So then,
royal son of Laertes, Odysseus, man of exploits,
still eager to leave at once and hurry back
to your own home, your beloved native land?
Good luck to you, even so. Farewell!
But if you only knew, down deep, what pains
are fated to fill your cup before you reach that shore,
you'd stay right her, preside in our house with me
and be immortal. Much as you long to see your wife,
the one you pine for all your days. . . and yet
I just might claim to be nothing less than she,
neither in face nor figure. Hardly right, is it,
for mortal woman to rival immortal goddess?
How, in build? in beauty?(Book 5.223-247)
To this statement Odysseus replies that he does not want to stay with Calypso. What does this show not only about Calypso but Odysseus's character?
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In Book 5 Calypso makes this final speech in which she begs Odysseus to stay with her. Calypso promises to save Odysseus from having to face future woes and also to give him something that no other human has: immortality. Amazingly enough Odysseus is not interested; he does admit that Penelope is nothing like Calypso when it comes to beauty but all is wants is his home and his wife. Calypso’s speech makes Odysseus a little antsy because Odysseus not only wants to see his wife and home but also wants the things that Calypso has to offer. When Calypso asks again whether he wants to go home or stay with her she does this because she knows that Odysseus is antsy about choosing. But because Odysseus is a hero who is very smart he knows that he must turn Calypso down and refuse the things that she will give him. This shows how Calypso is so tricky and will pretty much do anything for love. (Being that she held him hostage for years without telling many people.) The answer Odysseus gives here is one of the first times he speaks and from what he does here we can really start to get a sense of what Odysseus is like. The whole time in the other four books leading up to this we don’t see of him but hear of him and now we realize that has strength, courage and confidence in his authority. We can really see that he has a sharp intellect and that sharp intellect not only helps him now but helps him in Book 9. (Cyclops Cave) Most of all these couple passages show how much Odysseus cares for and wants to get home.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with what Spencer is saying about how Calypso is being tricky and will do anything for love. If Odysseus took her offer to stay on the island and become immortal, then he would continue to stay with her on the island, which is what she is trying to convince him to do in her speech. I also agree with how she was tricky by keeping him hostage on the island without telling many people what she was doing. In the end, Odysseus decides to decline the offer of immortality she offers him, and decides to go back to his wife, because he wants someone to love him who is faithful. Penelope is faithful to him because even though she has many suitors in her house, all trying to marry her, she tricks them for three years, as to not be unfaithful to her absent husband. While Odysseus wants faithfulness in a woman, he is not an example of the faithfulness he desires, because he has cheated on his wife with Calypso while on the island. In a way, this is somewhat of a double standard, because while Penelope is trying to be faithful to her husband, even though he has been gone for awhile, Odysseus is not. This speech also shows in Calypso’s character that she is desperate to keep Odysseus and gives the best offer in an attempt for him to stay, keeping with the trait of trickery Spencer mentioned. And that is how I agree with Spencer, and the opinions I have to add to his original statement.
ReplyDeleteTo both Spencer and Caroline: well said. Both of your positions are for the most part quite accurate, but I still have a good 210 words to go so I might as well find some controversy in these posts. Spencer: first of all, when you say that no other human has immortality, remember Tithonus! I feel that Odysseus turned down the offer to become immortal with Mr. T Thonus in mind (in addition to wanting to be with his wife, which you already stated). But I totally agree with your suggestion that what Odysseus wanted most was to be with his loyal wife at home. He turns down what some would die for, extraordinary beauty, power, immortality, just to be what some would call normal. And of course, because Calypso is so willing to do whatever she can to make sure big O is happy she sets him on his way home and gives him the best luck. And the biggest idea I do not agree with that both of you agreed on is that Calypso (at least at this point) is being tricky. She is totally in love, and she did keep Odysseus with him for a good amount of time, but when you say that she did not tell many people, why should she have? And we do not know whether or not she made this public. But the rest of the gods obviously knew about it or else Hermes would not have come to the rescue. And what also contradicts your suggestion is that when Odysseus wishes to leave, she allows him to and doesn’t force him to stay any longer. Furthermore, she did what she did out of excessive love, not trickery.
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