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Women In The Odyssey

Although women in the Odyssey play a secondary role to the men, they are still very important.   In the Odyssey women are intelligent and powerful.   The most powerful women have both human and magical powers. Calypso is a sea-nymph who captures Odysseus and holds him prisoner for many years, hoping that he will marry her. She is able to tempt him, but her powers are not strong enough to sway him from his devotion to his wife and his home. Another prominent woman, Nausicaa, daughter of King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, meets Odysseus, she has just been told by Athena in a dream that her maidenhood must end and that she must prepare for marriage by washing her clothing and her linens in order to fill her wedding chest. She is young, untested, and unsure of what she wants in life. When she first meets Odysseus, he emerges briny and naked, like a mountain lion from a bed of leaves where he had been sleeping after washing ashore from the shipwreck. She is displeased by his rough appearance but charmed by his graceful words. Here Odysseus represents raw male force confronting youthful female innocence. Shortly thereafter, when Odysseus has washed and clothed himself, Nausicaa finds herself thinking that he might be a good husband even though she knows almost nothing about him. She is, after all, very young and still very beholden to her parents whom he has not yet met. Nausicaa lets Odysseus know indirectly that she is unmarried and available. Later, when it becomes clear to her that Odysseus will leave her and her land, she asks him not to forget her when he returns to his home.