The importance of disguise

Even before the Odyssey begins, disguise is an important theme in Greek stories. This includes the story of Odysseus and his adventures during the Trojan War and is trip homeward. Starting in the beginning of the book Odysseus is thought to be lost at war. This results Telemachus living in a house full of suitors with his mom. These suitors live in side the palace eating their food and using up all their resources. Since the immaturity of Telemachus, he is unable to convince the suitors to leave, actually making them more prone to stay. Athena, the god of wisdom, comes to Telemachus with some words of wisdom, and some advice. She is indeed in disguise. She disguises herself as an ally of Odysseus. As you all know, she tells him that he has to voyage to Sparta to find out recent news about his father. This is only one of the few occurrences where disguised is use as a big factor of this story. Also we already know that before Odysseus returns home, he disguises himself as someone else, because of the story of Agamemnon’s wife murdering him. I believe we will see many more occasions when disguise is used. What do you all think?

Continuing on what Lauren said...

She mentioned the role of Penelope and the importance that she plays. Aside from her there is essentially one other prominent female role, that belonging to Athena. Like what Lauren said, Penelope is both influencing and and cunning, qualities that are also displayed by Athena. In spite of all this, i believe that these two were exceptions to the norm in society. We see these different gender roles appear at the beginning of the story in book 1, at the scene where Penelope asks the bard to play another song. Telemachus takes this small opportunity to pounce on her condescendingly. After a long series or ranting, he concludes "So, mother, go back to your quarters. Tend to your own tasks, the distaff and the loom, and keep the women working hard as well. As for giving orders, men will see to that, but i most of all: i hold the reins of power in this house" (89). It is hardly imaginable to think of a situation where a young man would have power over his mother in modern society. Still, i do no think that Homer, or whoever the writer(s) of this story was, believed in sexism. Rather, i believe that he was using this harsh outburst to make commentary on the current state of Greek patriarchal society and to make the reader think whether it is right or wrong.

Penelope and Her Suitors

In The Odyssey, Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, plays and important part in the possibility of Odysseus's return. She decieves her suitors so as to keep herself from being forced to marry another man. This trickery helps to leave the position of king open for Odysseus once he were to return.

Book 2 of The Odyssey reveals Penelope's plan to delay the suitors. Antinous points out to Telemachus, " she set up a great loom in the royal halls and she began to weave, and the weaving finespun, the yarns endless, and she would lead us on: 'Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, untili can finish off this web...'." (96) This plan of Penelope's really shows the role of powerful and influential women in ancient Greece. Women were not considered powerful and were not supposed to have any influence on affairs in Greece at the time. Any influencing that a woman did had to be sneaky and Penelope shows just how sneaky women can be when they really want to. Her cunningness ultimatly helped to keep the position of King open for her long-lost husband.