aforementioned, this is precisely why Pandora was created – “to charm the hearts of all men as they hug their own doom” (59). Penelope brings the death of all the suitors once Odysseus returns, and Clytemnestra brings the death of Agamemnon. Since the many suitors in Odysseus’s home are captivated by seduction, the evil of mortal women is inherent. Penelope may not be malicious, but she satisfies the definition of the ‘evil’ of Pandora. This is true no matter how good a wife she is. Similarly, Goddesses of Greek Myth share many traits of Pandora’s. It is not immediately obvious that Goddesses …show more content…
With great haste she produced gray iron and made a huge sickle and showed it to her children” (CITE)
With trickery, she brought about Ouranos’s castration – an entire destruction of his manhood. However terrible this act was, it was only through this that she could free the Titans from her womb and continue succession. This is very similar to what Hesiod writes of women. While Pandora and her descendants are an evil for man, one who avoids marriage fairs no better. As this is true in the case of mortals due to Pandora, this is also true in the case of Gods. This same trickery and doom-bringing quality is also present in the Goddess, Rhea.
Rhea, like Gaia, uses cunning against her husband. In the Theogony, Hesiod details the trick of Rhea in which she saves Zeus against the will of Kronos. Rhea would have given birth to many of the Olympians, but “majestic Kronos swallowed each child” (Th. 459). As a result, Rhea devised a scheme to free her son, Zeus. As Kronos expected to be handed the next of her offspring for him to swallow, “she handed a huge stone wrapped in swaddling clothes” (Th. 486). After doing so, Zeus was raised elsewhere,
“sinuous-minded Kronos was deceived by
…show more content…
Mortals Clytemnestra and Penelope perfectly embody these traits in there cunning. Being woman, inherently evil by ancient Greek Mythology, they eventually pit men against each other in ways resulting in death. It is no coincidence that women play larger roles in Greek Tragedy than otherwise. Even with respect to immortals, the Goddesses are very similar, bringing doom to those seduced by them. The trickery of Rhea and Gaia is a perfect example of this. In one case, Ouranos is castrated and in another, Titans are exiled for eternity to

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    1. The gods view most men and women as insolent creatures that belame their own mistakes and illfortune on the gods. The text says that the gods see the humans and "their own reckless ways, compound tehir pains beyond their proper share" (Homer 78). Athena says that all disrespectful mortals shoul die. Although most mortals are disregarded and looked down upon, the gods open their hearts to a select few heroes.…

    • 983 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout historical culture, the role of a wife has always been to be the obedient, loyal and passive woman which her husband has sworn to take care of. May it be in the Ancient Greece period or the 1960s; the view of a wife hasn’t changed much over the ages. However, some stories has showed the hidden side of wives in a multitude of tales, such as Penelope from The Odyssey and Nora from A Doll’s House. Through guile and cunning, they were able to keep their loyalty towards their husband. But how do they reason their motives to keep their devotion for their husbands?…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women during Odysseus’ time were expected to stay loyal in both body and heart towards their spouse, so Penelope fits into the role of a loyal wife in Greek culture as she overcame the temptations of remarriage during the years that her husband Odysseus was gone. She refused to remarry even though it had been almost over two decades since Odysseus left and also refused to believe that he would not return possibly due to death during the journey. Even though…

    • 1485 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pandora Research Paper

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages

    PANDORA-Πανδώρα Who in the world are we talking about? So many evils in the world… Why did you do this to us Pandora? Yep you guessed it, Pandora is the reason we have all the evils in the world; despair, pain, jealousy, greed, hate, envy and sickness. She was the first mortal woman created by all 12 of the Olympus gods and goddesses.…

    • 849 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Homer’s description of women in the Odyssey reveals the Greek’s notion of fear in women’s beauty and of the prevailing power of men over women. Throughout the plot female characters, namely Penelope, Circe, and the Sirens, are portrayed as dangers that men overcome and devices that emphasize men’s strength. In the Odyssey, beautiful women bring danger to men with their seductive powers. The Sirens, with their alluring voices, try to lure Odysseus and his men away from their journey (190) and toward their deaths.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    It is implied that Hesiod considers women useless as he compares them metaphorically to a drone and men to the working bees as stated on lines 600 – 605. This comparison explores the issues with gender inequality and the treatment of women. This is reinforced as the very creation of women was set as a punishment from the gods (Theogony 588). Accordingly, Pandora’s myth contains misogynistic themes; she not only portrays how men are inferior to the gods, but also women’s inferiority to men. Evidence for this is given that a male god was responsible for the creation of Pandora (Theogony 574).…

