Lust in Homer's The Odyssey and Aristophanes’ Lysistrata Essay

Odysseus must now face the other suitors in order to win Penelope. He must rely on physical strength to get past this task then to face Penelope and convince her it is really Odysseus. After defeating the other suitors Odysseus was cleaned up and made to

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

This time spent on Circe's island was a test of whether he could resist lust from a goddess, and he fails. At first it appears as though the only reason Odysseus sleeps with Circe is to regain his companions, but she easily persuades them to stay. What makes it worse is the fact that Odysseus is not even the first one ready to go. His men are the ones who urge him to leave: "What ails you now? It is time to think about our own country" (Book X, line 472). At a glance, it appears that Odysseus is merely succumbing to Circe's schemes for reasons related to their health and well being, if we read between the lines, we soon begin to realize that Odysseus is weak in the voracious hands of lust. Odysseus arrives on Calypso's island 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 daylong activity for him. Calypso is holding him with her by force; she has no companions to help him back to Ithaca, nor has she a ship to send him in. Athena pleads with Zeus to give Odysseus good fortune,

The nymph, Calypso, is a prime example of the use of sexuality by women in this story. Calypso has Odysseus held captive on her island, and attempts to make him stay there and become immortal, to be her mate. Calypso is looked upon negatively by the gods for having slept with a mortal man, but Calypso wishes for Odysseus to be made immortal by the gods and to stay with her on the island, as was done for Dawn. Calypso is a nymph, described as lustrous and queenly. Since she has kept him captive, Odysseus won’t believe her at first when she tells him he is being let go to journey home. She has kept him on her island, and in her bed, and kept him from the wife he loves. And even before he leaves the island, she makes him sleep with her one last time.

The gods are constantly involved with mortal women and are not shamed for it, Zeus’ being especially guilty of this. However, Calypso argues that when an immortal women such as herself sleeps with a mortal man she is berated and the man is whisked away. She refers to the gods as “scandalized” in result of her involvement with Odysseus, yet they are unimpeded to sleep with any women they desire. Calypso wishes the power to be held to the same standard as the gods, but the etiquette of a goddess is to not freely become involved with mortals, as it is of a god. Calypso angrily must give up Odysseus, and in book six he finally makes his way onto another island after a near death experience awash in the sea. On this island lives Princess Nausicaa who also must undergo gender roles. The goddess Athena, disguised as a friend of the princess, convinces Nausicaa that she should take a trip to the river to wash and bathe her clothes as a plan to get her and Odysseus to meet up. Odysseus finds Nausicaa at the stream, and first she is scared because he is dirty and very fatigued. He then talks to her, and she offers him help. She asks that he accompany her back to the palace where he can get help of her parents, the king and queen. He is about to ride in the Nausicaa's wagon, but then she asks that Odysseus must follow behind, telling him about what would possibly happen if the were to ride

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.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus portrays an important trait to the story, perseverance. His perseverance really stands out as something that he has and always will have. On his long journey home, he never gives up and just stays where he is, no matter how tempting. He always manages to push through and keep getting closer to his goal of returning home. An example of when he does this is when he is faced with the challenge of getting past Skylla and Kharybdis. He knows that either path will kill at least some of his men and possibly him, but he knows he has to keep going. "And all this time,/ in travail,

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

2. During Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca, Odysseus had seen wooers that consumed, killed, and wooed when he was on Calypso’s island. When Odysseus arrived at Calypso’s island, he was wooed by Calypso to stay on her island and be her husband. She offered a life of ease with an abundance of resources and a beautiful wife. On her island, there was an abundance of food and wine that they could consume and all of the things that were necessary to live a life of luxury and ease. This life of ease would lead to Odysseus’ “death”, because he would be forgotten by his friends and family. As a result, some of Calypso’s actions were similar to those of the suitors.

Hermes comes to Calypso under Zeus’s order and demands that Odysseus who has been crying and longing of home and being able to be around his wife whom he loves and his son Telemachus. Calypso who is fond of Odysseus thus keeping him imprisoned for 7 years for the sake of her companionship. When ordered to let Odysseus go Calypso engages in dialogue with Hermes whom she is obviously displeased with his order from Zeus to let Odysseus go. “You are hard-hearted, you gods, and unmatched for jealousy. You are outraged if a goddess sleeps openly with a man even if she has chosen him as her husband” This quote is significant because it shows that the stigma against women that’s still every present today. The idea that women are to be the ones who are pursued, that the idea of assertiveness is unattractive and also what she alludes to is that women get punished all the time for this kind of behavior she goes on to say “When lovely Demeter gave way to her desire and made love with her beloved Iasion in the field of the three ploughed furrows, Zeus heard of it quickly enough and struck him dead with his blinding

The Odyssey is an epic poem that is taken place after the Trojan War. Odysseus and his men were sailing from Troy to Ithica. The trip lasted 10 years and they had some positives and negatives. So even though they had their ups and downs, throughout the adventure they learned many lessons throughout their journey to Ithica. As Odysseus home from Troy, he changes physically and mentally as he learns the following lessons: cunning overpowers physical strength giving into temptations has negative effects, and loyalty and perseverance are heroic and admirable.

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

In book five Odysseus is presented with a very great and tempting barrier. Calypso confronts him with this statement, “But if you only knew, down deep, what pains are fated to fill your cup before you reach that shore, you’d stay right here, preside in our house with me and be immortal.” She promised him that he would possess a trait that no other human in the odyssey has, immortality. Even though her offers are very tempting and would be self fulfilling, he promptly rejects because all he wants is to go home and the love of his life, Penelope. This act alone shows that he was willing to give himself and up for a greater cause. He showed great discipline and faithfulness to reject Calypso’s offer and to continue on his journey home. At the beginning of the epic, Odysseus did have one flaw that could have been detrimental to his homecoming journey and that was self-glorification. By the end of the Odyssey, Odysseus overcame his pride and tempered it with patience because at the end of the day he didn’t really know that Penelope would be waiting on him, but he was willing to put in the effort to find out what was at the end of the road.

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

It’s no secret the ancient Greeks were fans of sex. From large scale orgy parties to everyday polygamy, ancient Greek culture heavily revolved around sex and the pleasures of the body. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer recounts the famed journey home of the Greek hero Odysseus, from the Fall of Troy to his home on the Isle of Ithaca to be reunited with his wife Penelope. Along the way, however, Odysseus finds trouble everywhere he looks, especially when it comes to sex. Throughout his ten year journey home, sex acts as an instrument of power, self-preservation and intimacy.