ipl-logo

Calypso's Treatment Of Women In The Odyssey

531 Words3 Pages

They say Odysseus is an extraordinary hero. Others might not believe his special skills and statics of achieving his adventurers into returning home. Such extravagant women portray, in “The Odyssey” bringing Odysseus home are the ones to be enlightened by favoritism. The Odyssey’s women Calypso, Nausicaa, and Athena are the reason that Odysseus succeeds in his quest because Calypso is loving, Nausicaa is hospitable, and Athena is protective, as their actions prove. Calypso shows her loving ways in book V. Calypso tells Hermes “I loved him. I took care of him, I even told him/I’d make him immortal and ageless all of his days” (Homer 233). Calypso decides to persuade her mortal prisoner to stay with her after Hermes leaves Calypso island back to Zeus. As a goddess, they can possess anything they wish. In this current situation, despite her dirty desires and manipulation for Odysseus. The quote above gives the reader a key idea to her feelings and the use of her feelings to release and aid Odysseus in his travels home. Besides the visit from Hermes, Odysseus is homesick and indeed needed a miracle to leave the island. Given to that, Calypso love gives Odysseus the start of his return. …show more content…

The White Goddess gives him a veil to secure his trip to land and shortly to be lastly meeting King Alcinous before home. As this follows, he arrives safely inland of Scheria where he awakes and sees the princess. Nausicaa shows she is hospitable in book VI. Nausicaa tells Odysseus that “since you have come to our country/You shall no lack nothing, nor anything needed” (Homer 246). The kindhearted princess aids nearly naked Odysseus and soothing Odysseus to a new beginning and hope for his path in reuniting with his land and

Show More
Related
446 Words | 2 Pages

At this point in Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus approaches Nausikaa with only an olive branch to cover his nakedness. He begins to use his speech in order to convince the Phaikian princess of his civilization. This passage is significant because it shows qualities of Odysseus’ character and infers the Greek theme of hospitality This passage reveals that Odysseus is a civilized and well-spoken character.

Read More
375 Words | 2 Pages

Odysseus finally meets the most formidable opponent to his desire for nostos in the goddess Kalypso, who offers him the unparalleled luxury and security of kalupto on the hidden island of Ogygia. Ogygia tempts Odysseus as the ultimate paradise, as “even a god who found this place would gaze, and feel his heart beat with delight” (5.79-80), and Kalypso, “a nymph, immortal and most beautiful, who craved him for her own” offers him love, care, and sexual pleasure for a decade (1.21-23). Kalypso and her island embody the idea of kalupto in its most enticing form yet, providing Odysseus with a lifestyle that even his hard-sought nostos cannot give. Ogygia’s kalupto is Odysseus’s most challenging test in proving his determination to come home, as he is given a choice to remain peacefully on the prosperous island or continue his perilous travels.

Read More
268 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the Odyssey Calypso is depicted as a selfish goddess who is keeping Odysseus in her Island by force. Odysseus was always painted as the victim, always weeping and said to be an "unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing...". She's painted in a darker light when Hermes comes and delivers Zeus's commands. When Zeus tells her to release Odysseus from her island and to let him sail back to Ithaca, she lashes out, claiming that the gods are "scandalized when goddesses sleep with mortals". When the gods ask her to release Odysseus she assumes that the gods are upset at her and are concerned about the nature of her relationship.

Read More
563 Words | 3 Pages

The natives there gave Odysseus and his men an intoxicating fruit of the lotus. After Odysseus and his men eat the fruit, they forget all of their thoughts about home and decide to eat more of the fruit. The only way that Odysseus can get him and his men back home is by dragging his men back to the ship and lock them up, Odysseus decides to go along with it. When Odysseus went back to Ithaca, He made the wise choice to go and see his wife Penelope. Odysseus was so brave to go see his wife because he didn’t know if she was going to recognize him at all or want to be with him for the rest of her life.

Read More
153 Words | 1 Pages

To conclude, the Odyssey contains unwanted romances and loving reconnections in the life of Odysseus. The way of the Gods made it so that Odysseus was bound to Calypso and Circe, getting shipwrecked on Calypsos Island and sailing upon Circes Island the Gods were working their magic. Although Calypso and Circe captured the Odysseus for years it seemed as though they both help Odysseus in their own ways throughout his journey. Odysseus could’ve died if Calypso did not help him and Circe did everything she could do to help Odysseus and all his men for the year they stayed with her. Although Odysseus seemed to have these extra affairs outside of his marriage with Penelope it seemed to not matter to either, all that matters is that Odysseus

Read More
572 Words | 3 Pages

Odysseus had to patiently suffer through twenty long years of struggling to return back to his family, that solely reinforced his patience because he knew he would get back some day. “I’m sure no other woman could be so cold and keep her husband at a distance, now he has come home after twenty years and all those terrible dangers!”. This extreme adventure shows the immense amount of love and loyalty he feels for his wife and family and the circumstances he is willing to travel through to get back to them. After this journey of twenty years, his

Read More
1601 Words | 7 Pages

Odysseus encounters many monsters and immortals throughout his homecoming journey. He faces everything from Sea Nymphs to Sirens, from Lotus Eaters to Cyclopes, and from Enchantresses to even the Gods themselves. Because Odysseus stuck through and pursued on, he finally returned to his wife and child. When Odysseus arrives in his homeland, Athena directs him to Eumaeus’ hut where he meets his son. At first, his son refuses to believe his father has come back, but eventually convinces himself his father has truly returned.

