When analyzing the odyssey it is intriguing to evaluate the roles of women opposed to men and the differences and similarities between the two. From the book, we receive a representation of the role of women in the ancient Greek culture. Women in the Odyssey are placed on pedestals as beautiful creatures but were often inferior to men, and had little participation and involvement in the government and often had to resort to deception and treachery to get what they wanted. In the odyssey, it shows us the different ways women were looked upon. Women and Goddesses were vied as two separate groups of people and portrayed differently.
Firstly Penelope, a faithful and loving wife to Odysseus, Homer reveals to us that that is how the Greeks believed wives should act. She was loyal to Odysseus even when it had appeared that he was dead. She resisted the suitors on the basis that she loved Odysseus and could not see herself with any other man than her husband. Although at the same time, she is in conflict with herself if she should remarry of stay faithful to Odysseus. Penelope’s astute delaying tactics reveal her sly and artful side. The notion of not remarrying until she completes a burial shroud that she will never complete cleverly buys her time. The constant pressure under which she lives has the effect of turning her into a woman who hands grimly on to the past, and finds comfort in only the world of sleep and dreams, and even those can be painful sometimes. However, Athene sometime comes into her dreams to comfort and reassure her. Penelope anticipates for the return of her husband but at the same time doubts, he will ever come back. Athene and Telemachus often prefer to leave Penelope in the dark side about matters rather than upsetting her and maybe even raising her hopes. The archery contest in book 21 might also show her sly personality, she is aware that only Odysseus can win it, but she still puts all the suitors to the test.
