What Role Do Women Characters Play in Homer’s the Odyessey and Chauncer’s Canterbury Tales?
Women: What role do women characters play in Homer’s The Odyessey and Chauncer’s Canterbury Tales?
Men and women are both stereotyped to behave a certain way that fits into roles that society has created for them. Men are seen as being the forefront of the family, while the women are behind the scenes and inside the household taking care of petty things. Men are always portrayed as being mentally and physically tough and mighty with the ability to forge a life outside of the household, while women are depicted as weak fragile beings that belong only in the safe interior of their household. It is thought that only a woman can be excessively emotional and tender and that qualities like such interfere with having the ability to be self reliant and powerful. Men are thought to naturally be self reliant and powerful in both a physical and mental sense. While these stereotypes might seem believable and applicable, in texts such as, The Odyssey by Homer and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, women’s role are more than meets the eye. Even though the women in the texts play the common roles of wives and mothers, there is a much deeper meaning and purpose to their function as women in the story. The women might not seem like the obvious heroes, for we have been lead to believe that a damsel in distress must always be saved by a grandiose macho man. In these texts, it is the women whom hold the power over the men even though they fall under the stereotypical labels of being a housewife and mother. Their shabby insignificant roles might seem unlikely of authority or power at first, but with analysis, it is clear that women don’t blatantly display a lust for command, yet they manage to craftily take the control away from the men. The women of The Odyssey, especially Penelope, clearly all hold a very unique sexual control over the men they come across in the story. Although the story mainly focuses around the hardships and adventures Odysseus and his son Telemachus
Men and women are both stereotyped to behave a certain way that fits into roles that society has created for them. Men are seen as being the forefront of the family, while the women are behind the scenes and inside the household taking care of petty things. Men are always portrayed as being mentally and physically tough and mighty with the ability to forge a life outside of the household, while women are depicted as weak fragile beings that belong only in the safe interior of their household. It is thought that only a woman can be excessively emotional and tender and that qualities like such interfere with having the ability to be self reliant and powerful. Men are thought to naturally be self reliant and powerful in both a physical and mental sense. While these stereotypes might seem believable and applicable, in texts such as, The Odyssey by Homer and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, women’s role are more than meets the eye. Even though the women in the texts play the common roles of wives and mothers, there is a much deeper meaning and purpose to their function as women in the story. The women might not seem like the obvious heroes, for we have been lead to believe that a damsel in distress must always be saved by a grandiose macho man. In these texts, it is the women whom hold the power over the men even though they fall under the stereotypical labels of being a housewife and mother. Their shabby insignificant roles might seem unlikely of authority or power at first, but with analysis, it is clear that women don’t blatantly display a lust for command, yet they manage to craftily take the control away from the men. The women of The Odyssey, especially Penelope, clearly all hold a very unique sexual control over the men they come across in the story. Although the story mainly focuses around the hardships and adventures Odysseus and his son Telemachus
Bibliography: Atwood, Margaret. The Penelopiad. New York: Canongate, 2005. Print. Lionsgate, 2005. DVD. Homer, and Richmond Alexander Lattimore. The Odyssey of Homer. New York: Harper & Row, 1967 Ackroyd, Peter, and Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales. New York: Viking, 2009 "Oh, Get a Grip" Digital image. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .