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Odysseus Delaying Temptation In Homer's Odyssey

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In this section of the story the reader discovers Odysseus on the island of Calypso, a sweet nymph who has desired and detained Odysseus on her island for seven long years. However, Zeus believes it is time for Odysseus to head homeward and sends Hermes to release Odysseus from Calypso. Calypso agrees to let Odysseus escape after one last dinner where Calypso offers to make Odysseus immortal. Odysseus denies the temptation explaining he longs for his home and his wife, Penelope. Therefore, Odysseus constructs a raft which Hermes gave him and sails to the island Scheria; there he conceals himself under a pile of leaves and falls into a deep sleep.

The theme of resisting temptation offers the readers the first glimpse of Odysseus’s

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