She holds him captive on Ogygia, for “seven endless years [he] remained there” (Homer 7.298). After Odysseus lost his crew, Calypso finds him and brings him to her island, holding him there against his will and delaying his return home by many years. While Odysseus is there Calypso causes him nothing but pain, “all his days he’d sit on the rocks and beaches,/wrenching his heart with sobs and groans and anguish” (Homer 5.173-174). At this point Odysseus truly misses home and his family, and Calypso only makes it worse. Even after seeing the misery Odysseus is in, and being asked to let him free by Zeus, Calypso still attempts to make him stay. Calypso told Odysseus to “preside in [her] house with [her]/and be immortal” then tries to make him pick her over Penelope by saying how hard it is for “mortal woman to rival immortal goddess” (Homer 5.230-231,235). She offers Odysseus immortality so he would choose to stay with her rather than returning home to his wife. Calypso is very harmful to Odysseus and his expedition…
This leads on to another god in the Odyssey, Hermes. Hermes aids Odysseus twice, the first by instructing Calypso to allow him to leave the island, although it was Zeus’s order he used his persuasive skills to calm her and persuade her kindly. The second time was in book 10 when he gives Odysseus Moley that will make him immune to Circe’s spell and tells him that his men have been turned into pigs. He also instructs him how to handle the situation as a whole, telling him to rush at her as though you mean to kill her” and “make her swear a solemn oath”. This shows that Hermes is on Odysseus’s side and wants to help him by giving him a plan to save not only him but all of his crew. He adds a lot to the story as he shows Zeus’s power as Hermes himself is very powerful and yet he is being bossed about by Zeus. He also helps Odysseus twice and without his help…
Athena continues to show her care giving side after pleading with her father Zeus to free Odysseus which he does after he sent Hermes to tell Calypso to free him and she does which shows that she has a sense of decency despite her sexual ambitions to keep him on her island. After building a raft and sailing out to sea, he continues to receive bad treatment from Poseidon after he conjured up a storm that knocked him down into the water. Watching him being tossed like a rag doll around in the sea, a goddess named Ino, like Athena, showed a caring side for protecting Odysseus by providing him a scarf and with it he abandoned his raft and belongings and “dove headfirst into the sea, stretched his arms and stroked for life itself” (Book V, 411-412). While swimming toward the shore, he also had assistance from Athena who calmed Poseidon’s storm and stopped the winds by “commanding them all to hush now, go to sleep” (Book V, 423) and eventually he would make it toward land.…
In the epic, Odyssey, Homer presents both Calypso and Circe as goddesses who employ not only their divine powers, but also the power of seduction used by mortal women, to hold captive the hero, Odysseus.…
Calypso was a woman who lived on the island of Ogygia. Odysseus was on a broken piece of the ship and floated onto her island. Calypso lived on the island with all ladies, who had never seen a man before. Calypso was attracted to Odysseus and held him captive on her island for quite some years. When Odysseus saw a ship, he ran and tried to swim away but Calypso and some other ladies swam after him and brought him back. Odysseus was only…
After many other challenges, at sea Odysseus ended up the only survivor. A few days later, he came to the island of the goddess Calypso; she fell madly in love with him, and held captive on her island for seven years. Upon that seventh year things started to change for Odysseus. Athena, daughter of Zeus and Odysseus’ protector, discussed his fate with the other gods that who assembled in Zeus’ home. All of the gods besides Poseidon sympathized with Odysseus, because of what he did to his son. Zeus however told the God Hermes to tell Calypso to let him go and give him a raft, food, and clothing for his journey to Ithaca; this did not settle will with Poseidon. Poseidon again wrecked Odysseus’ raft and which led him to have to swim to an island naked and exhausted. He woke with laughing…
. The roles of Zeus, Athena, and Poseidon in the Odyssey either aid or hinder Odysseus’ journey home. First off, when Odysseus was held captive from Calypso,”Hermes explains that he has brought with an order from Zeus that Calypso must not detain Odysseus any longer but send him on his way home.”(Homer 1208). Zeus is considered to be helping Odysseus by agreeing to let him out of the island. Poseidon has been a burden because he heard his son, Polyphemus’ curse towards Odysseus, “O hear me, lord, blue girdler of the islands...grant that Odysseus..[shall] never see his home...dark the years between...Let him lose all his companions”(Homer 1223). Poseidon ends up cursing Odysseus and his crew by sending many storms, delaying the trip, therefore…
In the world people put other people into categories. This happens especially with women, some of the categories that people use today are: beautiful, ugly, good, bad, innocent, whore, loyal, and unloyal, those are just a few. In Homer’s The Odyssey you see that there are different roles and types of women. I will prove that there are 5 main roles assigned to women: the good wife, the bad wife, the goddess, the monster, and the seducer, and these many times are related to each other.…