Read More
660 Words | 3 Pages

In the Odyssey, Odysseus must persevere through many challenges and hardships. During his journey he displays the almost godlike qualities of the typical hero in a Greek myth, and the regular qualities of a human man. Throughout the entire story Odysseus possesses a very human goal: to return home and see his wife again. He constantly displays emotion for his wife during his travels. Athena acts as Odysseus’ mentor during his journey.

Read More
531 Words | 3 Pages

First among the strong women of Odysseus is Athena, the Goddess of wisdom and war. The Odyssey begins with a discussion between Zeus and Athena. At this point, Odysseus is being held as a love slave by Calypso. His ship has been destroyed and all his men are dead. Athena then convinced Zeus to command Kalypso to let Odysseus go.

Read More
533 Words | 3 Pages

Calypso knew that eventually she was going to have to let him continue his journey and going back into the sea she knew the waves would take him again and so all she could do was stand on shore and watch him off. However in the odyssey homer identified calypso as seductive also. Calypso uses her surroundings to attract the men. “Around the smooth-walled cave a crooking vine held purple clusters under ply of green:and four springs, bubbling up hear one another shallow and clear took channels here and there through beds of violets and tender parsley. ”(lines 50-63)

Read More
954 Words | 4 Pages

In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, there are many female characters who play the role of a villain. Calypso, Scylla, Charybdis, and the sirens are among the women with the largest, negative impacts on Odysseus’ journey home. Though some women, such as Athena, Eurycleia, and Penelope, are loyal to Odysseus throughout the poem. With such a wide range of female characters, they all contribute different things throughout the book, whether the impact of their actions is negative or positive. Regardless of the outcomes, Homer has quite a modern view of female representation in his poem.

Read More
1268 Words | 6 Pages

First, Athena makes a plan for Odysseus to meet Princess Nausicaa on Phaiacia. The two Greeks do meet, and even though Odysseus is a complete stranger, which the Phaiacians are not fond of, that Nausicaa is aware of, the princess welcomes Odysseus and makes a plan for him to stay in her father Alcinoos’ palace. When Odysseus arrives in the palace of Alcinoos, he is given a throne in which Alcinoos’ son Laodamas was previously sitting in, and is given a feast. “There they were, face to face: the King in his majesty, and the castaway with only his knowledge of man and his ready wit. Alcinoos held his hand out to Odysseus and led him from the hearth to a high seat where his own son was sitting, near himself, for he loved the courteous Laodamas best of all his sons.

Read More
631 Words | 3 Pages

Upon Odysseus’s landing, he is met with boundless warmth. This is first exemplified in Odysseus’s initial encounter upon landing ashore. After explaining his predicament to Princess Nausicaa, she is quick to provide her assistance, telling her maidens to “...give our new guest some food and drink, and take him into the river… to bathe.” (6.224-225). Princess Nausicaa then advises Odysseus to appeal to her mother for assistance in his homecoming.

Read More
1401 Words | 6 Pages

These women influenced the conditions of the journey by guiding Odysseus in different directions, and aiding him crucially. Their authority showed the idea behind an old proverb, which states, “Behind every great man there’s a great woman”. Throughout The Odyssey, the women exemplified their power during the course of Odysseus’ journey.     Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, bravely held down the front in Ithaca while her husband struggled to find his way back home. In Book 18, Penelope spoke to the ever-so-desperate suitors about what Odysseus “told” her before he left.

Read More
1181 Words | 5 Pages

This quote supports the reason because it shows that Odysseus is struggling with being away from his home for a long period of time, and wants to get back to his wife. This means that he misses his wife Penelope, and he wants to get back to her, which also shows that his loyalty is stays constant with her.. The second reason to prove this is that Odysseus does not like Calypso, which will show that he will remain loyal to Penelope. Odysseus becomes very sad, “But as for great Odysseus-- Hermes could not find him within the cave. Off he sat on a headland, weeping there as always, wrenching his heart with sobs and groans and anguish, gazing out over the barren sea through blinding tears.

Read More

More about Calypso's Treatment Of Women In The Odyssey

Open Document