Powerful Women In The Odyssey

Whether it be a movie or novel, women are commonly portrayed as objects of beauty and the weaker gender. It is a typical stereotype that women are weak and men are strong; women are made to serve men. However, Homer’s The Odyssey is different; the epic poem proves that women can not only be manipulative, but that they can also be powerful and often stronger than men. Women in this epic poem have several roles like being interventions throughout Odysseus’ journey home from the Trojan War. They also choose to accomplish goals in different ways.

Powerful women in The Odyssey are often portrayed as seductresses, succumbing to manipulation to accomplish a goal. Their outer appearance is not the same as they are in the inside, as they entice the men and later turn against them. Odysseus and his crew’s desire for Circe allows the sorceress to use their weakness, women,

As stated before, although women are often portrayed as the weaker gender, they are as powerful because they use men’s weaknesses and almost always win. For example, Calypso detains Odysseus in Ogygia for seven years, and Odysseus had been willingly seduced. “Though he fought shy of her / he lay with her each night, for she compelled him / ‘Can I be less desirable than she is?’ / ‘Can mortals compare with goddesses in grace and form?’” (Homer 734). Calypso is very manipulative as she tries to convince Odysseus to stay with her while comparing herself to Penelope; because she is so powerful, she causes danger and interventions. She is portrayed as an object of beauty like Helen, and uses that as an advantage for Odysseus’s masculine desires. She is also very similar to Circe, as they both want Odysseus as their love partner, but was more successful as Odysseus’s entire crew was gone. Because of her advantage, she intervenes Odysseus’s journey back home for a very long