Penelope and Alcestis as Ideal Greek Females Essay -- Homers Odyssey

Penelope of the Odyssey and Alcestis of Alcestis as Ideal Greek Females Although there is some disagreement concerning the Greeks definition of the rarified female person, there is little disagreement that two women represented this Greek ideal. The character of Penelope of Homers Odyssey 1 and Alcestis of Euripides Alcestis 2, came to represent the same ideal of female excellence. The Greeks referred to this ideal female as a sophron woman. The qualities possessed by a sophron woman are tangible she is a good housekeeper, a nurturer of her husband, a child-bearer. She is chaste, graceful and does not the like to talk about sex with other women. According to Helen F. North in an article regarding the etymology of sophrosyne, the word originated in the Homeric epics as saophrosyne, which implies soundness of mind and is utilise only in relation to men.4 The word implies both self-knowledge and a sense of propriety, putting adept in mind of the inscription at Delphi. It is nota ble that in relation to men, sophrosyne does not carry specific behavioral connotations, as it does when it comes to be applied to women. Penelopes story, set in the time immediately proceeding the Trojan War, is one of strategic waiting. The Odyssey begins with stasis simultaneously, Odysseus departure from Ogygia and Telemachos coming of age set the events of the epic in motion. As a woman, Penelope has no momentum of her own, but must check on that of her kyrios. This is not to imply that Penelope is by definition powerless, but it is worth noting that the sphere of her effectiveness is actively determined by the wishes of the men trustworthy for her. In fact, Penelope faces a drastically reduced role whether Odysseus returns or... ...ophrosyne as the Virtue of Women in Antiquity. From Marcovich, Miroslave, ed. Illinois Classical Studies II (1977) 36. 4 Ibid 37. 5 Ibid 36. Works Consulted Diana Buitron-Oliver and Beth Cohen, betwixt Skylla and Penelope Female Characters o f the Odyssey in Archaic and Classical Greek Art, pp. 29-58. Female Representations and Interpreting the Odyssey, by Seth Schein, pp. 17-27. Richard Brilliant, Kirkes Men Swine and Sweethearts, pp. 165-73. Helene Foley, Penelope as Moral Agent, in Beth Cohen, ed., The Distaff Side (Oxford 1995), pp. 93-115. The Odyssey, History, and Women, by A. J. Graham, pp. 3-16, and Jennifer Neils, Les Femmes Fatales Skylla and the Sirens in Greek Art, pp. 175-84. Lillian Doherty, Siren Songs Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in the Odyssey (Ann Arbor 1995), esp. chapter 1.