e suitors, Antinoos, tells Telemakhos "...but you should know the suitors are not to blame- it is your own incomparably cunning mother."(21) Even Telemakhos doesn't respect his mother as he should. When the song of a minstrel makes her sad and Penelope requests him to stop playing, Telemakhos intervenes and says to her "Mother, why do you grudge our own dear minstrel joy of song, wherever his thought may lead." (12) If Telemakhos respected his mother he would have asked the minstrel to cease playing the song that made her upset. Telemakhos has no use for Penelope's beauty or position; he regards her as someone who causes a problem, but whom he must love anyway. Through Penelope Homer shows how an ideal wife should feel toward her husband. Penelope remembers Odysseus as a great king and husband even though he has been gone for twenty years. Odysseus thinks of Penelope as his wife who, under all conditions, should be faithful to him no matter how many times he has been unfaithful or how long hThe Treatment of Women by Men in Homer's The Odyssey Women in Homer's The Odyssey are judged mainly by looks. If important men and gods consider a woman beautiful, or if her son is a hero or important king the woman is successful. The way women in The Odyssey are treated is based on appearance, the things men want from them, and whether the woman has any power over men. During Odysseus' journey to the un
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