The Odyssey Through Another Lens

Introduction

The Odyssey, an epic that honors Homer, perpetuates the conventional gender norms of a patriarchal culture. In terms of roles, influence, power, and interpersonal interactions, men dominate women. Men played the prominent roles in ancient Greece. Through the chosen case studies under the theme of gender, the sirens, Circe, and Odysseus all play their own role in the overall objectified nature of gender, and how it affects the journey. This blog will utilize the examples of Katniss Everdeen to analyze the clash between emotion and masculinity of Odysseus, a lyrical breakdown of “Don’t Leave Nobody but the Baby” from the Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack is included to continue the discussion on the roles of femininity as they relate to the Sirens, and a character study on Yubaba from Spirited Away will be used to illuminate a unique perspective on Circe. Outside sources and the odyssey are mentioned thoroughly through our analysis by connecting the over-arching theme of gender. 

Case Studies

Odysseus

In The Odyssey, Odysseus shows characteristics of what society views a man should be. He is a man of strength, wit, and courage. While reading the book one may think that Odysseus is a selfish and negligent man who prioritizes himself over his crew and family, but as we take a deeper look into the ego and emotions of Odysseus there is much more than a brave and hubris leader. Before being trapped on the island, Odysseus continuously made decisions that risked his and his soldiers’ lives. He was careless, but he continuously found a way to get himself out of the life threatening situations he seemed to always face. In book five we see some of this strength falter as Odysseus has been trapped on an island for years. This leads to the questioning of the male psyche and character and goes against the societal belief that men, especially Odysseus, are warriors who can face anything without suffering breaks to their strength and ego.
Through the small snippet of emotion Odysseus showed while alone on the beach, a sense of empathy for Odysseus is brought on and a new perspective of understanding that Odysseus may be misunderstood and misrepresented as a man. The book as a whole sheds light on the unpopular theory that men and women are more alike than we may believe by using subtle and noisy instances.

This photo depicts Odysseus being discovered by Princess Nausicaa after washing up on the beach. The first thing that I noticed when looking at this photo is the nakedness of both the servants and Odysseus. We see that Nausicaa’s female servants are disgusted by Odysseus’s nudity and cover their eyes, Nausicaa does not cover her eyes and is the least surprised to see him. In the photo it seems that they had brought Odysseus food, yet neglected to bring him clothes to wear. This made me question why. Why wouldn’t the servants bring Odysseus clothes even though they had thought to feed and take care of him. I think this has to do with the sexualization of Odysseus. Throughout The Odyssey we see that Odysseus is found to be very attractive by a majority of women. There is obviously a want to care for Odysseus, but also a hint of tension between Odysseus and the women in the photo, those who are covering their eyes continue to look at Odysseus even though they are showing signs of disgust. The body language and contents of the image tell a different story than what those in the picture wanted to tell.  These feelings and sexual tension are slightly portrayed through the body language of Odysseus and Nausicaa through Odysseus and Nausicaa’s eye contact, Nausicaa being the only one not covering her eyes, and Odysseus not covering his naked body.

When looking back at my research and the picture that I have chosen it is apparent that there are a multitude of hidden messages in the photo. One message being the difference of shame that comes with nudity between men and women. In other photos that depict naked women men are unaffected and tend to even tend to seem to be pining over the woman/women in the photo, but in this picture we see that the women are covering up their eyes in disgust even though my research had described that the women were interested in Odysseus and wanted to get his attention. This highlights the voice that women should be ashamed of their sexuality and the human body even though both are human nature and come naturally to everyone. There is also a message from the artist’s choice to depict a story that involves a princess. Using someone with such a high title attracts an audience through the scandal that is a woman taking care of a naked man that she doesn’t even know. It causes people to question hospitality and how far it should be taken and to whom it should be offered. It also makes people question the judgment of women. Many people would find it shameful that Princess Nausicaa is staring at a naked man rather than covering her hands, but this painting challenges the shame that comes with sexuality. Women shouldn’t be ashamed of having feelings for men just as men aren’t ashamed of having feelings for other women.

The Sirens

Through my own research of sirens lies in As Odysseus leaves Kirke’s island, Kirke informs Odysseus of the dangers of the sea that he will encounter on his way home, specifically warning him of the sirens. The sirens live around Mycenae, Sparta, Plyos. Perfect southern peninsula to lure sailors into their deaths. Temptation is associated with women- so this juxtaposition of the siren being the tempest includes the power women hold over men. Sirens are female presenting who use their songs to lure sailors to their deaths, Odysseus avoids this by strapping himself to the front of the ship. Through the gory descriptions of the sailors’ rotting corpses. “Around about them lie great heaps of men, flesh rotting from their bones, their skin all shriveled up.” (302 45-47) This juxtaposition of temptation and fate is seen clearly through the decisions made by the sailing crew. They know the death that awaits them but they lack any sort of control over the sirens.

