The Odyssey Themes

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The Odyssey
Writers use various themes or motifs in presenting their ideas to create an interesting story. The choice of themes helps in propelling the story and making it easy for the reader to understand. A writer can use a few or use several themes depending on the story they wish to put across. Violence against women is one of the common motifs that most writers incorporate in their stories to make them interesting and relevant in modern society. As people read stories, they wish to relate the ideas being presented to the happenings of modern life. The poem Odyssey is one of the works that has successfully used the motif of violence against women to relate to modern society. Therefore, this paper will discuss how the motif has been presented in the poem‘s chapter 23 using support from other sources. It will also analyze how violence against women is applicable in today’s life.
The violence against women is presented in Odyssey using Penelope’s character. Book twenty-two discusses the slaughter of the suitors. This book shows Penelope’s power in a society that does not give women much power. Penelope makes the suitors fight for her, and the winner would marry her. Such in indicates a society where women are bound by marriage and regardless of Odysseus being a beggar, Penelope has to choose someone to marry her. This decision is unavoidable because her family has insisted that she should marry again. The men have to make such a decision by firing spears. In this section, the character presents the two sides of Penelope’s position in society. The main side is where she can influence men into fighting for her because she is a woman (Basirizadeh, Fatemeh, Narges Raoufzadeh, and Shiva). The other side is where Penelope is presented as a limited individual who has can decide who to marry her but doesn’t want to make the decision because she lives in a society where women are bound by marriage. In the absence of violence against women, Penelope would be allowed to choose a suitor without having several men compete to marry her. Such violence is presented in some societies, such as the Indian beliefs where women are exposed to arranged marriages. This custom indicates how society has diminished women to the extent that they are not allowed to choose their suitors. Their family members believe that they can choose the best spouse for the woman. Odyssey is an allegory to such societies that believe that women do not have the power to choose their spouses. However, some women have attempted to break free from such cultures by choosing a spouse they think suits them best. Odyssey’s presentation of the motif against women can utilize their power in making the choices that seem fit to them. Instead, the poem presents a powerful woman whose power is limited to obeying men.
This section of the poem also represents violence against women that fellow women cause. When people hear about violence against women, they imagine a society where women are expected to obey men. However, such violence can also be expressed by women towards women. In Odyssey, Penelope’s maid betrayed her by sleeping with the suitors. At the end of the chapter ...