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…
think Odysseus and his wife Penelope are perfect for each other and were meant to be together. I also believe Odysseus and Penelope's story is a very good example of how most military families function. I can relate to their story just a little bit because my husband was in the Air Force for six years. My husband served in the Air Froce from 2001 until 2007. He left for basic training just a couple months after the attack on September 11. The six years that he was in the military we got to experience one deployment.…
Homer characterizes Penelope as a mysterious woman who is much smarter and more manipulative than other characters think; ultimately, Penelope expresses these traits in how she can see through Odysseus’ disguise. One can tell that Penelope sees through Odysseus’ disguise when she is “poised” to “set the bow and gleaming iron axes out” and “bring [the suitors] slaughter on” (21: 2-5). Penelope knows setting up the competition will bring about the death of the suitors. She realizes Odysseus will use this specific competition to reveal himself and take back his home; therefore, Penelope knows Odysseus is present. Homer also demonstrates that Penelope understands Odysseus is present when she goes to the hall to meet the suitors, bringing the bow and arrows, which are referred to as “shafts of pain” (21: 70).…
Have you ever found it hard to prove someone is your equal? The Odyssey written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Penelope, Odysseus' wife, proves she is her husband's equal. So by being both very intelligent and loving she accomplishes this task.…
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…
The gods have played their part altering the course of the hero’s voyage. Seemingly, in the epic harmony does not last long and challenges follow Odysseus like a plague. Calypso, the audience believes holds the last installment of the global journey, our hero has yet more battles ahead of him. In fact, the king of Ithaca wandered the Mediterranean and its coastal lands for 10 years before finally arriving home. As waves crash against the raft, “he was seen sailing the ocean”(284). The sea near the land of the Phaeacians is only one region Odysseus has been driven to. All these occurs as a number of loyal citizens and a hopeful family await his return, a period when others dependence on him shines through. As Odysseus is under the angry waters…
He tells Penelope that he was born on the island of Krete. He also tell her that he saw Odysseus in a coastal city and says that he was his caretaker for a short amount of time. After hearing this story, Penelope begins to cry. Nevertheless, Penelope is still skeptical so she decides to ask the beggar Odysseus what her husband was wearing. The beggar Odysseus says that Odysseus was wearing a double thick purple cloak, a gold pin that resembled a hunting dog, and a fine white tunic. Penelope cries again and says that those were the clothes she had dressed him in on the morning of his departure. Despite these two stories from Odysseus, Penelope still believes that her husband is dead. Trying to rid her of these thoughts, Odysseus begins to tell his story from the point of a spectator. He describes the majority of his journey and then mentions how Odysseus is on the island of the Phaikians and therefore, will be returning very shortly. But, Penelope is still in denial and does not believe that her husband will…
Odysseus eventually wants to return to his home and admits that his wife doesn't compare with Calypso. He shows the characteristics…
After ten years, Odysseus still has not returned to his kingdom in Ithaca. A large…
On the island of Helios all of Odysseus’ men were killed. After, Odysseus set sail alone on the open sea. Then a terrible storm hit and the waves become treacherous. When his boat gets wrecked, he stays afloat by, “...lashing mast and keel together ,” riding the frightful storm(797-798). He works so hard by trying the parts of the boat together just to keep afloat. If he hadn't done this he would have died in the ocean and would have never made it home to his family. This is representing his will to survive and his loyalty to his journey. After all his hardships and sacrifices, he finally made it back to his home of Ithaca. When he sees his wife Penelope for the first time in twenty years, “...he wept at last..” knowing that his wife was “clear and faithful in his arms”(1408-1409). THis let him know that the hardships that he faced were worth it. He finally made it home to his family and his…
Odysseus played both the hero and villain role in The Odyssey; it all depends on whose perspective you see him through. Penelope saw her husband as a hero who fought hard to get back home to her. To Polyphemus, Odysseus was a villain who tricked him and blinded him. During the Trojan War he expressed an enormous amount of hero traits, but later in his journey, especially in books 9-12 his heroic behavior diminished.…
As one can surmise from the tumultuous situations he is forced into over the following years at sea, Odysseus endured great hardships all due to his hubris. His crew was decimated and he was forced to live without his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, for far longer than he ever expected. However, like Gilgamesh, Odysseus is ultimately not ruined by his hubris. Instead, Homer decides to end his tale by finally allowing him to arrive home with “More [gifts] than he ever would have taken out of Troy / Had he come home safely with his share of the loot” (13.142-143), suggesting good fortune in the end for Odysseus. Although he indeed finds trouble at home as his wife has many suitors competing to win her hand in marriage and hoping to kill Telemachus, Odysseus is able to slay the suitors and reunite with his family. Odysseus’ life seems to return to the state of normalcy that it would have been if he suffered no tragedy at sea.…
Lastly, a characteristic that proves Odysseus is a great hero is his sensitivity. He is often moved to tears, while he is a prisoner on the island with Calypso, he yearned to be home with wife Penelope and son Telemachus. Missing them gives him so much pain that Calypso would often notice Odysseus, "...sitting in his usual place on the stone, wearing out his soul with lamentation and tears." (). He reserves this sensitivity for the people closest to him that he trusts the most. His sensitivity reveals that he is human and humans can be sad when they are away from their…
While Odysseus is an epic hero there are a few things about him that are not so heroic; such as his loyalty to his wife. He enjoys a luxurious life with Calypso all while Penelope, his wife, fights off suitors in order to remain loyal to Odysseus. While he does want to return home, he also admits that not even his wife can compare to Calypso.…
Calypso fell in love with Odysseus and wants to marry him. She was possessed by her ‘love’ for Odysseus. Although Odysseus did not love her back she would not give up on keeping him there. Ogygia is Calypso’s island that she rules over. She uses her irresistible body to keep him there. Since she is a Goddess, she has the power to make him immortal. Odysseus refuses her offer because if he took the offer to become immortal, he would have to stay on the island with Calypso for the rest of his life. Calypso kept him in the back caves trying to get him to forget his life and stay with her. It was starting to work until Athena showed up and talked sense into Odysseus.…