ugh he wanted to.Kerke is another prime example of the deceitful woman. WhenOdysseus’s men wash up on the shore. She lures them into her home by signingin an enchanting voice and gave them thrones to sit on and honey to eat. But assoon as they turn their backs Kerke “adding her own vile pinch” (Page X, 260),turns them all into pigs. The one man that stayed behind, Eurylokhos, says “Isaw cruel deceit” (X, 285) when he finds out that this evil she-witch has turnedperfectly good men into pigs. But Odysseus is much to clever to be tricked bythis goddess and he eats a plant that allows him to resist the poison of Kerke.Once Kerke realizes that Odysseus has found her out she cowers under thesword of such a strong man but does not just turn Odysseus’s men back intomen. Instead she offers sex to Odysseus which is, of course, the typicalseductive tactic of the woman. After Odysseus sleep with her he then forces herto turn his men back into men and after a year he leaves.Homer holds a double standard for the morality of men and women. In thebeginning of the book there is a story about a king named Agamemnon. WhileAgamemnon was away Aigisthos stole Agamemnon’s wife and killed then killedhim. But when Agamemnon’s son, Orestes, came of age he killed Aigithos andhis mother. Zeus says “Now he [Aigisthos] has paid the reckoning in full.” (I, 62)What Zeus means by that is Aigithos got was he deserved and so didAgamemnon’s immoral wife. But if Homer feels that adultery is wrong, why doeshe not condemn the adultery of Odysseus? Never does Homer mention thatOdysseus should not be sleeping with all these women because his wifePenelope is at home and loves him very much? And not only does Homer notcondemn the actions of Odysseus he accuses Kalypso and Kerke of seducingOdysseus into their respective beds of lust. When Odysseus uses his love it isseen a tactic to find a way to get home to his b...
