Calypso And Odyssey Compare And Contrast

In the poem "Calypso" by Suzanne Vega, the reader understands that Calypso really did care for Odysseus an is sad when she has to let him go. In the poem Vega states,"It's a lonely time ahead/I do not ask him to return/I let him go"( Vega lines 38-40). Many years ago there was a war between the gods and the titans. Unfortunately, Calypso chose the wrong side to oblige. Therefore, when the gods won the war, they punished Calypso by placing her on an island for eternity and sending her heroes to fall in love with. In addition, after awhile she had to let them go eventually. Odysseus got sent to her island and, as predicted, the "regular routine'' of her falling for heroes and releasing them started once again. In conclusion, when Odysseus leaves her island for good she is left heartbroken, but in the end acknowledges that she has to let them

Lizeth Marin Honors Introduction to Literature Period 3 18 April 2008 Odysseus: Hero or Villain? Heading home, to Ithaca, Odysseus is faced upon many obstacles that he and his men try to overcome, but in the end substantiate that Odysseus is a villain. “The old soldier in despair: He has spent ten years (seven of them as Calypso’s not entirely unwillingly captive) trying to get home” (652, summary). Evidence proves that Odysseus is a villain, because he tries to convince that he was kept unwillingly by Calypso. However, it is true that Odysseus was kept as Calypso’s captive for a time. Yet he can still be judged as a villain, because he does not just stay as a prisoner, no, he assists Calypso by being with her for the pleasures that

From the description of a ‘lady goddess’ we can immediately see how she is thought of highly by Odyssey.  However despite this high opinion of Penelope, before he left, Odysseus and Calypso " . . . retired, this pair [He and Calypso], to the inner cave/to revel and rest softly, side by side."(Homer V:235-238)  This was not the only time Odysseus "retired", with another woman.  On the island of Circe "[he] entered Circe's flawless bed of love"(Homer X:390).  However this is not done through the power of love or any other emotional or sexual drive but in order to continue his journeys with success.

Because of Athena, Odysseus shall sail “home to his native country unharmed” (Book V, line 30). At this, Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso she is to let Odysseus go, and allow him to return home.

She is a “bewitching nymph” and “lustrous goddess” (206). She forces Odysseus to stay with her as her lover for many years. Odysseus was able to escape from the Cyclops’ cave. However, neither his strength nor his cunning can free him from Calypso. He is doomed to remain there until the gods intervene. Women’s irresistible charm leads Odysseus to disaster.

What Calypso essentially wanted was Odysseus to stay with her and for a while she was successful in holding him. While a man would have easily been able to do this without worrying about Hermes coming in and demanding him set the woman free, Calypso had to find another way to assert herself. In the end, her actions could not withhold the double standard.

Calypso fell in love with Odysseus and wants to marry him. She was possessed by her ‘love’ for Odysseus. Although Odysseus did not

Although penelope show loyalty and faithfulness in both text, there difference in the level of her knowledge. In the odysseus, penelope was viewed as innocent and naive.after penelope handed the odysseus's arrow to emmaus for the suitor to try and win the challenge, Telemachus comment about her mother has no respect for her as if she was unimportant and naive.

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is away from his home, Ithaca, for twenty years. Despite the low odds of Odysseus ever returning home after such a time, those in Ithaca were expected to remain loyal to Odysseus as they awaited his return. While this was a daunting task, those who accomplished it were heavily rewarded, while those who didn’t were met with death. Upon his return, Odysseus promised Eumaeus, the loyal swineherd, that he would find him a wife, grant him property next to his own, and that he would become one of the “comrades to Telemachus, brothers from then on” (21.243). His own wife Penelope remained loyal for all of the twenty years of Odysseus’ absence, never once giving in to the many suitors who invited themselves into her home and spent years vying for her hand. While she probably would have been killed by Odysseus if she had been unfaithful to him, perhaps her greatest reward was just being able to be with her husband again and being able to live. The suitors, however, were not so lucky. Odysseus, along with the help of the goddess Athena, carefully plotted and executed the death of every suitor that entered his home and gone after his wife. With the help of his son, the swineherd, and the goddess, Odysseus took down every suitor, until “the suitors lay in heaps, corpse covering corpse” (22.414). The resulting death of every disloyal character in the epic

Though Penny Wharvey McGill is portrayed as a “Southern 1930’s” version of Penelope, this heroine has many contrasting characteristics compared to the wife of Odysseus from Ancient Greece.

Calypso lusts for Odysseus so much that she holds him captive for many years. Odysseus, however, does not feel this lust for her. At this point in the epic, he wants nothing more than to reach his home and his wife, whom he loves very much. Finally, the gods tell Calypso that is time to release Odysseus, and she obeys.

Odysseus arrives on Calypso’s island alone, after the loss of his men and ship. Calypso rescues him and loves and cares for him in her cave. At first, it seems like Odysseus doesn’t seem much to mind her taking care of him, but over time it is plainly evident that he is unhappy with her. When Hermes arrives on Calypso’s island to give her the message from Zeus to release Odysseus, he is bawling on the beach a day-long activity for him. Calypso is holding him with her by force; she has no companions to help him back to Ithaka, nor has she a ship to send him in. Athena pleads with Zeus to give Odysseus good fortune, saying that "he lies away on an island suffering strong pains in the palace of the nymph Kalypso, and she detains him by constraint, and he cannot make his way to his country, for he has not any ships by him, nor any companions who can convey him back

Odysseus loves his family and desires to return despite his act with the nymph Calypso and Circe. At the

Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his long journey home. The Epic also includes the stories of Odysseus’ family left behind: the travels of his son, Telemachus, and how plenty, of what we would now call “home wreckers”, suitors pressured his wife, Penelope, into marrying one of them. The characters are beautifully crafted and the story is truly epic. All the elements presented can bring in any reader from any century, the Cyclops, the Gods, the trickery of Penelope, and the disguises of Odysseus, are all legendary literary hooks . There are many things to learn—about writing, about the world around us, the world ahead of us, and the past behind us—from The Odyssey. (26) It is undeniably evident that this ancient text has

Sing I me, Muse, and through me tell the story of the lady nymph goddess Calypso. Oh so beautiful and immortal who lives in the sea- hollowed caves on the island Ogygia. She craved the hero of Troy, king of Ithaka, son of Laertes, a mortal and took him as her own. Nine long years they spent on the island together.