Calypso's Treatment Of Women In The Odyssey

She offered all that a man could possibly want. Eternal youth, a carefree life, paradise and a personal nymph! What more could a man possibly ask for? Calypso offered what to most men would seem a perfect life. However, it still would not be enough for Odysseus and it would not have been enough for me. Despite all of Calypso’s spells and wiles, Odysseus could not forget his beloved wife Penelope and I believe that I could not have forgotten mine.

In book 5, Calypso offered Odysseus life on her island paradise, such beauty therein that the god Hermes gazed at it in wonder. She offered him immortality and an ageless existence. He would have a life of comfort and ease, as she stated, “a life that would be less eventful” than the dangerous journeys that would await Odysseus if he left. One of the reasons that I, as did Odysseus, would want to leave is not that I would not appreciate the beauty and the

Calypso offers Odysseus a passive, peaceful life, “less eventful,” is how she describes it. She is offering a relationship where she will supply all that he needs. What then happens to the warrior hero who loves to share of his adventures as seen with the Phaeaceans ? A life with Calypso would have ultimately crushed the spirit of the man he had been. By sharp contrast, Penelope supported her husband in his efforts to help his friend, Menelaus in the Trojan War.

In conclusion, for the same reasons that Odysseus was eager to return to his Penelope, I too would have wanted to go home. The dangerous journey would have been well worth returning to the woman who in my absence could be trusted to be faithful. My wife would have maintained our home with the presence of mind that was displayed by Penelope. I too would have wanted to be with the woman that loved me enough to support and respect all of me by allowing me to be