Throughout The Odyssey, trickery is
acknowledged as a trait of both men women.
The difference between these two types of trickery, however, lies in how
the trickery of men and women are perceived.
Not surprisingly, men more often than not display “heroic” trickery that
is a result of their outstanding wit.
Women, on the other hand, tend to concoct more “devious” cases of
trickery, and quite frankly just give women a bad rap.
Odysseus provides a perfect example of the
manly, intellectual trickery that we see quite frequently over the course of
this epic. The staple trick of Odysseus,
possibly the most widely known trick of his, occurs when he and his men find
themselves trapped in the cave of Kyklops, the one-eyed son of Poseidon. Odysseus, being the hero that he is, must
rely on his trickery to save all of his men from the man-eating monster keeping
them hostage. Odysseus even says, “I
drew on all my wits, and ran through tactics,/reasoning as a man will for dear
life,/ until a trick came – and it pleased me well” (157). He proceeds to intoxicate Kyklops until he
falls into a deep sleep, then stabs him in the eye with a giant wooden
stake. And once Kyklops lets his dear
sheep out, Odysseus ties himself and his men onto the bottom of these sheep (of
course giving himself the best sheep) so that the Kyklops would not notice
their escape. He is praised profusely for his trickery, which only further
contributes to his heroism.
Women, wives in particular, are
shown more as vixens when they exhibit any type of trickery. Take Penélopê and Klytaimnéstra for
example. Penélopê promised she would
choose a suitor once she finished weaving a tapestry, only to unweave it when
night fell. The suitors labeled her a
liar and a tease; there was no respect for her loyalty to Odysseus. In a more extreme case, Klytaimnéstra and her
lover plotted to kill Agamémnon, her own husband, upon his return from a long
voyage at sea. And brutally murder him they did. When Odysseus sees his old friend in the
underworld, he is told, “Indulge a woman never,/ and never tell her all you know
… the day of faithful wives is gone forever” (199-200). Granted, Klytaimnéstra
performed the cruelest trick we have seen so far, but grouping all wives into
her category is completely unfair. A
very negative stereotype is associated with women tricksters while men have
more leeway when it comes to their trickery.
I think your claim that female tricksters are portrayed negatively holds up until we consider Athena; she's clearly a good character, since she's always shown helping out Odysseus and Telemachus. Maybe she's the bridge between the badly portrayed women and the heroically wily Odysseus?
ReplyDeleteIn response to Cecilia, interestingly enough, Athena is actually in male form for the majority of the epic. They also indicate once in a while that Athena actually placed obstacles in the path of some of the heroes. Although, I do agree, she never uses the more 'womanly' forms of trickery - i.e. sex.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Cecilia, Athena's trickery is what saves Odysseus on many occasions, like among the Phaiakians or at Ithaca among the suitors. Also, I think Penelope's trickery is more virtuous because she uses it to avoid the suitors; she is exposed by the maids, who are shown to be sinful themselves later on when they mistreat Odysseus.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with Marina that we need to consider *why* Athena disguises herself as a man to help Odysseus. We can't just lump her in with the rest of the female tricksters.
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