Athena tells her father Zeus that she wants to free Odysseus from Calypso’s island. So Zeus sends Hermes, the messenger god, to free him.…
In a fantasized world like The Odyssey, women can threaten the power of the patriarchy, but in a modernized world like The Catcher in the Rye, women cannot threaten men because they do not hold tangible power. In The Odyssey, women like Helen, have the capability and desire to gain power; Helen exemplifies how women can manipulate men through the use sexulaity to do anything desire, even start a war. Her power over these men not only causes death and destruction, but it also causes endless nights of men missing their wives and just longing for a woman. Unlike The Odyssey, The Catcher in the Rye presents models of women who appear subordinate to men. The average woman in the 1940’s cleans the house, cares for the children, and cooks the dinner. Her life is in the home, leaving her unable to gain power from men. The two situations contrast,…
In a middle of things, Odysseus is a “pleasure” slave of a goddess temptress, Calypso. She wants Odysseus because he is handsome, strong and clever, all of the characteristics of a hero. In the text, the god messenger, Hermes, gives Calypso a letter from Zeus to have Odysseus freed. Calypso did not want to give up Odysseus, but she had to. This makes Odysseus heroic because a goddess wants a mortal being for eternity.…
During the sixth century BCE, women were given very small roles in the Greek community. The female duties were glorified in literary such as Antigone and The Odyssey. The typical housewife was made to have children and take care of the home while the men worked and fought. Women were given very few rights and didn't have an input in political issues. Women could exercise very little power in Ancient Greece due to literary, social, and political ideals.…
"And Athena handed down her pacts of peace/ between both sides for all the years to come- the daughter of Zeus whose shield is storm and thunder, / yes, but the goddess still kept Mentor 's Build and voice"(24. 559-602). Mentoring, as we know today is based on the actions and behavior of the goddess Athena towards Odysseus while disguised as his great friend the Mentor. She serves as his advisor, guide, and provides him with emotional support throughout Homers epic poem, The Odyssey. Athena holds a lot of power among the gods; and she is able to get her way in most situations by using her power from her father, Zeus, to her fullest advantage. In the beginning of Book One, Athena mentions Odysseus to her father and how her heart breaks just thinking of this crafty man and the horrible tragedies he has endured on his way home from war. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war, serves as more than just a loyal companion to Odysseus but rather a Mentor, and a shield, protecting him from harmful and risky situations, enabling him to make clever decisions, when he is not in the mindset to do so himself. The actions of Athena send Odysseus on a journey of self discovery. Athena vows to get Odysseus home safely, to inspire his son Telemechus, giving him courage to gather fellow Achaeans, and assists with plotting schemes of revenge against the mob of suitors taking over Ithaca. Odysseus, being the clever, crafty, and intelligent man he is, needs a woman to stand by his side every step of the way. Someone who will be there to help him, rather then appear physically attractive to him and act as a distraction. Athena serves as the perfect match for him under these circumstances: she is known for her wisdom, she can compete with Odysseus when it comes to craftiness, she doesn’t involve herself in sexual relationships with mortal men, and she is willing to risk anything to help him and his family in hopes of reuniting…
Many people regard Homer's epics as war storiesstories about men; those people often overlook the important roles that women play in the Odyssey. While there are not many female characters in the Odyssey, the few that there are, play pivotal roles in the story and one can gain a lot of insight by analyzing how those women are portrayed. Homer portrays the females in contradictory ways: the characters of Athena and Eurykleia are given strong, admirable roles while Melantho, the Sirens and Circe are depicted in a much more negative way. Penelopethe central female characteris given both negative and positive attributes.…
The Iliad and The Odyssey are tales written by Homer centered on the drama of the Trojan War. First poem deals with the time during the end of the war, while the latter, which occurs roughly ten years later, explains the disastrous journey of Odysseus fighting his way back home. The character of women in the Odyssey is to exhibit the many and diverse roles that women play in the lives of men. These functions vary from characters such as the goddess ' that help them to the nymphs who trick them. Women in the Iliad exhibit their significance in the lives of the ancient Greeks because they are so prominent in a world so dominated with military relations.…