Essay --

Bijoy ShahMrs. JonesSophomore English (H)8 January 2014Men WomenThroughout The Odyssey by Homer, many women, if non servant girls or deities, are assigned to the powerless role of mothers or seductresses. In most instances, the women are in need of support and guidance as they are weak and fragile. Without a steady male hand to guide them, these women appear to be lost and heartbroken. Women serve little function aside from lamentation their men and urging them to remain safe. In many ways, the value placed on fathers and countersigns in The Odyssey is far greater than the bonds with mothers or daughters. Anticleia, Odysseus mother, cannot even exist without her son as she dies after waiting for years for him to come home. For Anticleia and other women, the entire purpose for existence is to look after, nurture, and protect their sons and husbands. However, no female character in The Odyssey is quite as complex as the grief-stricken Penelope. Some women are known for the executio ns of their sons or husbands, but never for a heroic deed of their own, their personalities, and what they do them...