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The Personification Of Women In Homer's Odyssey

284 Words2 Pages

The Odyssey by Homer bares a multitude of symbols, such as the sirens, Calypso, and Circe. However, in the story they are more than temptresses meant to lure Odysseus away from his task at hand with their alluring voices and beautiful visages. The mesmerizing women are personifications of the faults of men. When Odysseus succeeds in escaping their clutches it makes him more heroic because he doesn’t suffer from the flaws many others before him have died from. Calypso, the banished nymph of Ogygia kept Odysseus on her island for eight years due to her love for Odysseus. Yet, Odysseus only has love for Penelope and rejects her so calypso is the epitome of unrequited love. Odysseus and Calypso did lay together “…of necessity, in the hollow

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