In the book, Calypso and Circe are depicted as seductresses who use their feminine charms to lure and distract Odysseus from his journey home. They are symbolized by crazy love struck by women who trap and reluctantly hold a man for years to sleep with him without his consent or approval. While Odysseus, who is also responsible for the affair, is shown as a helpless man, deceived and blinded by temptation. Even though he too uses deception to make them believe that he has feelings for them, it is still he who receives the understanding and is not presented as a deceiver but rather as a poor helpless man, which is not necessarily the case. This just shows how differently men and women are characterized for the same thing. Because he is a man, he can seduce these women with no problem, and he is even praised for his deception because he did it for his own gain, but when it is done by a woman, she is labeled and considered a woman.