It
seems that a combination of cultural commonalities and Homer’s dispositions
manifests a literary universe in which trickery is primarily the tool of
women. Between Penelope,
Clytemnestra, Circe, Kalypso, and Athena, women are the vast majority in terms
of deceit.
Penelope’s
continuous unraveling of the veil exemplifies the trickery used by even the
most respected women. Despite her
reputation as an incredibly respectable, just queen, she resorts to methods of
deceit in order to keep the suitors at bay. Clytemnestra’s betrayal of Agamemnon and his death at the
hands of her lover exemplifies another premeditated trick of women. Circe’s weird animal tricks, Kalypso’s
manipulation, and Athena’s continuous godly influences all shame the good name
of deceitful men, who somehow cannot match up to these women.
Despite
Odysseus being referred to as a “great tactician,” his cunning is far more
prominent in the ways of war. The
only use he has for trickery comes in his darkest times—when the Cyclops is
about to eat him or when he needs to dispatch the suitors. Telemakhos does not deceive, and
Alkinoos likewise. The suitors are
sufficiently straightforward with their abominable acts that they avoid the
label of treachery.
The
moral of the story is that women are not to be trusted altogether. Odysseus constantly exhibits wariness
when referring to women after being slighted by so many of them. Rightly so, as so many of them make
habits of deceiving others.
I wonder what "cultural commonalities" these disparities between women who can be trusted and women who can't be trusted could be attributed to? Perhaps the general idea of the time was that some people are good-natured, while others are not (pretty similar to the idea that continues to exist today). That considered, men in the epic who engage in trickery are rarely looked down upon for it, indicative of the gender double-standards that existed in the time of Homer.
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