After Odysseus left Calypso’s island, he sails by the starts for 17 days. At this point Poseidon, returning from visiting the Ethiopians, sees him and decides to create a storm by lashing up the sea and bringing them the North, South , East and West winds together.
Odysseus is knocked off of his raft and has to swim back to it. At this point Ino, a sea nymph, appears. Ino tells Odysseus to take off all of his clothes, take Ino’s veil and wrap it around him, and leave the raft. Odysseus doesn’t trust Ino so he takes the veil but decides to remain on the raft for the meantime.
However, at that point the raft disintergrates under the force of the storm. Poseidon leaves satisfied, as Odysseus scrambles onto a log and strips before winding the veil around his waist and starting to swim. Once Poseidon is gone Athene calms the storm and uses the wind to flatten the waves in Odysseus’ path. He swims for 3 days before he sees land, but he despairs when he sees that the land is edged with high cliffs. He is washed inland by a breaker; Athene gives him the idea of clinging to a rock, when the breaker recedes he is wrenched from the rock leaving skin there.He swims along the coast outside the breakers until he sees a river.
He prays to the river, whose flow slackens allowing him to get onto dry land. He throws Ino’s veil back in the sea and crawls inland to sleep under two olive bushes and a pile of leaves. (b) How does Odysseus try to gain the pity of Nausicaa in this passage? In your answer you should include discussion of what he says and how he says it. One of the primary ways Odysseus tries to gain Nausicaa’s pity in this passage is through flattery.
He says he thinks she might be ‘Artemis’ a powerful goddess.It appears to be a high compliement in the Odyssey to say someone is ‘godlike’ but mistaking a human for a goddess must be even more flattering. This also shows that Odysseus is covering his bases – if Nausicaa were a goddess she would not be offended. Lastly the mention of gods reminds Nausicaa of her pious duty to supplicants. When Odysseus compares Nausiacaa to a ‘fresh young palm tree’ he shows his inventiveness and skill in his flattery – original and uncliched compliments sound more sincere. This strong imagery also conveys Nausicaa’s youth and height – being tall seems to be attractive among Ancient Greeks.
The obvious reason for this flattery is to try to make Nausicaa like him and respond favourably to his suppliance. The mention of the palm tree also allows Odysseus to hint at his past: ‘with a fine army at my back, that time though the expedition was doomed to end fatally for me. ’ The words’at my back’ hint for nausicaa that Odysseus was a leader of the army, a hero rather than footsoldier. This in turn hints firstly that he is of noble birth and should be respected, that he is brave and heroic, and that he may be able to later repay Nausicaa for her kindness.
‘The expedition was doomed to end fatally for me’ hints that all the terrible things that have happened to Odysseus, both arousing curiosity and concern or pity in Nausicaa. Ancient greeks loved stories which were told by bards and travellers and Odysseus is suggesting he has very dramatic tales to tell. The use of language like ‘doomed’ and ‘fatally’ also shows that Odysseus is at his lowest point, eliciting sympathy. Odysseus’ command ‘Pity me, princess’ both sums up what he wants from her (pity and aid) and shows his noble upbringing, in that he reverts to commands.This in turn shows us that being a supplicant must be very difficult for him as he is so proud.
(c) How far do you think gods and goddesses are responsible for the troubles which Odysseus faces on his travels? Although I think that the gods are obviously taking a hand in mortal affairs throughout the Odyssey, when arguing whether they are responsible for his troubles you must examine whether the gods’ actions are aiding Odysseus, harming his cause, or neutral, and to what extent Odysseus’ own actions affect his troubles.Firstly let us consider Odysseus’ main antagonist, Poseidon. In this passage Odysseus refers to his narrow ‘escape from the wine dark sea’. His journey was interrupted by the terrible storm Poseidon sent, and it is because of poseidon’s hatred for Odysseus that he has so much trouble getting home, for instance when he is within sight of Ithaca and his crew open the bag of winds.
However the reason Poseidon is so against Odysseus is that Odysseus blinded Polyphemus, Poseidon’s son.Odysseus may still have gotten away with it, had his pride not caused him to yell his name at Polyphemus, revealing his identity and allowing Polyphemus to curse him. I conclude that in the case of Poseidon, Odysseus himself is to blame for not keeping a check on his pride – his crew even beg Odysseus to be quiet before he reveals his identity. Then there is the aid of Athene, and at times Hermes’. Athene will not go head to head with her brother, but she does much to ease Od’s journey, from things like flattening waves to ease his swimming, to making the ball fall in the stream so he would awake and meet Nausicaa.Not all the goddesses help Odysseus however.
