What do these chapters say about the ideal of womanhood and femininity in the epic and Greek culture?
- What makes an ideal/good woman or goddess in The Odyssey?
- What women are characterized as deviant?
- Are there any problems with the ways in which the text portrays ideal and deviant women?
- If you’re working on this general question, consider the following: certainly, it may be anachronistic or a-historical to evaluate issues of gender, race, sexuality and so forth in texts from former periods (especially something thousands of years old!) in light of present-day concepts/perceptions. Thus, one may think that it’s not fair to read Penelope, Calypso, Helen, etc. in light of current feminist ideals. However, I also think it’s not fair to assume that people in ancient times didn’t question or debate the relationships between women and men, conflicts between sexes/genders, and the rights and roles of each. Thus, ask yourself whether a positive or negative portrayal of a female character, in the text, is necessarily what the text wants you to believe, OR whether the text plays around with such portrayals (e.g. most blatantly, how Menelaus seems to hate Helen now, whom he spent 10 years and the lives of thousands of men getting back) so that we (including audiences in ancient Greece) may have the tools to probe these questions and debate them. If so, find examples and discuss them!