A sentence with importance is “…pregnant with death.” (304- 91) This works in this passage since it emphasizes how sirens carry death with them at all times. Use of the term ‘pregnant’ usually inflicts the thoughts of motherhood, child, and growth, but in juxtaposition, with the sirens, the term represents a constant consensus of death. “…pregnant with death.” the description given to the sirens represents their lack of human relation. In better terms, what is being conveyed through this comparison is that the sirens carry, create, and live with death at all times. Leading to a better understanding that sirens revolve around death. The imagery of this comparison creates this tone of death. Typically, the idea of pregnancy refers to positive emotions and aspects of life for human women, but this juxtaposition here refers to women carrying death with them.
The representational strategies used through this image provoke ideas to the viewer, that you would not notice automatically. The aesthetic of the image revokes a timeline of Renaissance; and rebirth with new ideas presented, more specifically, this image uses women in order to attract the audience, and their victims within the image. These representational strategies are effective by representing these sirens are temptation, they are naked, facing toward the sky can be seen as godlike.

This image represents femininity, temptation, and death through an artistic yet descriptive lens. The overall tone of this image evokes a feeling of fear–death. You can see the decaying male bodies lying underneath these women looking up to the sky, to the gods, this can lead to the assumption that these tempting sirens rein power over the male sailors. On the other hand, the women are surrounded by the dead soldier’s wealth, gold, silver, and expensive materials. Meaning, that women are tempting, so tempting they are in fact deadly. From an outside perspective, this image provokes an overall feeling of threat, that your journey is almost at an end. On the other hand, you can see the man restricting himself, and his men pushing him back, his posture only relays feelings of desperation. That there is nothing else in this world this man wants than these sirens– temptation.

Circe

Like Odysseus and the Sirens, Circe is unique in challenging gender expectations. She is able to be strong and cunning, but she does not sacrifice her beauty or grace in doing so. Circe is described with noticeably low detail. Upon meeting her, Odysseus simply paints her as, “the lovely Circe with her braided hair” (269 line 311). Throughout the passage, she is even devoid of adverbs that might give her substance. Despite little detail going to action, or into personifying her, Circe’s palace is given extraordinary detail. Each object described is a measure of opulence and luxury, captivating the attention of Odysseus. He describes being led, “to a silver studded chair, all finely crafted, with a footstool under. In a gold cup she mixed a drink” (269 line 314-316). To Odysseus, the scene that surrounds the goddess is equally important to her. It is ironic that as Odysseus deprives her of humanity like he does with the other women he meets; she literally transforms his men into beasts. He eventually gains her respect with his cunning, but Odysseus’ true feelings towards Circe are questionable despite their affair. The story of Circe, and this passage demonstrate the frailty of appearance as it applies to gender in the world of the Odyssey. Bitter perception of man brought Circe to curse them, and Odysseus continued to demonstrate his failings in perceiving women. Circe differed from the stereotype of gentle beauty, and Odysseus differed from the stereotype of fearlessness. Observing this journey through the lens of stereotypes conflicting with reality reveals truths about gender and bias.

In the painting by Wright Barker, Circe is given a portrayal of how Odysseus perceives her. She is shown to be perfectly beautiful, with a flawless face and figure. Her expression is vague. She gives a cold smile accompanied by relaxed cheeks and lifeless eyes. A silk veil floats around her, giving her an ethereal and celestial ambiance. What immediately pops out is the bright crimson flowers which cover the foreground. These, like Circe, are hypnotically beautiful but also represent malice. Circe herself wears only muted colors, white and dark grey, but she wears one of these flowers behind her ear. Additionally, her pleasant facade is betrayed by the pelt she stands on. She’s surrounded by docile beasts, but under her feet is the skin of one she has slain. The use of color and the obedience of the animals creates a strange imbalance between danger and safety, as Circe appears more threatening than the lions that surround her.

