ALTERITY IN HOMER: A RECONCEPTUALIZATION OF FEMALE MARGINALIZATION

• Published in: Journal of research in gender studies Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 83 - 122
• Main Author: Rodriguez, Barbara Alvarez
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Addleton Academic Publishers 2017
• Subjects: Alterity; Analysis; Antiquity; Aristocracy; Comparative Study of Literature; Concept formation; Criticism and interpretation; Epic literature; Females; Gender Studies; Greek civilization; Homer (Greek poet); Idealization; Interdisciplinary aspects; Marginality; Nobility; Objectification theory; Patriarchy; Poets; Portrayals; Slavery; Social exclusion; Society; Speech; Theory of Literature; Western literature; Western society; Women; Greece; Homer; epic poetry; patriarchy; female alterity
• ISSN: 2164-0262; 2378-3524
• DOI: 10.22381/JRGS7120173

This article explores female alterity in the Iliad and the Odyssey in an attempt to show how women’s marginalization is already present in these early works, which have had such a lasting influence on Western literature and thought. First, I analyze how men treat aristocratic women, who are systematically excluded from war and speech despite their idealization as heroines. Then, I focus on women who fall into the category of slaves or concubines to illustrate women’s absolute objectification and to demonstrate how the violence of this exclusion structures women’s experiences. Through an interdisciplinary framework, I study Greek antiquity through combining contemporary alterity studies with literary analysis. I argue that Western society has been structured in a patriarchal and androcentric way since its beginning. Thus, my objective is to suggest, through the lens of the philosophy of alterity, how we might reach a more ethical consideration of the Other in the study of classic literature.