ABSTRACT
The Odyssey portrays a number of epic performances, and thus puts before us a range of internal audiences, i.e., audiences consisting of characters in the poem itself. 1 Most of these are exclusively male, and on several of the rare occasions when females are present, their responses are discounted or said to require male confirmation. Yet Odysseus can be seen to address portions of his own “epic performance” to the queen of the Phaeacians, and in Book 23, he gives a similar account of his adventures to Penelope alone. Odysseus is thus portrayed as breaking a pattern by including women in his audience. After surveying the evidence for this portrayal, I will argue that it is part of a narrative strategy to include women in the implied audience of the poem. I will conclude by considering the implications of this inclusion for female members of the actual (external) audience.
