I think I have mentioned that I am re-reading the Odyssey, an abbreviated version of which I first came across in grade school, and a story which has fascinated me ever since. As always, when re-reading something, the different perspective you bring to the material gives it a new spin. And the Odyssey offers plenty of content for spinning.
I tried reading the preface to the Robert Fagles version I have, and there were some points in there about Homer's treatment of women in the text. I think Fagles (or whoever wrote the preface) said he treated them fairly well, so I have been kind of watching for that throughout the text. Women are clearly very powerful in the Odyssey - after all, Helen started the Trojan Way, but they are certainly not treated as equals of men. That said, this lack of equality doesn't mean they aren't just as powerful.
Helen, for instance, is found back in Menelaus' house, and her stature and position don't seem to have been diminished by her "fling" with Paris.
Of course, there does seem to be a bit of treachery and untrustworthiness associated with several women in the Odyssey.
There is Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, who with her lover ambushes and kills the great Greek king upon his return home from Troy - not good luck with women those sons of Atreus, who apparently had some trouble with his own wife as well.
Then there is Penelope, Odysseus lonely wife and heroine of the story. While he's gone, she keeps to herself for the most part, but also won't rule out the suitors and seems to lead them on, until of course they meet their bloody deaths at the hands of the hero. In Book 15, Athena encourages Telemachus, Odysseus' son to sail home with the following warning, "You know how the heart of a woman always works: she likes to build the wealth of her new groom - of the sons she bore of her dear, departed husband, not a memory of the dead, no questions asked." Hmmm, a rather curious depiction of the duplicity of women.
Penelope is painted as both a hero and a potential villainous, but it's precisely this complexity of character that makes the Odyssey so interesting and enjoyable 10,000 years after it was written. Odysseus himself is far from perfect, and of course, neither are the gods!
Book 15 also includes this very perceptive insight on guests that still holds true today. According to Menelaus, when talking to Telemachus, "Balance is the best in all things. It's bad either way, spurring the stranger home who wants to linger, holding the one who wants to leave - you know, 'Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest!'" Timeless wisdom, for sure!
I tried reading the preface to the Robert Fagles version I have, and there were some points in there about Homer's treatment of women in the text. I think Fagles (or whoever wrote the preface) said he treated them fairly well, so I have been kind of watching for that throughout the text. Women are clearly very powerful in the Odyssey - after all, Helen started the Trojan Way, but they are certainly not treated as equals of men. That said, this lack of equality doesn't mean they aren't just as powerful.
Helen, for instance, is found back in Menelaus' house, and her stature and position don't seem to have been diminished by her "fling" with Paris.
Of course, there does seem to be a bit of treachery and untrustworthiness associated with several women in the Odyssey.
There is Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, who with her lover ambushes and kills the great Greek king upon his return home from Troy - not good luck with women those sons of Atreus, who apparently had some trouble with his own wife as well.
Then there is Penelope, Odysseus lonely wife and heroine of the story. While he's gone, she keeps to herself for the most part, but also won't rule out the suitors and seems to lead them on, until of course they meet their bloody deaths at the hands of the hero. In Book 15, Athena encourages Telemachus, Odysseus' son to sail home with the following warning, "You know how the heart of a woman always works: she likes to build the wealth of her new groom - of the sons she bore of her dear, departed husband, not a memory of the dead, no questions asked." Hmmm, a rather curious depiction of the duplicity of women.
Penelope is painted as both a hero and a potential villainous, but it's precisely this complexity of character that makes the Odyssey so interesting and enjoyable 10,000 years after it was written. Odysseus himself is far from perfect, and of course, neither are the gods!
Book 15 also includes this very perceptive insight on guests that still holds true today. According to Menelaus, when talking to Telemachus, "Balance is the best in all things. It's bad either way, spurring the stranger home who wants to linger, holding the one who wants to leave - you know, 'Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest!'" Timeless wisdom, for sure!
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