Female Trickery in The Odyssey

In The Odyssey, Homer expresses a running theme of mistrust in women with recurring acts of trickery by female characters. From Aphrodite’s infidelity to the sirens’ song, most of the female characters demonstrate some level of deception. Most infamous is perhaps Agamemnon’s death at the hands of his wife Clytemnestra, who is portrayed as cold-hearted and evil, without any hint of a redeeming motive. Helen of Troy comes close by tempting the Akahaian soldiers hidden inside the wooden horse with her imitations of their wives’ calls. Female monsters plague Odysseus and his men all throughout their journey in Book XII, namely the beguiling sirens and the spectacularly horrible Skylla and Kharybdis.

Despite the negative connotations of female trickery caused by often-fatal effects on the deceived, however, I think Homer choosing to give his female characters a deceitful side gives them a power that was rarely granted to women in any ancient Western culture. Odysseus’s mother literally dies of grief over her son, clearly a helpless female dependent on the presence of men in her life. On the other hand, Penelope, in an honorable attempt to remain loyal to her absentee husband, tricks the suitors into waiting a longer time for her choice. While she still does display dependence on her husband, she is, if even for a moment, in control of her life.

On the more supernatural side of things, Good Guy Athena is portrayed helping and guiding the protagonists in times of trouble. Her intentions are good, yet she is always in disguise, masking her true identity and intentions from the mortals she wants to help. She praises Odysseus’s devious streak when he unsuspectingly tells an elaborate story to hide his identity from this “shepherd boy”, even likening him to herself: “Two of a kind, we are, contrivers, both” (Book 13 line 380). She goes so far as to claim that “even a god might bow to you in ways of dissimulation” (372), elevating him to her own status. Clearly, then, deceit is not only seen as a trait of the villains, but as an expression of intelligence and power, thus portraying the craftiness of the female characters as a positive trait.

On that note, just to counter my own argument, here’s Agamemnon on women:
“Let it be a warning

Even to you. Indulge a woman never,

and never tell her all you know. Some things
a man may tell, some he should cover up.

…

One thing I will advise, on second thought;

Stow it away and ponder it.

Land your ship

In secret on your island; give no warning.

The day of faithful wives is gone forever.”