Gender

Gender Criticism

When reading literature, criticism is a term used to evaluate a story, or at least certain parts of it. With gender criticism, emphasis is used on the theme of relations between both male and female genders. Therefore, the criticism can be use against either the male or female, or it can be use to favor one of them. This criticism is used in The Odyssey, a story told in a book by a man named Homer. The story tells about a journey of one man and his crews search to find their way home, but they run into a few complications that prolong their trip for ten years. Odysseus has a run in with four different goddesses, that try to both help him and hold him captive, but he also has a loving wife at home that he is longing to go back to. In The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as a strong, resourceful man. However, by examining the relationship between Odysseus and several female characters, it is clear that Homer believes females are the more dominant gender.

During the story Odysseus comes in contact with many different females. The first female being Calypso, who is known as a nymph, is the holder of Odysseus on the island of Ogygia. Calypso will keep Odysseus capture on the island for seven years, and during this time falls very much in love with him (Fraley). Although she knows that he is unhappy she is told that she must let him go by the goddess Athena. Homer shows a female dominance here because of the power and effect that Calypso has to keep Odysseus with her for seven years, but also because of the fact that Odysseus does think that Calypso is beautiful, which gives her a higher ground on how she is getting away with keeping him with her.

The next female that Odysseus comes across is the Goddess Athena daughter of the all mighty Zeus, who help Odysseus during his journey to find his way back home. Athena helps convince Zeus that he must help her protect Odysseus (Gleason). Athena gets Odysseus out many life and death situations and also...