Impure Woman

What is an Archetype? An archetype is a story pattern based on the idea of the collective unconscious. There are two parts of the mind, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is all that is going through someone’s head. The unconscious mind is all of the thoughts that one might not aware that they are thinking, or a persons natural instincts. One theory is that all human beings carry in them all the thoughts and feelings that have ever been thought or felt before by any other human beings. This theory can be proven through author’s interpretation of characters. In many different stories and books the same type of people and the same type of story shows up again and again. This shows that all humans perceive things in the same ways.

The Impure Woman
The impure woman is experienced (usually through sex) and has knowledge that the hero needs. She is devalued by society because she is impure and lives on the out skirts of cilviation. The hero often does not trust her and usually refuses to use the knowledge that she offers.

Calypso
Calypso is the impure woman of the Odyssey. She lives on Ogygia far away from other people. Odysseus does not trust her because she has held him on Ogygia for seven years. Calypso fell in love with Odysseus and offered him eternal life to stay with her on Ogygia.