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Summary H408/11 Homer's Odyssey A* Notes World of the Hero
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Women in The OdysseyPenelope
● Mortal woman
● Enhances Odysseus’ heroism
o She is a perfect wife and extremely loyal towards him, which enhances his heroism - and helps him serve
as a contrast to Agamemnon, who was killed by his wife, Clytaemnestra
o She is the daughter of Icarius of Sparta, a runner who challenged her suitors to a foot-race in order to win
her hand; Odysseus was the one man who beat him - enhances his heroism
● Perfect wife
o She is extremely loyal to Odysseus, which shows her good qualities as a wife - she is not even really
tempted by the Suitors
▪ Her loyalty in the original myth where Odysseus won her from her father in a foot-race is shown
by her covering her face with her veil - because she does this multiple times throughout the epic,
perhaps we could suggest that this is less modesty and disguise and more professions of her
loyalty
▪ Because she is sought after by the Suitors, this further emphasises her beauty and thus Odysseus’
heroism, because he is married to a beautiful woman
● ‘In weeping for Odysseus, Penelope preserves her entire social identity.’ - Daly
o She weaves clothes for the family - she made him the cloak that he went to Troy in and that the
Beggar-Odysseus says he saw Odysseus wearing when he was wandering - a sign of female ownership
● As a mother
o She seems rather useless at the point where we see her, but Telemachus has essentially become a man,
and so she can be excused for not listening
o Now that Telemachus has become a man, she listens to him and goes to her quarters when he tells her to
▪ ‘The scene thus ends with a statement of female powerlessness.’ - Suzanne Said
▪ However, sometimes she does argue with him - in Book One, Book Eighteen and Book
Twenty-Three
● Potentially a threat?
o There is some suggestion that she might give in to the Suitors and then be disloyal to Odysseus - perhaps
because of Agamemnon’s mention of Clytaemnestra in Book 11, although he does emphasise Penelope’s
loyalty and say that Odysseus has nothing to worry about with her as a wife
▪ ‘For all the dangerous girls, women, goddesses, and monsters Odysseus meets on his way home,
it is Penelope herself who constitutes the greatest peril for him.’ - Barbara Graziosi
● Wide-ranging effects of war
o She becomes distressed when she hears songs about the Trojan War and says how great her sorrow is as
she thinks that she lost her husband to that war.
● Intelligent - does she perhaps know Beggar-Odysseus is Odysseus?
o She weaves a funeral shroud and unpicks it every night, which is a rather elaborate and female scheme to
protect her loyalty towards her husband
o We could suggest that she somehow knows that it is Odysseus who has entered her house, as she is
rather protective of the beggar - could just be xenia, though
▪ ‘Penelope recognises Odysseus in Book 19 but says nothing because an explanation would be
tedious and awkward.’ - P W Harsh
o She tests both Odysseus and the Suitors many different times throughout the Epic.
▪ Book Nineteen: she tests Odysseus by asking what clothes Odysseus was wearing when the
‘beggar’ saw him.
▪ Book Nineteen: she tricks the Suitors into having the bow competition when she probably knows
that none of them will be able to string it; thus she has ‘trapped them all into publicly
demonstrating that not one of them is worthy to fill Odysseus’ boots; their kleos is permanently
ruined’ (Royal Holloway)
, ▪ Book Twenty-Three: she tests Odysseus by saying that she had had their bed moved, which
cannot have happened, as it was built out of a single rooted tree.
● ‘Odysseus’ family becomes Odyssean. Telemachus has become a replica of his father.
Penelope tests him in proper Odyssean fashion and has acquired the wry scepticism of
her husband.’ - Clarke
o She also keeps veiling herself, which could be for modesty, but could also certainly be for some other
reason - deception, disguise, perhaps she knows that Odysseus has returned to the palace / will soon
return.
▪ ‘a character aware of the plots she creates and like Odysseus, cunning in securing her own best
interests in terms of survival, duty, and pleasure’ - Felon-Rubin
▪ ‘a pawn in the game of male characters and of the poet’ (Winkler) vs ‘the embodiment of the
shrewd and effective activity of Greek women labouring (to be sure) under great constraints’
(Winkler)
Circe
● Immortal goddess
● Enhances Odysseus’ heroism
o She is a beautiful goddess who falls in love with Odysseus and sleeps with him, which emphasises his
heroism to a great extent
o She figures as the kind of occult, witch-like figure in a heroic trope - Jason with Medea, Perseus with
Medusa
● Source of information
o She gives very detailed information on how to get to the Underworld and willingly lets him go, which
shows that she enables his heroism through his trip to the Underworld
● Potentially a threat?
o She turns his men into pigs and has to be physically threatened with the sword before she backs down
and becomes submissive - enhances Odysseus’ heroism, but also shows the danger of powerful women
o Prevents Odysseus’ nostos for a whole year - but that is more Odysseus’ fault
▪ ‘She embodies all the challenges that women can offer to men and then some, for she has more
than human powers.’ - Stephen Tracy
● Civilised-Savage
o She appears weaving and singing, and she indulges in xenia, but then she attacks Odysseus’ men.
Calypso
● Immortal goddess
o She points out the double standards between the gods and the goddesses when it comes to relationships
with mortals - perhaps pointing out the unfair predicament of women in this world
● Enhances Odysseus’ heroism
o She is an immortal, beautiful goddess who has fallen in love with Odysseus and is sleeping with him
regularly in an attempt to prevent Odysseus from leaving her island - definitely enhances his heroism
o She helps him, and because she is a goddess, this shows further immortal favour
▪ She has to be told to help him by Mercury, which shows further godly favour, but also the threat
she poses
● Help
o She gives him tools to create a raft, clothes, food, wine, directions and a following wind so that he can get
to Scherie
● Potentially a threat?
o She poses a threat to his nostos
o Odysseus makes her swear an oath on the Styx, as he obviously does not trust her - which shows that
perhaps women are untrustworthy too
Nausicaa
● Mortal woman
● Enhances Odysseus’ heroism
o She falls in love with him and wishes that he could be her husband
● Dutiful daughter
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