Austin Budhram
English 2800 – Professor Peer
The Odyssey

Throughout the Odyssey, the author, Homer, emphasizes the significance of fidelity and infidelity in the marriage between husbands and wives.  However, Homer continuously seems to hold men and women to different marital standards. Men are generally able to mingle with as much women as they like, while women are expected to stay committed and not “entertain” the idea of multiple men in their lives. The most prominent case of infidelity in The Odyssey occurs in the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope. On Odysseus’ voyage back home from Troy, he finds himself with many sexual partners, such as Calypso and Circe. Despite this, Penelope continues to remain loyal, despite numerous temptations from those who sought after Odysseus’ place. Other examples of gender inequality through infidelity include the relationships between Menelaus and Helen and Aphrodite and Hephaistos. All in all, the controversy of fidelity plays a huge role throughout this poem, proving to the reader that Greek gods face the same issues of love and relationships as humans do.

As stated in Book I, Odysseus left his homeland of Ithaca twenty years prior to battle in the Trojan War. What many fail to realize is that the Trojan War began due to act of infidelity by Helen of Sparta. As stated on page 223 of “The Norton Anthology World Literature”, Paris, a Prince of Troy, chose Aphrodite to be awarded the golden apple. In turn, he was awarded Helen, the “most beautiful woman in the world”, as his wife. However, Helen was already married to Menelaus. Helen was then abducted from Sparta by the Trojans. Thus, Menelaus and his powerful brother, Agamemnon, began a war against the Trojans that lasted a span of ten years. This instance of infidelity has a huge effect on Greek history. For example, since Helen cheated on Menelaus with Paris, the powerful general Agamemnon declares war with the Trojans. Thus, the lives of many are lost for a seemingly unnecessary cause, which could have been avoided altogether. In addition, Odysseus, who is considered “the cleverest of the Greeks”, is forced to take part in this battle, which resulted in his long, dangerous voyage back home to Ithaca. All of these scenarios show how the seemingly small and insignificant relationship issues faced by the gods greatly influence the lives of everyday people, especially considering the fact that they have little to no control.

The reoccurring theme throughout The Odyssey is the power struggle between social classes. Gods are able to use their supreme power and abilities to essentially control the lives of those below them, including women, slaves, and other human beings. As a result, these gods are painted as pure and authentic figures, free from any preposterous and bizarre behavior. However, there is one specific issue that seems to plague the lives of many Greek gods; infidelity. Yet, Homer does not seem to consider infidelity an issue. In fact, Homer almost seems that he encourages acts of infidelity. He states,

“Calypso composed herself and went to Odysseys,

Zeus’ message still ringing in her ears.

She found him sitting where the breakers rolled in.

His life draining away in homesickness.

The nymph had long since ceased to please.

He still slept with her at night in her cavern,” (5.147-154)

In these lines, Homer describes Odysseus’ desire to return home to Ithaca, including the fact that he’s becoming homesick. However, he then describes how Odysseus has sex with Calypso as a method of “coping” with his homesickness. This ultimately creates the idea that since Odysseus is a Greek god, it is acceptable for him to embrace his sexual desires, even though it is morally unjust to do so.

In addition, while Odysseus and his crew “came to Aeaea, the island that is home To Circe, a dread goddess with richly coiled hair.” Once again, Homer seems to compliment the looks of Odysseus’ female companion, which in turn make the idea of Odysseus pleasing his sexual desire much more “reasonable”. At first, Odysseus and his crew found themselves at odds with Circe, resulting in her turning all his crewmen into pigs. After challenging Circe to return his men back to human form, she falls for Odysseus and they become lovers. In fact, Odysseus and his crew remain on Circe’s island of Aeaea for an entire year before his crew encouraged him to continue the voyage back home. This shows that as much as Odysseus claimed he wanted to return home to his family in Ithaca, he still spent a year with one of his several lovers, instead of trying to get back to Ithaca.

All in all, Homer is creating the illusion that it’s acceptable for Odysseus to satisfy his sexual desires, considering the fact that he’s been away from his home for twenty years. Meanwhile, Penelope continues to delay the choosing of a new suitor. Even though she hasn’t seen or heard from Odysseus in twenty years, she still has hope that he will one day return home and reclaim his rightful spot as the King of Ithaca. All of these factors make it quite obvious that there is a double standard in the relationship between Odysseus and Penelope.

In the relationship between Hephaistos, the Greek god of fire, and Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, infidelity plays a huge part in their inevitable divorce. Hephaistos’ mother, Hera, arranged for the marriage between her son and Aphrodite, whom many believed was too beautiful and had to be married to avoid future conflicts. However, Aphrodite does not commit herself to Hephaistos, having an affair with fellow Greek god Ares. While it is generally thought that men goddess were the ones who initiated cheating, this is not the case. Instead, Aphrodite utilizes her beauty and attractiveness to get involved in several external affairs, jeopardizing her marriage with Hephaistos.

In conclusion, infidelity plays a huge role in the Odyssey, resulting in a definite gender inequality in several marriages. As a result, these issues create the idea that Greek gods, though powerful, face the same issues of love and honesty as any other mortal being.

Dear Reader,

For the final draft of this essay, I hope to improve upon my evidence and analysis. As of right now, my analysis is very shallow and repetitive, resulting in a very boring essay. In addition, I personally believe that I need to incorporate more contextual evidence, such as quotes, into my essay. This would result in me having more resources to reference, in order to create a more diverse and interesting essay as a whole. The central thesis I arrived at was that there is obvious instances of gender inequality through the action of infidelity. These factors, in turn, result in Greek goddesses being very relatable to human beings. I believe I was able to make this point the best on the second page, where I discussed the external affairs of Odysseus with Calypso and Circe. In addition, I compared this to the behavior of Penelope and the idea that she has continued to remain loyal and single, to the point where she continuously postpones her choosing of a new suitor. I believe that this was the part of the essay where my ideas unfolded the best. As a result, with the use of evidence, I was able to relate to my central thesis and create a very fluid and detailed set of paragraphs. As for the rest of the essay, I personally believe that my ideas haven’t been able to unfold as I hoped they would. This made the rest of my essay very stagnant and uninformative. However, I do have time to improve upon this and create a well rounded and written essay. As I revise, I have a few focal points to focus upon. These mainly include my conventions and contextual evidence. As my contextual evidence improves, I will be able to write better detailed analyses that are as original and interesting to the reader as possible. With these improvements in mind, I will be able to create an interesting, original, and enlightening essay as possible, on the idea of infidelity in The Odyssey.