World Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

World Literature - Essay Example It was probably composed in the 8th century bc. After the fall of Troy at the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus is forced to wander for ten years before returning home to his wife Penelope in Ithaca. This story has a lot of women characters who each played an important role in Odysseus’ life and influenced his decisions. Penelope, his wife struggled to maintain her loyalty and affection as well as the integrity of her household during Odysseus’s long absence. She was depicted as resourceful and intelligent as her husband. Penelope was a picture of a woman with whom any man is willing to do anything to keep her or to get her. In this story, Penelope was wooed by a lot of suitors and all of them are willing to kill her husband Odysseus just to win her heart. Odysseus on the other hand was willing to endure sleepless days and nights, dangerous adventures and fights in strange lands just to get back home to his wife. The tender Calypso, the sinister and beautiful sorceress Ci rce, the singing Sirens and the charming Athena has made Odysseus travel both difficult and victorious. This play shows that a woman can have a different face – wise, cunning, sinister, temptation, love, hope and death – a man just has to wise enough so as not to be fooled. Agamemnon, in Greek mythology, is the king of Mycenae and commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. He was the son of Atreus and suffered the curse laid on his house. When the Greeks had assembled in Aulis for their voyage to Troy, they were held back by adverse winds. To calm the winds, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. Artemis is a goddess of hunt and was known to be a friend and protector of youth especially young women, but in this scene, we saw that in order to please the gods Agamemnon was willing to sacrifice his daughter and his daughter in turn just submitted. In as much as Agamemnon would have objected it