Nausicaa In The Odyssey

Though the reader is inclined to see Penelope and Odysseus as a more favorable pair, a marriage between Nausicaa and Odysseus would have been very beneficial. Nausicaa is a powerful catalyst, but after her moment of glory, she is quickly forgotten. Because The Odyssey is crafted so that the audience cheers for the hero, Odysseus, many do not consider any other wife for the hero than his faithful Penelope. The noble Odysseus has made many decisions that have shaped his travel home, such as deciding to go to the underworld on Circe’s advice, but one should consider how the decision to marry the young Nausicaa instead of moving on from the Phaecians would have affected many events in a constructive manner.
The first benefit of a marriage between

The Phaeacians, in their goodness, did only their duty by helping a wayward traveler who wanted to go home, but were punished by death from Poseidon. In The Odyssey, Poseidon has to be stopped from doing further harm. This may be a reflection of bad temperament of the gods, but if a wedding between Odysseus and Nausicaa would have occurred, the Phaeacians—the innocent—would have been spared. This is confirmed by the sea god himself, who says, “Father Zeus, the immortal gods will lose respect for me, now that these mortals fail to respect me, these Phaeacians, I mean, who after all are my descendants. I said that Odysseus would suffer much before he reached his home, though I never put a final ban on his return, once you had promised it and nodded your assent. But now these people have brought him over the sea in their good ship and landed him asleep in Ithaca, after showering gifts upon him, countless gifts of bronze, gold and woven stuffs; far more than he could ever have won for himself from Troy, even if he had come back unhurt with his fair share of the spoils” (13.127-139). The people never intended to antagonize Poseidon directly. They would have never guessed at such a fate, as “Nausicaa thinks that no one could possibly come ‘bringing enmity, for we are dear to the gods’” (Dimock 167). To restate, there would have been less death in this tale if Nausicaa was wed to