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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.
As Odysseus arrives to the island-home of Calypso, the beautiful nymph, he is quickly held prisoner. Although it may seem that Odysseus felt that he was truly a prisoner, he, at one point in his stay, enjoyed Calypso’s presence and was willingly seduced by her. It is clear that over the seven-year stay, Calypso had fallen in love with Odysseus and he had let his vulnerability to women become his harshest weakness. Her female dominance was even shown at times of manipulation through her ability to hold a man prisoner and prevent him from carrying on with his travels home. Although, when it came upon Athena that Odysseus was eager to arrive home to Ithaca, Zeus sent Hermes to have Calypso free Odysseus.
The Odyssey by Homer is an exemplary story that teaches life lessons to those going on a journey for themselves. It illustrates how the challenges and obstacles one may face can help someone become a better leader. The Odyssey highlights one man, Odysseus, a man filled with excessive pride, experiencing the wrath of the god Poseidon. He expects to arrive at his home, Ithaca, safely to reunite with his wife, Penelope, but unfortunately faces many temptations and setbacks. Due to the challenges he faces, it prevents him from arriving home as early as he thought he would.
Odysseus was on the island for many years until Calypso gets a message from the gods saying Odysseus needs to go home and he needs supplies to for his journey home. Calypso doesn’t agree that Odysseus should leave but wants the best for him so she decides that for the best he will be free even if she truly loves him she will help him and let him be free. Calypso lets him free she helps Odyssey by supplying him with food and items for him to survive. “Calypso helps him build a new boat and stocks it with provisions from her island.”
Athena disguises herself and reveals to Telemachus that his father is alive but tells him to sail in search of more information, “Do you hear me: As a goddess, yesterday/ you came to us, command me to sail/ across the shadowed sea, that I might learn/ about my long-gone father’s coming home” (32). Athena has Telemachus best interest at heart and by commanding him to find his father she played a big role in helping him shape himself and grow into the man he was destined to be. He takes Athenas’ advice and finally comes to the realization that he needs to stand up to the suitors, “Throughout all those years/ when I was still a boy, you suitors squandered/ the riches that were mine. But I am grown;/ and listening to the words of others, I/ can understand…” (33). Telemachus then sets off to find more information on his father and his possible whereabouts “I’ll come fetch what you’ve prepared.
She instructs him to “sail in quest of news of your long-lost father.” (86). Using her disguise, Athena reaches Telemachus and offers him wisdom. Telemachus takes this advice to heart and sets out to find his father. By offering this information about Odysseus, Athena inspires Telemachus.
Athena, who is the goddess of wisdom, sprung from Zeus’s head into the head fully grown and ready to be a warrior. Another girl in greek mythology, named Arachne, battled the goddess Athena to a weaving contest. When Arachne won this weaving contest, Athena was very upset and turned Arachne into a spider. According to Homer in Odyssey, Athena was very angry and unforgiving.
Odysseus was trapped in Calypso Island for ten years and this made his son Telemachus to embark on a journey to find him after he learnt that he was not dead. The story is filled with mysterious and supernatural forces and happenings, but they still keep the characters going on in their expeditions. The Odyssey is an epic whereby the characters are developed
The story of Odysseus would not exist if not for the strong female characters that all become a part of his journey. One of the women is the nymph, Calypso, who is forever banished to the island of Ogygia for her father’s wrongdoings. Odysseus ends up stranded on the island with her for seven years after being shipwrecked and lost at sea by Poseidon. Calypso ultimately acts a temptress to Odysseus, and serves as a constant reminder of everything he longs for back at home. Calypso means “to cloak”, which is basically what she is doing by hiding Odysseus away from the rest of world.
That is until Athena pleaded with her powerful father, Zeus, to help liberate him. Justifying my idea, Homer wrote “Though he fought shy of her and her desire, he lay with her each night, for she compelled him” (Homer, 914). If it were not for the hypnotic nymph’s compulsion, the righteous Odysseus would have been reunited with his love and queen years before. In addition to Calypso falling in love with Odysseus, so did the enchantress Circe, who also kept him on her island and away from his home. Homer states “Odysseus and his men beg Circe to help them return home” (Homer, 935).
Athena first plays the role of the puppeteer when she persuades Zeus to send Hermes to Calypso’s island to persuade Calypso to release Odysseus. Athena has always been a fan of Odysseus and his family, due to his tactical mind, so when she saw Odysseus in need, she wanted to help. Athena shows her persuasive nature when she says to her father, Zeus, “But my heart breaks for Odysseus, … far from his loved ones still, he suffers torments off on a wave-washed island rising at the center of the
The Odyssey is a well known epic that brings the reader through the tale of how Odysseus and his family reunited. Odysseus spent twenty years away from his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope. He was away for ten years at Troy and spent the other ten years on his journey back to his native land, Ithaca. Within the epic, author Homer reveals characters of gods and goddesses throughout the poem who impacted the families journey. One importantly, was the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena.
In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer portrays Greek gods and goddesses as possessing human qualities and faults. Through their actions and emotions, Homer emphasizes the detrimental effects of lust, envy, wrath, and greed in ancient Grecian society. He also never fails to remind readers of the importance of respect for holy figures because of their powerful abilities to create chaos and wonder". Homer wants to prove that gods and humans share a variety of traits, and the only difference is that god don’t allow these flaws negatively to impact their society. To help further his argument, we can compare Greek gods and goddesses to that of Christianity.
The Odyssey is an epic poem written by the blind, illiterate poet Homer. It takes place in ancient Greece and tells of a man’s journey home from war. The topic, intervention of the gods, is seen throughout the book numerous times as the gods who are in favor of Odysseus lend a helping hand. It is well-known that the gods are very important to the Greeks. In this epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer demonstrates the importance of the positive and encouraging intervention of the gods in Greek culture; the brave actions, encouraging words, and cunning strategies of Athena as she assists and guides Odysseus on his journey back home.
It was through Athena’s persuasion that convinced Zeus to have Calypso to let Odysseus leave her island. In response to Athena, Zeus said, “You conceived it yourself: Odysseus shall return and pay the traitors back” (Homer, Odyssey, V.26-27). The only reason Odysseus was free and performed the actions that he did after leaving Calypso’s island was all attributed to Athena. Whenever Odysseus appeared to be in a perilous situation, it was Athena who always aided him. “But Zeus’s daughter Athena countered him at once.
