Role of Women in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Odyssey - Essay Example

? Role Of Women In The Hebrew Scriptures And The Odyssey Comparison Here [Pick the In the book of Genesis, Eve and Adam were the first man and woman in the bible. God created Eve from the rib of Adam. Some commentators have recommended that Eve indicated the female inferiority since she was second creation. However, calling Eve flesh of my flesh also shown relationship of equality. Man named Eve. In later course eve persuades Adam to eat the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil making God angry who then casts them to Garden of Eden. It is clearly shows that Eve was inferior, as compared to Adam. Eve was created from Adams ribs. She was persuasive because finally she made Adam took the forbidden fruit. Secondly, another women depicted in the bible was Ruth. Ruth was Orpah’s sister, and she was her sister in law. Both were the daughters of king Eglon of Moab. Ruth was a member of a royal family. The Hebrews scripture shows Ruth as a loyal woman towards Naomi in her charitable work. She was a modesty woman. Ruth followed each instruction she got from Naomi. When she joined the people of Israel, she was working in the field of Boaz. “When he saw that she was pleasing and her actions were pleasing, he began to ask about her” 1(Ruth Rabbah 4:9), Boaz took note of her deeds as clearly shown in the bible. Ruth is generally someone who is has an exemplary figure in all traditions aspects. Someone who accepted the Jews religion in her own will due to her belief but not merely out of loyalty to her mother in law. Ruth’s character is based on commitment that she makes to Naomi. Ruth also acted like a man in some point to hide her identity “she girded her loins as a man” (Ruth Rabbah 7:2). According to the bible, Job’s wife cursed and left him when job was in need but that was not the end of the story. Could it be possible that love conquered all? Jobs wife always gets little grace and mercy when she advises Job to curse God. She was struggling in her faith having just lost ten children and all their property. “The odyssey” by homer is an epic poem is talking about Odysseus’ going back to his wife and son in Ithica after Trojan War. Women play a big role in this epic poem. Odysseus son, Telemachus tries to gain power in the presence of suitors but he did not succeed. He then goes his own way under the guidance of Athena. Throughout the epic poem women are depicted as people who are mothers, servants, seductresses, some have combined character. The cultural role of women stands out in the role of female characters of Athena and Penelope together rejecting the bad characters of Calypso and Circe, as in the odyssey in the Homer. As shown in bible some women like Ruth, Eve and Jobs wife were also having the same characters. These women seemed to have control over their men. Mothers were portrayed in this poem are seen as people who had pity and sorrow because they were not true supporters of their sons and husbands during the time of war. Actually, these women needed support from males whether they were their husbands and sons. Telemachus removed Penelope from the room, so that he can show his suitors of his intention to ask for his father’s throne. In addition, Anticlea, Odysseus’ mother committed suicide because she missed Odysseus and thought was death clearly shows how these women needed support from male. Mothers always needed to protect their sons and husbands, look after them, and nurture them. Like Hebrew Scriptures, the entire structure of Greek always boasts its men to have more superior roles than women. They believed that good women were to be faithfully do work for their husbands and support them totally. Women were not to astray from these essential behaviors. For example Athena is a very strong character in the book, as tried to help Odysseus to go back home to Ithaca. However, Telemechus was to become more of a man. Therefore, Athena goes to visit Telemachus, disguised as a male mentor. This shows how men advice was more accepted that of women counsel. Athena gets Telemachus thinking when she says, “Yet I tell you great Odysseus is not dead. He’s still alive, somewhere in this wide world, held captive, out at sea on a wave-washed island, and hard men, savages, somehow hold him back against his will.”2 (Westling, 443). Were the thoughts of Telemachus when Athena when there. When Athena visited, the spirits of Telemachus were raised enough to chase his father’s uncertainty. Telemachus shows the signs of stepping up before leaving Ithaca from adolescence stage to adult stage with the knowledge of speaking to suitors. The journey of steps Athena was to take in her mission to help Odysseus began. Comparison between Ruth and Penelope in Odyssey Penelope is the most complex woman in the poem. Penelope is both a mother and sometimes a seductress. When the suitors came, she leads them inside and makes them wait. Then she is not ready to marry again. In the book “It is your mother’s fault not ours, for she is a very artful woman. These three years past and close on four, she has been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging each one of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she says”3(Homer, 12). Penelope is sad about her lost love, and the first is completely unaware to the notice from the suitors. It is like a siren who sang always to impress men but not intending to give love and sex. Both Ruth and Penelope in Odysseus were beautiful women. Boaz saw Ruth as a beautiful woman, she had inner beauty that was striking the light, and the bible says she had great physical beauty; “It happened, said R, Johanan, that whoever saw her would have an emission” (Ruth Rabbah 4:4). In addition, Penelope had suitors showing how beautiful she was. The difference between Ruth and Penelope is that, Penelope was insincere; she kept sending messages to her suitors to show that she was willing to get married but she failed at lasted. In the book it is noted that “It is your mother’s fault not ours, for she is a very artful woman. These three years past and close on four, she has been driving us out of our minds, by encouraging each one of us, and sending him messages without meaning one word of what she says”(Homer, 12). However, Ruth was loyal, even when Boaz saw her he declared that. As in the bible “when he saw that she was pleasing and her actions were pleasing, he began to ask about her” (Ruth Rabbah 4:9), moreover she was loyal to Naomi and followed Jew religion she was not forced. Work cited Homer, . The Odyssey. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Univ. Press, 1953. Print. Neusner, Jacob. Ruth Rabbah. Atlanta, Ga: Scholars Press, 1997. Print. Westling, Louise H. The World of Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Print. Read More