Insight Into Odysseus

What picture of Odysseus does Homer create in the first part of Book 5 of The Odyssey?

Book 5 is the first book in The Odyssey where we are introduced to our hero, Odysseus, although we have already formed some opinions of him through the Telemachi.

The opening scene of book 5 brings us to Mount Olympus, where the Gods are holding a meeting when Athene, Zeus’ daughter brings up Odysseus’ plight. We learn that he is kind, generous and law abiding, although Athene states he “might just as well devote his days to tyranny and lawless deeds” as everyone in Ithaca (as well as the Gods) seem to have forgotten all of the good he has done in his absence. He is also described as a “captive” prisoner on Calypso’s island of Ogygia, “left to languish in misery”. This makes the reader immediately empathise with Odysseus, as most can relate to their good deeds going unrecognised as well as the feeling of being trapped. Although the scene on Mount Olympus is relatively short, it almost puts Odysseus on a pedestal by showing him in this light and evoking this feeling in the reader before we have even arrived in Ogygia.

Throughout The Odyssey, we are given very little description in terms of character’s aesthetics, although their surroundings and homes seem to reflect this indirectly. When we first meet Odysseus, he is “sitting disconsolate on the shore in his accustomed place, tormenting himself with tears and sighs and heartache, and lookin out across the barren sea with streaming eyes”. which is hardly the initial description the reader would have been expecting of the hero Odysseus from what has been said of him thus far. However, it reflects his loyalty to his final quest of returning to the family and land he left so long ago, and...

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...t” compared with her own, caressing her ego, and confessing that he longs “to reach his home and see the day of his return.” that it is his “never-failing wish”. Again showing the reader that he is quick-thinking, answering Calypso’s loaded question without angering her while not insulting his wife, and then not mentioning another women, stating simply that he wishes to see his homeland of Ithaca once more and be welcomed as the hero he as became.

This seems to satisfy Calypso who brings him fine “hero” tools to build a raft to leave the island. In this passage he shows remarkable skill we had not anticipated, such as “fitting ribs at short intervals”, “interlocking joints” and even being compared to a “skilled shipwright…rounding out a hull”. This is our first evidence that Odysseus has great skill and ability in whatever he may turn his hand to.