Odysseus s Feminine Cunning Odysseus And Athena

Odysseus’s Feminine Cunning The idea of gender fluidity is not necessarily an incorrect statement as both Odysseus and Athena take on both female and male disguises and possess both â€Å"male† and â€Å"female† qualities. Similarly, in one Greek comedy â€Å"Thesmophoriazusae,† men dress up as women to infiltrate a conference as they believe these â€Å"mad† women are planning to kill one of the Greek playwrights Euripides. However, in the festival the men discover women acting as noble citizens of Greece and make peace with them by the end of the comedy. While not written in entirely similar time periods, these two texts suggest the concept of crossdressing existed and furthers the concept of gender fluidity. While one thing does not obviously lead to†¦show more content†¦Circe’s cunning and ability to bewitch the men serves as two purposes. While it does highlight her cleverness and cunning, this passage also speaks to Odysseus’s own wit as he is able to out think Circe in this mind game and escape her tricks. However, while Odysseus seems to be the only man clever enough to look past Circe there are multiple examples of female characters who demonstrate cunning throughout the novel. This repetition of their cunning possibly suggests deceit as a quality that either many powerful women possess. On the other hand, Homer could be suggesting that cunning is a quality women possess in order to gain power. We see other examples of this power in other Greek texts such as Antigone or the story of Medea where the cunning was used for both good and evil. This example of Circe’s bewitchment on the crew is a perfect example of cunning but can be contrasted with Athena in terms of the reason for using their cleverness. A general trend throughout the book seems to be Odysseus’s ability to think outside the box and usually escape a dangerous situation because his ideas were original and not usually thought of. The above passage was a perfect example of this as he â€Å"overpowered† Circe’s â€Å"evil† intents. While it is necessarily known whether or not her intents were evil, she definitely did not have right inttentions. If we compare Circe’s action and then lookShow MoreRelated Women in The Odyssey Essay example1487 Words   |  6 Pagesplay an influential role in The Odyssey. Women appear throughout the story, as goddesses, wives, princesses, or servants. The nymph Calypso enslaves Odysseus for many years. Odysseus desires to reach home and his wife Penelope. It is the goddess Athena who sets the action of The Odyssey rolling; she also guides and orchestrates everything to Odysseus’ good. Women in The Odyssey are divided into two classes: seductresses and helpmeets. By doing so, Homer demonstrates that women have the power to eitherRead MoreRole of Women in the Odyssey Essay1582 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"A woman cannot be herself in the society of the present day, which is an exclusively masculine society, with laws framed by men and with a judicial system that judges feminine conduct from a masculine point of view† (Ibsen). This saying also applied to the times of the Odyssey, an epic constructed by the blind, eight century B.C.E. poet, Homer. As one of the few representatives of ancient Greek social order, the blind, Homer witnessed women as substandard to men, regardless of their actions; many