Athena In The Odyssey
In research papers on the Odyssey, Athena's appellation as the goddess of wisdom is increasingly apparent. Her role as the goddess of wisdom ultimately eclipses the importance of her concomitant title as the patroness of war. Paper Masters can help you write a research paper on Athena's role. If you choose to write your own paper, be sure to focus on the facts that Athena, in The Odyssey, repeatedly appeals to Odysseus to do the following:
- Stay focused on the purpose of his quest
- Avoid needless despair
- Rely on his wits to escape the many potentially deadly obstacles that seem to conspire against his safe return to Penelope and Telemachus in Ithaca.
Athena's Character
Athena, a main character, also inspires the development of Telemachus from an unproved adolescent to a courageous young man worthy of his father's post, a common theme in literature. By divine inspiration, Athena goads Telemachus into leaving to search for his missing father, and eventually, Telemachus uses these new talents in assisting Odysseus in orchestrating the coup against the suitors who have taken up residence in the palace in Ithaca.
The Odyssey
Although there is no single significant female figure among the many that Odysseus must face in the course of his quest home, there is a strong, consistent theme among Calypso, Circe, Scylla and Charybdis, and the Sirens that seems prevalent in the centuries of Western literature that unfolded from the tradition initiated in works like the Iliad and the Odyssey. This tradition portrays a category of women as femme fatales, dangerous creatures who seduce with the ulterior motive of destroying the men they overpower with their charms. Although this depiction is a stereotypical gloss, it is admittedly an extension of the static definition of women presented in the Iliad.