Odyssey: The Role Of Women In Homer's Odyssey

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Although the story is about Odysseus and his crew's trials to get home, the female characters each have an impact on their odyssey. Calypso, Circe, and Penelope are three very different women whose traits and personalities affect the roles they play in the Odyssey of Odysseus.

After ten years of war, Odysseus and his crew spend seven years with Calypso on her island in the Ionian Sea. She is a lonely sea nymph who lived alone there until Odysseus and his crew arrived. She doesn't appear evil, just lonely and desperate to keep the man she loves with her, even though he belongs to someone else. When after seven years, Odysseus remains loyal to his wife, she still isn't willing to release him, it takes Zeus to step in and get her to release

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