Strong Women In The Odyssey

A woman is like a bag of tea– you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water. Women can be just as powerful, if not sometimes even more strong than men, which is exactly how women are portrayed in the Odyssey. Circe, Athena, and Calypso are just some of the many formidable women roles in the Odyssey. An empowered woman will empower a man. And where there is a strong woman, there's a man, who was strengthened from her character. First among the strong women of Odysseus is Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and war. The Odyssey begins with a discussion between Zeus and Athena. At this point, Odysseus is being held as a love slave by Calypso. His ship has been destroyed and all his men are dead. Athena then convinced Zeus to command Kalypso to let Odysseus go. Also, when Odysseus returned home, she turned him into an old man, a homeless beggar. Homer narrates that, ¨Athena disguises Odysseus as a beggar and directs him to the hut of Eumaeus.¨ She plans with Odysseus and Telemachus, helping them to get revenge on the suitors. Athena had a huge amount of power, and the strength of her character helped Odysseus throughout his journey.

Calypso was a Goddess-nymph who lived on the mythical island of Ogygia. When Odysseus shipwrecked onto her island, she fell in love with him, she wanted him to stay with her forever. Odysseus says that she ¨loved me excessively and cared for me, and she promised to make me an immortal and all my days to be ageless, but never so could she win over the heart within me.¨ So, after getting rejected by Odysseus multiple times, she granted him immortality and eternal youth. He spurned her invitation repeatedly, but Calypso had a great mentality, and kept pushing him. He eventually gave in to her, and he stayed on the island of Ogygia for seven years. Calypso had her goal of getting him to stay with her set in her mind, and she did not let it