A Comparative Analysis of Homer's The Odyssey and Sexual Difference

In book eight of Homer's The Odyssey, the crying of Odysseus during the telling of his story bears a remarkable resemblance to the Emilia's weeping in the brief excerpt, "Emilia and Amalia," of Sexual Difference. Both scenes have their apparent similarities, however, different elements of Emilia's and Odysseus's circumstances and backgrounds produce distinctions between these two reactions. These elements can include the gender difference and the social standing of each character in their society. Whether it is a similarity or a difference, both tell the story behind the story of Emilia and Odysseus.

Structurally, the two episodes of Odysseus and Emilia take on the same sequence of events. From the moment they are introduced, it is clear they are both emotionally fragile and hurt. As Amalia describes Emilia, she lists the misfortunes of this woman from, "Emilia was the person with the heaviest burden of problems to bear," to, "…and now she was married, poor, and childless."[1] The manner in which every aspect of Emilia's life is tragic is heavily emphasized by the method of listing one tragedy after the other. Either these tragedies are general, as with the "problems" or specific, as with the "poor and childless"; there is no escape from the sad monotony of her life. Odysseus is in no better shape as he first appears on Calypso's island. He is seen, "…wrenching his heart with sobs and groans and anguish, gazing out over the barren sea through blinding tears."[2] All is not as it should be, for instead of associating the heart with love and warmth, it is filled with "sobs" and "groans". Where the sea is where life is plentiful, he sees it as a "barren" place. By using these vivid adjectives and nouns, and repeating these exact two lines two pages later, Homer directly conveys Odysseus's fevered desire to go home and most importantly, his misery for being unable to do so. Together, Emilia and Odysseus are wallowing in their sorrow, thus making them even more sensitive to anything that comes in contact with the heart of their grief.

Now that it has been concluded that Emilia and Odysseus are currently susceptible to all kinds of stimulus, the stimuli takes the form of a story, their own stories. In Amalia's account of Emilia's response, the syntactical strategy of placing "again and again" in juxtaposition with "overcome by emotion (Milan 105)" generates a rhythm of repeated words and words similar in connotation. This rhythm provides the reaffirmation of Emilia's feeling of being overwhelmed by the fact that she now has her own story. Therefore, this results in her crying whenever she hears the story. When describing Odysseus's reaction, the choice of words such as, "…the groan in the man's labored breathing…(Homer 194)" creates an audio imagery that adds to the effect of how inner turmoil manifests itself in the physically taxing experience. Upon hearing their own stories Emilia and Odysseus both started to weep partly because of their emotional status. However, could there possibly be a different significance in their tears?

The most obvious difference between Emilia and Odysseus's situations is the fact that Emilia is a woman and Odysseus is a man. Emilia is childless, which takes away an important property of being a woman. She had no one to nurture and she can tell no one her story. More importantly, no one can tell her back her story. When she joined the 150-hour school, Amalia commented that, "She almost seemed younger-at last, after so many years, she was doing something for herself and meeting other people with whom she could at least let off steam" (Milan 106). This image of "let[ing] off steam" hints that although she could not write a substantial or coherent story, she still has so much she has been wanting to share with everyone. Her spirit has been boiling for a while and after she lets off the steam, Emilia goes through a transformation so that she "seemed younger'. From this point of view, Emilia's tears are tears of happiness because she has finally found "other people", who will be in essence, her children, to listen to her story. With Odysseus, he weeps, but he weeps in a different fashion. The crying scene is such that,

…but Odysseus, clutching his flaring sea-blue cape
in both powerful hands, drew it over his head
and buried his handsome face,
ashamed his hosts might see him shedding tears. (Homer 194)

First Odysseus' masculinity is stressed heavily in the beginning, with strong diction such as "flaring", "powerful", and "handsome". However, while these words add to his manliness, it also creates a problem for him when he is engulfed in his own emotions and feels like crying. If he were not so manly, the affect of him crying at hearing his own story would not be as poignant as if this "powerful" and "handsome" man was so profoundly overwhelmed that he could not stop his tears, not even for pride. The gender difference between Emilia and Odysseus allows a partial glimpse into innate qualities that make them react in different ways.

Following gender difference is the social standing of the protagonists in their society. Although the character's place in society does not solicit the same instinctive responses as gender, it is perhaps just as substantial in deciphering the reasons why Emilia and Odysseus would cry. Emilia is a Milanese housewife and few people know who she is. However, her friend tells us why Emilia cries for a story, "Emilia cries for a reason which her friend explains thus: she too needs to tell about her life" (Milan 106). Even if she is just a housewife, she "too" needs to tell her story. It is her struggle, to find, "…the representation of oneself…in relation to the world" (Milan 106). The "world" is her society and the use of the word "too" emphasizes that she is as much a part of society as every other person. Before Emilia found her audience, "…she wasn't able to connect any of it up, so she let herself go" (Milan 106). She was a waif, who could not grasp complete profound and true elements of her story, so she had to let go. When Amalia gives her a unity to her story, she cries because she realizes she too can contribute, be the hero of her story, and make her impression, however small it may be, on society. Meanwhile, the epic Greek hero is expected to make a big impression. Under disguise, Odysseus hears the tale of his glorious days of the Trojan War. However, the imagery used suggests that all the war was savage and brutal, such as,

…but the great Odysseus melted into tears,
running down from his eyes to wet this cheeks…
as a woman weeps, her arms flung around her darling husband,
a man who fell in battle, fighting for town and townsmen
trying to beat the day of doom from home and children.
Seeing the man go down, dying, gasping for breath,
She clings for dear life, screams and shrills-
But the victors, just behind her,
Dig spear-butts into her back and shoulders,
Drag her off in bondage, yoked to hard labor, pain,
And the most heartbreaking torment wastes on her cheeks.
So from Odysseus's eyes ran tears of heartbreak now (Homer 208).

Interestingly, in this passage, Odysseus is compared to a woman who has been separated with her husband as he has from Penelope. However, by comparing the previous passage of Odysseus weeping, "shame" does not enter the equation, and neither is he really hiding from his hosts. A woman, "screams and shrills" and fling her arms around her loved one, but he cannot. The explanation for this insertion of this passage can only mean that Odysseus cries for the same "heartbreak" that was also mentioned with the woman, that he was unable to cry for before. To be a hero and achieve immortality in the Trojan War, he must have fought for every last breath, even to the death, thus he had to have been strong and stoic. Achilles made virtually the same choice when he was offered a long fameless life or to die young and win everlasting fame. Now that the event has passed, he is able to look retrospectively on all of his trials and tribulations during war and finally cry about it. Emilia and Odysseus are two very different people, and when they hear their own unique stories, the meaning behind their tears is heavily dependent on who they are in society.

Although the in the excerpts of The Odyssey and "Amalia and Emilia", there are some striking parallels on the sequence of events, the actual reason behind the weeping of the protagonists, Odysseus and Emilia, lies in the gender differences and social classes. Their stories are as unique as who they are as individuals, thus it is only natural for them to see different reasons to cry. The narration of each story slowly reveals the distinction of everyone from each other. Therefore, all the stories behind the story will eventually answer the simple questions, who is Emilia and who is Odysseus?

[1] Milan Women's Bookstore Collective, The, Sexual Difference: A Theory of Social Symbolic Practice, Editor, Teresa de Lauretis (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990) p. 105.

[2] Homer, The Odyssey, translated by Robert Fagles (New York: Penguin Books, 1996) p. 155.