Matthew Kessler’s Blog Post
Today in class much of the discussion had to do with gender roles within the Odyssey and many different opinions were shared about this topic revealing the complexity of the epic as each argument had valid instances in the text to back up their argument. Another thing that I noticed through the group discussion was loyalty being a theme at the center of the epic. Not just loyalty among a husband and wife but also the loyalty of friends. As we discussed in class, when Aphrodite and Ares get caught in the act of the affair they are publicly shamed in front of the gods but the goddeses refuse to witness this out of respect for Aphrodite. Aphrodite then goes back home to take her shower and is greeted by her girls who haven’t let Aphrodite’s shame stop them from remaining loyal to her and showing their love for her.
Throughout the epic there are several instances of loyalty and faithfulness shown in particular by Penelope (who waited 20 years for the return of her husband in one of the extraordinary displays of faithfulness that we see in the epic), as well as Argos and Eumaios.
Despite coming up short multiple times, Odysseus appears to have valued loyalty when we consider his response to Nausikaa’s comment,
A while ago he seemed an unpromising man to me. Now he even resembles one of the gods, who hold high heaven. If only the man to be called my husband could be like this one, a man living here, if only this one were pleased to stay here. (6.242-245)
In this instance, Odysseus chooses to be loyal despite being tempted by the beautiful Nausikaa.
By reading the Odyssey one would be capable of coming to the conclusion that Loyalty is more important to ancient Greek society than our present society. However, during the time period it was also perfectly normal to see men sleep with numerous women other than their wives, such as Odysseus cheating on his wife multiple times with Calypso and Circe. Women on the other hand were often expected to remain loyal to their men, creating a double standard where loyalty is concerned in the society of ancient Greeks.
When reading the Odyssey, do you find loyalty to be more highly valued then than today? Or would you take the opposite view. Loyalty seems to be at the center of the epic and instances of characters showing loyalty occurs almost equally at rates of characters showing betrayal and dishonesty.
Hi, Matthew!
I think you bring up a great point regarding loyalty in the Odyssey as well as gender roles and the correlation between the two. As much as I like the example you mentioned of Odysseus turning down beautiful Nausikaa, I have to agree with the latter part of your text regarding double standards set up in society. Men were allowed to sleep around and have multiple partners while only having one wife, whereas women couldn’t do the same. Loyalty was enforced in this society but definitely not evenly between the genders. My question is, is this where double standards and male superiority in society originated from? You ask the question of whether loyalty was more highly valued then than today. I would say that’s difficult to compare, as loyalty in general has changed over the years. For starters, women are not as “loyally obeying” to their men as back then; there’s a sense of independence from men that wasn’t as common back then. Females cheating on their partners nowadays are much more common than back then. However, that doesn’t change the fact that they’re still shamed more than a male for a cheating (and that’s where slut shaming comes from and a whole other territory of debate.) Our society today will tend to praise males for multiple partners and judge women on the same topic. Not much has changed, as we see; however, genders have become more equal when it comes to expectations. The “norm”, or what’s considered normal, is not what it used to be (ex. it’s not considered “normal” for a married man to have a house full of women to himself.) Therefore, I’d say it’s hard to compare loyalty back then to now, as so much has changed regarding social structure and expectations in a relationship. I love that you also mentioned betrayal and dishonesty portrayed just as much in the Odyssey, as it’s a great topic of interest as well.
Awesome post!
Keisi H.
Thank you Keisi and Matt for posts! Why perception of women’s role has been changed? Is the traditional way of thinking has been disappeared,where women should be at home raising children,cook and listen to husband’s will? Or the dominance of men,patriarchal way of thinking still exists in various cultures? Or do you think that women started to attain the same rights as our ideology changed globally? I remember that one of our classmates mentioned that our ideology is based on uniqueness,what we watch what we read should be unique. Does development of gender equality link to our society’ s beliefs ?