Essay on Homer's Odyssey: Simon Armitage

As we explore feminism and women’s relationships with Odysseus throughout Armitage’s modernization of Homer’s The Odyssey, it’s important to define and know the difference between manipulation and divine intervention. Throughout the book, we see countless times how women control or guide Odysseus’ hand in his decision-making. Sometimes it is for the better, but other times, women take advantage of his mental distress and make him do things for their benefit, not his. To that end, manipulation can be defined as “to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one's own advantage” (“Manipulate, 2A”). Divine intervention can be defined as “The interference of a deity in human life, popularly extended to any miraculous-seeming turn of events” (“Divine Intervention”). They are similar, but not entirely the same. Manipulation is changing the turn of events for your benefit, while divine intervention, used by Athena, is changing the turn of events for good. We see that there is a fine line between the two here. An in-depth analysis of Armitage’s modernization of Homer’s The Odyssey under a feminist lens suggests that the women in the story hold the power because they are the ones manipulating the men and intervening in their lives, leaving them nearly powerless.  

Although Athena controls Odysseus’ fate, she does it in a way where Odysseus benefits from it, and she gets nothing out of it. Throughout the book, we see countless times how Athena controls Odysseus by stepping in when things get rough. Whenever his fate is questioned, she advocates for his safety. Early in the book, she persuades the gods to help Odysseus get back to Ithaca. She says things like “Don’t be so quick to judge… See the person, not just the species as a whole” (6). When the gods formulate a plan to save Odysseus, she says “We need to be more active on all fronts'' (34). When Odysseus returns to Ithaca, she says “I’ll go to Odysseus, I’ll intervene” (198). As we see many times, Athena is constantly intervening in Odysseus’ life. It could be argued that without Athena, Odysseus wouldn’t have even escaped the control of Calypso. Athena often appears in disguise, and through divine intervention, she influences his decisions to steer him clear of danger. She also advocates for his safety to the gods. Towards the beginning of the book, Athena appeals to the gods’ logic, and she successfully convinces the gods to help Odysseus get back home. One could argue that the kind of work that Athena is doing is divine intervention, not manipulation because she is always looking out to keep Odysseus alive. The well-being of Odysseus has nothing to do with the well-being of Athena, therefore she is not helping him out of self-gain.

Circe Undoubtedly manipulates Odysseus. It’s important to view the manipulative words she uses when she asks Odysseus to live with her. She says, “We’ll bring power together, pool our strengths” (129). When Circe wants Odysseus to live with her, it may first come off as she loves him, but she just wants him so she can be more powerful, thus manipulating more people into becoming her livestock. In this episode, Circe is clearly manipulating Odysseus so she can take advantage of his abilities and power.

Calypso manipulates Odysseus and his men for her advantage. We see her try to manipulate Hermes. She defends herself to Hermes when he orders her to let Odysseus go free. She says “He’s no prisoner… He loves me… He’s happy” (37). It is evident here that throughout the passage, Calypso gaslights Odysseus into thinking that he can leave whenever he wants and that he loves her when she is really holding him captive. Calypso also starts to believe these lies when we can see that she is clearly distressed and emotional about letting Odysseus go. She says that he has the power to leave whenever he wants, but in reality, she holds the power over him.

In “Circe” and “The Song Of the Sirens,” The men are held captive by song. We see in “Circe” where Polites describes Circe’s singing as “Captivating. Enthralling” (117). Both of these words mean “to capture”. This foretells what will happen to the men if they follow the beautiful voices from the castle. We see, once again how the manipulative actions of women in the story lead to Odysseus and his crew’s dismay, and in most cases for his crew, demise. In the episode of the Sirens, Odysseus is taken over by the song of the women on the island. He starts to scream “I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT KISSING THE MOUTHS OF THE SIRENS” (154). Here is another example of how Homer uses women to manipulate people into their demise. If Odysseus had convinced his men to go to the women, they would have been shipwrecked and dead on the shore. This shows how much weight the women’s voices carry in the story and puts into perspective how strong the men had to be to stay safe. The song of the Sirens is manipulative.

In Scylla and Charybdis, Both Scylla and Charybdis control Odysseus’ crew by limiting and obstructing their path. Coincidentally, they’re both referred to as women. “She opens her throat and swallows the sea… No wooden craft could survive her gullet” (157). The fact that Homer made the monsters women plays into the theme that women are controlling the men’s fate. As we continue to recognize feminism throughout the book, it is important to note that neither Scylla nor Charybdis is directly manipulating Odysseus and his men, however, they are impacting their journey home, thus controlling their fate.  

Odysseus strongly dislikes being taken advantage of by women because it means he is still no closer to seeing his family. Odysseus is seen crying twice in the book. The first time is on Calypso's rock. “That rock… Bleached with white… by [Odysseus’] tears'' (37). The second time he is seen crying is when he sees Telemachus. He says, “Weep with me, my son, weep with me” (215). It is important to see that the only times Odysseus is seen crying is when he is thinking about his family. This shows how much he really misses Ithaca and his family and how he wishes, more than anything, he was home. Throughout the book, we see how Penelope manipulates the suitors. Early in the book, she tells her maid, Eurycleia, what the young men say about her. “[they say] that I’m carved from ice… That I give them knowing looks, feed them with hope… it’s true though, isn’t it?” (30). Later, when she chooses a husband, she has a contest. “I won’t be bought by material goods alone… Let the arrow pass between those twelve axe-shafts” (250-51). We see time and time again how Penelope keeps the suitors waiting in her palace and taunts them by making them think she likes them, but then never follows up. She constantly leads them on, only to procrastinate and keep them waiting. We see another instance where she manipulates the suitors near the end of the book. She rigs the contest so Odysseus wins. She knew that nobody would be able to win the contest except for Odysseus, thus manipulating the suitors into thinking that they had a chance at becoming her husband and getting their hopes up once again.

As I was reading The Odyssey, I thought the relationship that men and women had with each other was unique, but upon reflection, I saw this same relationship come up in almost every work we have studied in Honors English One. As we’ve seen in Macbeth, lady Macbeth holds the power over Macbeth because she is constantly whispering directions in his ear. Although Macbeth wants power, she is always pushing him to do things that he doesn’t want to do like killing the king and framing his servants and eventually leading him to paranoia. Bilgare writes about how he was mesmerized by a woman in a supermarket checkout line. Even though it may not be clear at first glance, we see how women hold the power over men throughout The Odyssey. They manipulate and intervene in men’s lives, and in most instances, the men don’t even realize it.