Portrayal of Women in Homers Odyssey :: Homer Odyssey womody

The Odyssey:   Portrayal of Women How does Homer portray women in the epic, The Odyssey?   In order to answer this question you must look at woman and goddesses as two separate groups of "people".   This is because they are portrayed in tow separate ways.   You see, a regular woman like Penelope is looked at as beautiful but has very few rights.     Ã‚  Ã‚   If we first look at Penelope we see how beautiful she must be, because we know that she has a lot of suitors staying at her house and they all want to marry her.   It is not until later on that we find out how low in society mortal women are.   The first time this is shown is when Telemukus has to choose one of the suitors to be his mother's husband.   Now just think that a son has more power in this society than his own mother.   From Telemukus' stand point this must be a big moment for him because he is now looked at as a man, cause he has to choose a wife for his mother, but for Penelope, she must feel degraded and low.     Ã‚  Ã‚   On the other hand if you look at a goddess like Athena, "the gray eyed goddess," (many pages) who is actually running the show, she has much more power than many men do.   For instance she is able to convince Zeus, ruler of all gods, that Odysseus has suffered enough and to set him free.   Eventually Odysseus is set free over the demands of Poseidon.   You can also look at Calypso and see how this near goddess, nymph, has power.   This is shown as Odysseus is leaving and she asks him if he would want to be immortal in return for him staying with her forever.   This shows that she has power, more than many women, and can grant anyone immortality.   Homer also describes her as lucky, that she is beautiful, but you can tell that inside Calypso is very lonely.   This portrayal of Calypso is also seen is the song written by Susan Vega.   In this song Calypso is seen as a sad and lonely woman who is trapped on an island forever.