A common thread in paintings of Circe is that she is surrounded with connections to power, primarily wealth and animals. I’ve seen a lot of discussion on the internal tension of the animals that I had not considered. The lions’ muted behavior is likely due to fear created by the tiger pelt. This portrayal of Circe is feminist. Centered in the frame, she is tall and powerful. She is partially nude, and this does not sexualize or objectify her but rather it emboldens her confidence. She is not overcome with emotion or desire; she is given precise and intelligent interest. She’s coordinated with her hands and comes across as centered. This piece evokes admiration and respect for Circe, but it does not pay mind to the animals. Like Odysseus’ crew, these are possibly transformed visitors that have been imprisoned in these forms on her island but are never given attention in the story. Maybe they flock toward the goddess to hear her music, maybe out of loneliness.

Creative Voices

Throughout the media, we see a multitude of voices that give a new meaning to the storyline of The Odyssey by painting the story and characters in a different light than what we see in the book. Music, books, and movies that resemble or symbolize the storyline of The Odyssey give a new meaning to the characters and allow us to gain a wider perspective on characters that we may have judgments towards.

Looking at the character Katniss Everdeen, from The Hunger Games, we see a multitude of similarities between her and Odysseus. Katniss is a witty character who sacrificed herself and has the goal to make it back to her family, just as Odysseus does. Throughout the Hunger Games Katniss is faced with many challenges that hinder her goals and test her character. During her time competing in the Hunger Games we see Katniss begin to lose sight of her goals and in later time becomes more preoccupied with the life that is associated with the Hunger Games, just as Odysseus became obsessed with adventure on his way home and begins to negate returning home. The emotional narrative and perspective that Katniss was written with and is read with adds a deeper human connection between the reader and Katniss. 

In The Odyssey, Homer focuses on the physical settings and surface level feelings during encounters and adventures rather than focusing on the psychological and deeper emotional aspect of the characters. In The Hunger Games we see a deeper level of emotions that come to Katniss throughout each and every obstacle that she encounters, and the lasting effects that they have on her. In the book, we see that Odysseus faces a lot of trauma and lives a violent life, yet he has little to no emotional reaction to these happenings. This lack of insight into Odysseus’s character is more than likely due to gender and the emotional strength we assume men have, but having insight to the emotions of his journey would give the reader a deeper view into what Odysseus’ journey is truly like. This new narrative of emotion would give insight to a deeper level of understanding to who Odysseus is as a person and not just as a leader. Without emotional depth Odysseus is no longer human to the reader and lacks the connecting factor between the reader and character that makes the story both more “relatable” and captivating.

Odysseus’s story lacks an answer to a question many readers may find themselves asking, “Why?”. Why is Odysseus doing the things that he is doing? Doesn’t he want to return home to his family? There seems to be little to no reasoning behind his actions, making him an easily unlikable character. While reading The Odyssey I saw Odysseus as an inhumane character who is a terrible leader. He is always doing things that benefit himself and tends to not think about the consequences of his actions. Odysseus is painted as the man that every man should be and caters towards a more societal view of masculinity. Using the lense of emotion that we see in The Hunger Games can give the reader a diverse understanding of why Odysseus has done and continues to do certain things that put him in danger and go against his ultimate goal of returning home. Without emotions Odysseus is an inhumane character who is selfish and is nearly impossible to empathize with. When Homer wrote of Odysseus crying on the beach alone it made me think of Odysseus as a person and I was able to put myself in his shoes, but when Odysseus was fighting the cyclops I was uninterested and had a disliking towards his character form.  The obvious disconnect between the reader and Odysseus creates a distant reading experience that makes it difficult to analyze which is something we don’t see in the reading of The Hunger Games. 

“Didn’t Leave Nobody but the Baby” in relation to the Odyssey represent the depictions and characteristics sirens display toward men. We could not include the Sirens from the well-known film “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” since it is a modified remake of the Odyssey itself. The girls’ music appears to have a hypnotic effect on the three men, drawing them to the river and even tongue-tying the verbose Ulysses character. They simply leave their laundry on the floor and approach the trio slowly in an almost eerie manner—never pausing in their singing or conversation. Their music seems to lure the men into a false sense of security since it sounds like a lullaby. “Come and lay your bones on the alabaster stones and be my ever loving baby,” is a line from one of the lyrics. This phrase nearly appears to suggest a sacrifice of some sort. The women have a more magical, mythological quality to them because of this idea, which connects them to the original Sirens. Later on, it is revealed that Pete was turned in for a bounty by the women, and as a result, he was sacrificed in a manner akin to that of the ancient Greek gods and demi-gods.