    • 1001 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Without Athena, Odysseus may have never made it home to his faithful and loving wife Penelope. If Penelope had not been strong and brave, he would’ve returned to a home that was no longer his. Calypso’s capture of Odysseus made him even more determined to return home to his wife and son. While we can see that these women play big roles in this epic and are slowly being portrayed as more independent and cunning, they are still a long way from where they will end up. To this day, women are growing and becoming more and more independent.…

    • 1286 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Greek Conceptions of Gender Gender inequality has been the major topic of discussion for many cultures right the way through history. Throughout Greek mythology, women are portrayed pessimistic and troublesome symbols, while men are known for being strong and controlling. Greek mythology has always been thought of as a patriarchal society and there are many reason as to why. Talking about Greek Goddesses we always think of a typical woman who is correlated with women’s roles, for example being a loyal wife, kind and caring towards her children and husband and be the idea women.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If his wife had pulled that, she probably would not be alive. Odysseus’s actions are hypocritical because Penelope herself represents the idea of “home.” Throughout his grand journey, the only goal is to return home, which is presented as the whole city and house and wife and son. Penelope is really the only important guiding factor to Odysseus—even while cheating with Circe he speaks of his love for his wife. The journey traveled in The Odyssey is both physical and mental, somehow strengthening the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope.…

    • 892 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women In Greek Mythology

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Granted she was potentially the first women in Greece surrounded by all men but as her role in society was mainly for destruction she had started a horrible image for women later in Greece. Women were then viewed as the introduction of evil and danger into the world even though Pandora was created for that main purpose by a male god,…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In Homer’s world, women, specifically the Greek goddesses, are as much caring and nurturing as they are battle-hardened. When necessary, the women in The Iliad are able to use their natural charm or cunning in order to further their agenda. Hera, being a prime example of this, consistently shows her ability to feign a docile nature in order to distract from her crafty plans. However, there is a drastic distinction between the mortal and immortal women of The Iliad. Although most women in The Iliad play a vital role in the plot, the immortal women play a direct role while mortal women affect the plot indirectly.…

    • 1082 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Myth Of Pandora's Box

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Zeus was angry that Prometheus the trickster, took fire and gave it to the mortals. When enraged, the all mighty sky God ordered Hephaestus (the god of the forge) to make a girl named Pandora, who would bear all gifts. He obeyed Zeus’ orders and crafted her out of clay, she was known as the first women to walk the earth. (Classical Mythology 94-95.) In Christianity Eve is known as the first woman to walk the earth and is known to be formed form the creation of man.…

    • 1321 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Greek Mythology, Pandora was a beautiful woman made by the gods themselves sent down to earth as a punishment for Promethean's theft of fire. Pandora was a cunning, beautiful women, who was as clever as a fox, she was an inspiration for many other characters and left a big mark of Greek culture and even in modern day, Pandora shows up in society and our culture. Pandora was created by Zeus and the other gods to be sent down to earth and marry Prometheus's brother as punishment for Prometheus's disrespect by giving fire back to humanity. Prometheus warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept a gift from the gods but he was in awe of her beauty and charm. On the day of the wedding, Zeus gave Pandora a box and informed her to never open it, he then gave Epimetheus the key telling him to never open the box as well.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Eve Vs Pandora

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Eve and Pandora share the role of “The First Woman.” Likewise, they are both depicted as giving in to temptation, thus bringing suffering into the world. However, these two figures have stark contrasts between one another that reveal the views of their respective cultures’ towards women, god, and the world around them. I will begin by comparing major elements of both story. In Genesis, Eve is personally created by God, and born from Adam’s rib.…

    • 951 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    At the orders of the son of Cronus, the famous lame smith-god [Hephaestus] shaped some clay in the image of a tender girl”. Nothing that harbor even a small amount of respect is described as a “plague”. Hesiod emphasizes this point again when he calls females “the damnable race of women-a plague which men must live with”. Both descriptions clearly show that women had a very low place in Greek society during the time Theogony was written. These same ideas are supported by Homer in the Odyssey.…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays