In The Odyssey the main character, Odysseus, meets and entertains an impressive array of women. All of the women that he meets are very differentand have different personalities and Homer clearly states his attitude towardseach of the women. Some of the women are seen as essentially ‘good’ oressentially ‘bad.’ It is also clear that Homer adopts a sexist attitude towards thewomen in his novel. In The Odyssey women are generally portrayed asmanipulative and deceitful and Homer is a sexist who holds a double standard ofmorality for men and for women.There is one thing that all the women, be they human or god, in TheOdyssey have in common: they are all very clever. There are two ways that thereader can interpret this characteristic that women share: either Homer feels thatwomen are very intelligent or he feels that women are underhanded and sneaky.The opinion of Homer is probably the latter because the most of the women thatOdysseus, the hero of the novel, encounters use their intelligence against him.Kalypso and Kerke both try to seduce Odysseus into staying on their islands,while Penelope uses her cleverness to trick the suitors into believing that it tookher three years to weave a shroud.There are two goddesses that Homer wants the reader to perceive as‘bad’ women: the goddesses Kalypso and Kerke. Kalypso is a goddess who keptOdysseus on her island for seven years so she could have him. She is portrayedat this very greedy and lustful nymph who seduces Odysseus into forgettingabout his home and “forces” him to have sex with her every night. She is also‘bad’ because she, through her great guile, makes Odysseus forget about hishome and his beloved wife, Penelope. She even offers him immortality if hestays with her forever. She only lets him go when she is force to by Zeus. Thistype of behavior suggests that Kalypso does not love Odysseus because shewould not let him live even tho...
