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Their sexual desire is as strong as their male counterparts, revealing much about the way women were viewed in ancient society. Women were not shown as chaste, innocent, or virginal. Prostitutes and single women both play major roles in the Epic of Gilgamesh and in the Odyssey. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, a prostitute transforms Enkidu completely with her sexual prowess. The power of female sexuality is explored in Homer's Odyssey too. The war hero meets and lives with several women on his way home to Penelope. Odysseus seems uniquely able to seduce women and many fall deeply in love with him: especially Calypso and Circe. Calypso and Circe are independent, unmarried women with strong sex drives.
The titular hero of Gilgamesh seems more enraptured with his burly male friend than with the females he encounters. Gilgamesh is not motivated by the love of a woman, and unlike Odysseus is not married. When he rejects Ishtar,...
Because she is the goddess of love, Ishtar expects to have power over men by seducing them. Therefore, women are not just characterized as being motherly and kind, bearers of love and protection. They are shown to be every bit as vengeful and violent as men especially when they feel hurt. Women scorned abound in Homer's Odyssey, too, because the title character seduces so many only to leave them for his homeward journey. However, Athena and Penelope both remain strong and loyal female characters in the Odyssey. Odysseus' patient wife Penelope is portrayed as being highly intelligent, able to fend off annoying suitors and help Odysseus regain control of his household. The goddess Athena seems deeply indebted to Odysseus and helps the warrior return home safely.
References
Epic of Gilgamesh.
Homer. Odyssey.
Her we see resentment emerge even in death. Love was an "unsolved mystery" (636) for Louise and she had no problem giving up the "possession of self-assertion which she suddenly recognized as the strongest impulse of her being" (636). Louise appreciates a life without love because love is nothing but a hindrance. Contemporary women simply cannot relate to marriage being so much like an ownership deal. Women enjoy marriage
The first six books tell the story of Aeneas' trip to Italy, and his encounters with a number of people. The second part tells of the Trojan's ultimate victory over the Latin tribes. Agamemnon, one of the most famous plays from Ancient Greece, was written by Aeschylus as commentary on seduction, betrayal, and reconciliation. If Virgil and Aeschylus were to converse about women the might scratch their chins and
Lawrence often compares the mechanistic world of industrialize Britain with the world of nature, and the fecundity and sexuality of the natural world is seen as distorted by the mechanistic world that has developed in this century. In such a comparison, Clifford is on the side of the industrial world, while Connie comes out on the side of the natural world. Yet, this is not what society wants women
Either as mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, mistresses, lovers or supernatural creatures, women populate the world of the Odyssey and bring thus an important source of information when it comes to finding parallels between their representations in real life as drawn from the representations they get in the Homeric epic. Based on the same starting point as the Odyssey, another ancient author, the Roman Virgil wrote the epic Aeneid. He lived
Agamemnon claims that he loves Chryseis more than his own wife, but agrees to give her up as long as he gets another prize. When he demands Briseis from Achilles, it is clear that one sexual being can simply be traded for another in Agamemnon's eyes. Indeed, when Achilles refuses to fight because of Agamemnon's demand, it is not because Achilles deeply loves Briseis, but because he is insulted
Ironically, Apollo who preferred Troy to Greece in the Trojan War could have saved his city. Apollo's anger resulted in his beloved city of Troy's destruction. When Cassandra warned that the Trojan horse would bring about the destruction of Troy, no one believed her, even her own father and mother. What is truly tragic about Cassandra, however, is not simply that the Trojan War results in her eventual demise --