Where the island was is still unknown, and there are many versions of its possible location. Some believed that the island was located in the western Mediterranean Sea, or more precisely — in the Ionian Sea. Anyway, in the island Ogygia, Calypso welcomed the exhausted Greek hero, Odysseus, who was drifted for nine days in the open sea after losing his ship and his army to the monsters of Italy and Sicily when coming back home from Troy.
Mythical Calypso fell for Odysseus and wanted to make him her immortal husband and give him the eternal youth. Calypso was so much in love with him that despite his refusal of her offers, she kept hoping and seducing Odysseus.
Eventually, she made him her lover. They lived together for seven years in her breath-taking cave-home, and according to Hesiod, Calypso even gave birth to two kids: Nausithous and Nausinous. Apollodorus said that Calypso bore Odysseus a son, Latinus. Was Odysseus really imprisoned by Calypso, or his longings weakened over the years and comfort and love that Calypso provided him with? Zeus sent the messenger of the gods, Hermes, to persuade Calypso to let Odysseus go.
So, she helped Odysseus build the boat that would take him back to his wife and his Ithaca. She provided enough food and wine for the long journey, and good winds. Calypso, who believed that she saved Odysseus, after losing her lover of seven years tried to kill herself.
But being immortal, she only went through terrible pain and suffering. Would Odysseus have ever thought of building the boat to leave the island? Could she have kept him against his own, presumably strong will? Throughout the poem, Odysseus is a series of apparent contradictions, a much more complicated character than we would find in any stereotypical epic hero.
The modern reader might be bothered by the apparent double standard of morality in the epic, in which Penelope is expected to be absolutely celibate for 20 years, rejecting all suitors and faithfully awaiting her husband's return, while Odysseus has at least two extended sexual liaisons.
When the reader first meets him on Ogygia, he has been spending the nights in Calypso's bed and his days mourning his absence from home and family.
Homer's audiences would not have had difficulty reconciling these differences. Odysseus does want to return to Penelope and his life on Ithaca despite the obvious attractions — physical, spiritual, and mortal — that Calypso has to offer him.
It does not occur to Odysseus or his contemporary audience that he has one code of behavior for himself and another for Penelope. Calypso rages at the double standard when Hermes announces that she must let Odysseus go.
She launches into a rant against the male gods, "unrivaled lords of jealousy" 5. She cites an impressive litany of examples. However, in the end, she must accede to the judgment of Zeus.
Styx one of the rivers of the Land of the Dead across which the souls of the dead are ferried. Previous Book 4. Next Books Removing book from your Reading List will also remove any bookmarked pages associated with this title. She held Odysseus captive to appease her own selfish desires, actions which do not bode well with the role of victim. Your analysis rightly points out that this passage humanizes Calypso; it grants us, as readers, access to her inner life, her grievances, her desires.
It is also a rhetorical performance, designed to win sympathy it succeeds better on you than on Hermes! Calypso frames her complaint in terms of how the male, usually gods treat her and other female gods who take human lovers.
Or does she believe that the things she offers him—immortal life, herself—outweigh the things he thinks he wants? Great Works of Literature I Fall Skip to content. Book V: Lines Page When Dawn caressed Orion with her rosy fingers, You celestial layabouts gave her nothing but trouble Until Artemis finally shot him on the Ortygia— Gold-throned, holy, gentle-shafted assault goddess! When Demeter followed her heart and unbound Her hair for Iason and made love to him In a late-summer field, Zeus was there taking notes And executed the man with a cobalt lightning blast.
And now you gods are after me for having a man. Well, I was the one who saved his life, unprying him From the spar he came floating here on, sole survivor Of the wreck Zeus made of his streamlined ship, Slivering it with lightning on the wine-dark sea. But you said it, Hermes: Zeus has the aegis And none of us gods can oppose his will.
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