Archetype Odyssey

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Throughout history, women have been viewed differently from men. Especially in literature, women and men have played different roles and Homer’s The Odyssey is no exception. The men go to war and do heroic deeds, as opposed to most of the female characters, who seem to be not allowed to participate in such things. In The Odyssey by Homer, most female characters have a sexual role or one somehow related to beauty and represent the temptress archetype, and a few have a different type of role, but all of them are unified in that they add complexities to Odysseus’ journey; this is exemplified by characters like Calypso, Circe, and Penelope. Calypso is one example of a woman in The Odyssey who has a sexual role, fulfills the temptress archetype, …show more content…
Book 10 says that Polites, one of Odysseus’ officers, said, “‘here’s a young weaver singing a pretty song’” (Homer, Book 10) while talking about Circe. However, after they went to this pretty young weaver, who was, in fact, Circe, she turned the men into hogs: Scarce had they drunk when she flew after them with her long stick and shut them in a pigsty . . . all [of the men] swinish now” (Homer, Book 10). Circe is the type of temptress who uses her beauty to entice men into suffering. Odysseus and his men thought she was just a girl who was harmless and pretty, but she used her temptation and allure to inveigle the men; then she turned them into hogs. Thus, she is a temptress, fulfilling a common archetype. She also adds complexities to Odysseus’ journey because she turns his men into hogs, which is obviously a complication and a …show more content…
This may seem insignificant in real life. However, one should remember that, as is exemplified by Penelope, Circe, and Calypso, stereotyping women into one category does not work very well because different women do different things, just like Circe and Calypso tempt Odysseus, whereas Penelope simply uses her virtues to do what needs to be done and is seen as more of a family member. No two women are exactly the same. More generally, no two people are exactly the same, and The Odyssey is a reminder of
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