In relation to Homer’s Odyssey the perspectives he fails to represent are women. More specifically the choice to have Sirens be these luring monsters to men depict them as evil. Is there a given why they are like this, of what they think? There is not because Homer fails to incorporate any other perspective that resists Odysseus’ voyage. Yes there is conflict within the story line but how would the audience know the whole story if the sirens’ perspectives are not shown.

Didn’t Leave Nobody except the Baby” with reference to the Odyssey symbolizes the traits and representations that sirens show towards men. Since the popular movie “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” is a modified recreation of the Odyssey itself, we were unable to add the Sirens from that work. Women’s opinions are underrepresented by Homer in the Odyssey. More precisely, the decision to portray sirens as these alluring monsters that lure humans represents them as evil. Is there a definite reason behind their thoughts and behavior? The reason for this is that Homer does not include any other viewpoint that opposes Odysseus’s journey.

Yubaba from Spirited Away is a valuable homage to Circe from the Odyssey. In her story, Yubaba is a powerful sorcerer, leveraging her magic to control the affairs of those around her. She runs a large bathhouse, defining herself by her industriousness, and surrounds herself with wealth and reminders of her status. At the beginning of the story, the protagonist Chihiro and her parents enter without invitation into Yubaba’s domain. Her parents find prepared food and greedily gorge themselves on it. As punishment, Yubaba transforms them into pigs to reflect their lack of manners, but she spares Chihiro after she asks for work and displays being a polite guest. This is an important representation of Circe because it reflects the archetype as intelligent and rational. Transforming the parents into pigs is a reaction, not an offensive strike.

Yubaba is shown to have her own story and goals and does not allow herself to be a means to another’s. Odysseus and his men are constantly arriving and establishing their needs as above all else’s, steamrolling the locals, and their identities in The Odyssey become only important in how they relate to him. This story is important in that Chihiro’s strength grows from her ability to respect and integrate within a strange culture rather than trying to rise above it. Yubaba sparing Chihiro illuminates that Circe’s respect for Odysseus stems from their shared value of wit, as Yubaba grew respect for Chihiro’s diligence. Its also important to view this interpretation of the Odyssey because it gives much more attention to the Circe archetype. Circe is confined to part of a chapter, but the movie’s extended runtime allows the character to become more fleshed out. She is less two dimensional, and is given virtues to balance with her vices.

Until I found this example, I found the story of Circe to be shallow and uncomplicated; she maliciously attacked the crew of Odysseus and fell in love with him after he displayed intelligence uncommon to humans. Observing her through this lens illustrates that she is her own person intruded upon by a group of men who pose real danger to her. From her perspective, the crew trespassed on her lands and entered her home. These are men that in book two stole women as if they were objects and would likely do the same to her when her usefulness expired. She enchanted the food which they ate to transform them into pigs. When Odysseus had proven himself to be a symbol of intelligence, she fell in love with him. She lived on her island in total solitude, and this brief companionship was not based out of possession or greed but possibly out of genuine connection. When he expressed his desire to leave, she let him do so freely and even helped him. Circe is depicted as a temptress and an evil sorceress, but given her power she is a relatively peaceful and nonviolent character. It is important to extend empathy to all characters in this book to perceive this story for all of its possible meanings. It is Odysseus’ lack of empathy that largely is his undoing, causing the deaths of his crew and delaying his journey.

Conclusion

The Odyssey, upholds patriarchal society’s traditional gender ideals. Men rule over women in terms of roles, influence, power, and social relationships. The Sirens have their voice erased, Circe is misrepresented, and Odysseus remains trapped in a masculine persona. In ancient Greece, men dominated society and their stories reflected it. The gender theme’s selected case studies feature Odysseus, Circe, and the sirens, each of whom contributes to the objectified nature of gender and how it impacts the voyage. A way to analyze gender relations in modern society is through our media. We are given a chance to retell reductionist stories and through that challenge our expectations of gender. Through close readings, imaginative readings, and creative narratives, this blog will analyze and connect. Through our analysis, external sources and the odyssey are extensively discussed by linking the general issue of gender. 

Bibliography

“Don’t Leave Nobody but the Baby.” YouTube, 6 May 2015, youtu.be/ooidhwN3GL4.
 “The Sirens and Ulysses.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 June 2022, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sirens_and_Ulysses.
Contributors to The Hunger Games Wiki. “Katniss Everdeen.” The Hunger Games Wiki, Fandom, Inc., thehungergames.fandom.com/wiki/Katniss_Everdeen. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.
“Pigs in Spirited Away.” Pigs in Spirited Away, new-savanna.blogspot.com/2010/12/pigs-in-spirited-away.html. Accessed 12 Nov. 2023.