Early in the epic poem,
Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso that she must release Odysseus and stop holding him prisoner
on her island, as her lover. After pointing out the double standard at work that male gods are
allowed to have relationships with mortal women, but female goddesses are not allowed to carry
on with mortal menshe tells Odysseus that he might not be so quick to leave her if he only knew
of all the hardships he will still have to endure. She is, after all, offering him immortality
and a life with her. Also, she seems to know that Odysseus misses his wife, Penelope, more than
anything else, for she asks, "'Hardy right, is it, / for mortal woman to rival immortal
goddess? / How, in build? in beauty?'"
Odysseus replies,
"All that you say is true, how well I know.
Look at my
wise Penelope. She falls far short of you,
your beauty, stature. She is mortal after
all
and you, you never age or die . . .
Nevertheless I longI pine, all my
days
to travel home and see the dawn of...
No comments:
Post a Comment