Two goddesses who cause trouble for Odysseus are Circe and Calypso. I feel it is more difficult to use Circe as an example of gods visiting disaster on Odysseus because although she turns Odysseus’ men into pigs, once defeated she returns them to their natural state and keeps Odysseus and his men guests for over a year. I would argue that she does not deliberately delay Odysseus – the instant he asks to leave she gives him advice and a following wind.When he returns from the land of the dead she again gives him advice and helps him.
Calypso however is the one divinity who does hinder Odysseus through no fault of his own. She refuses to let him leave for 7 years and reacts petulantly when Hermes is sent to tell her to free him. Zeus is important in the poem as illustrating the role of the gods as justice bringers. When we first meet him he is complaining that he warned Aegisthus not to seduce Clytaemnestra and kill Agamemnon.With the exception of Clytaemnestra I think it is true that all the divinities are seeking some kind of balance or justice: Athene wants justice for Od, Poseidon justice for his son, Hyperion for his cattle, and humans like Od or the crew are guided towards making the right decision – they just don’t always follow the advice bringing trouble on themselves.
5) Which do you think contributes more to the success of the Odyssey, realism or fantasy? I feel that both real and fantastical elements of the Odyssey are very important to the poem as a whole.However, I think that the realism is the more important aspect because even the fantastical elements of the plot would lose all meaning if they were not in some way connected to reality. The gods, although by their very nature awe-inspiring and fantastical beings, have their roots in human kind. They are like a distorted mirror of humans, very emotional and powerful but humanoid nonetheless. Take Poseidon – what father wouldn’t nurse a grudge against someone who blinded their son?Of course the gods actions are fantastical and unbelievable – like when Poseidon raises a storm or Athene turns into a swallow – but their actions are often rooted in understandable human emotions.
I think that if the gods were entirely dehumanised it would lessen the impact and power of the Odyssey. However, it can be argued that to a ancient greek audience, the gods would not seem so fantastic. The fantastical people Odysseus comes across, in his journeys, are yet another example of the fantastical taking its root in the normal.Polyphemus’ alieness (the Cyclops have no laws or assemblies, they do not revere the gods, crops spring up for them ‘untilled and unsown’) is counterbalanced by his skill and care as a shepherd and cheese maker. The way he looks after his flock especially when he talks to the biggest ram during Odysseus’ escape, wondering why the ram is last to leave and whether the ram feels sympathy for his owner, only makes it more horrifying when he dashes Od’s men against the floor ‘like puppies’ and eats them.
Even though Odysseus is travelling through strange, barbaric and fantastical lands, greek concepts like xenia still apply: Circe feeds, bathes, oils and clothes her guests in the same way that Menelaus does. The importance of xenia even in these fantastical places builds tension throughout the poem for a modern reader, as they gradually realise just how important it is and how far the suitors have overstepped their bounds. I would argue that, had the Laestrygonians been introduced as man-eating fantastical monsters, rather than cannibals, they would be less scary.The hints that something is wrong - ‘strong girl’, the lack of farmers visible, would mean nothing unless placed in a realistic setting.
If the setting were completely fantastic, the reader would not have the foreboding, or as much surprise when the Laestrygonians ‘pounce’ on Od’s men and butcher them, carrying them off like ‘fish on a spear. ’ Of course, some monsters, like Scylla, are completely fantastical. However personally I feel the encounter with Scylla is far less exciting or dramatic than the encounter with the Laestrygonians.Many would argue that fantasy, even rooted in reality is more exciting. To this I must cite the second half of the epic, where Odysseus must retain his disguise as a beggar despite the distress of Penelope and the kicks and taunts from slaves and suitors. To a modern audience I think the conversation between Penelope and Odysseus when he is disguised is the most tense scene – Homer writes that Odysseus had trouble keeping himself from crying and revealing himself when Penelope breaks down and cries in front of him.
I think a modern audience would find this more tense because we value marriages more as equal partnerships now, as opposed to ancient greeks. However, this doesn’t mean that all the taunts to Odysseus’ pride are not exciting for the modern reader, as we have seen his character grow through the Odyssey and we know how his pride has gotten him into trouble, for instance when he rises to the taunts of Euryalus during the Phaeacian games.Odysseus has to endure stools being thrown at him by suitors, slaves (Melanthius) kicking him – the perfect test for someone so proud. I also feel that, as the Odyssey is considered to be a kind of ‘guide book’ for Ancient Greeks (see Elpenor’s burial and the importance of xenia, and the importance of nostos over kleos) the Odyssey’s dealing with issues that affect ancient greeks in a realism-based way is the only way to get this guidance across.If the Odyssey was purely fantastical it would bear no relevance to readers then or now and would not be relatable. Fantasy novels today are successful because they still tackle themes integral to humankind, as the Odyssey does: how we should behave, how we should respect others and protect our homes and families – though in modern times, our Punishments may be more lenient.
