The photo I have chosen depicts Odysseus being discovered by Princess Nausicaa after washing up on the beach. The first thing that I noticed when looking at this photo is the nakedness of both the servants and Odysseus. We see that Nausicaa’s female servants are disgusted by Odysseus’s nudity and cover their eyes, Nausicaa does not cover her eyes and is the least surprised to see him. In this story, we know that the night before Athena visited Nausicaa and told her that Odysseus was on her island and that she must prepare herself. In the photo it seems that they had brought Odysseus food, yet neglected to bring him clothes to wear. This made me question why. Why wouldn’t the servants bring Odysseus clothes even though they had thought to feed and take care of him. I think this has to do with the sexualization of Odysseus. Throughout The Odyssey we see that Odysseus is found to be very attractive by a majority of women. There is obviously a want to care for Odysseus, but also a hint of tension between Odysseus and the women in the photo, those who are covering their eyes continue to look at Odysseus even though they are showing signs of disgust. The body language and contents of the image tell a different story than what those in the picture wanted to tell. 

In my research, I learned that Princess Nausicaa was prepared for the arrival of Odysseus. Athena had visited her the night before giving her the news that Odysseus had washed up on her island, therefore she was not surprised by Odysseus. After finding him, Nausicaa gave Odysseus food and drink and took care of him. Nausicaa is described as a witty and genuine character who shows hospitality to everyone. I find this to be shown in the picture through the gifts that are given to Odysseus that are depicted in the photo. In my research I also found that throughout his stay on the island Nausicaa and Odysseus had developed feelings for one another. These feelings and sexual tension are slightly portrayed through the body language of Odysseus and Nausicaa through Odysseus and Nausicaa’s eye contact, Nausicaa being the only one not covering her eyes, and Odysseus not covering his naked body. 

When looking back at my research and the picture that I have chosen it is apparent that there are a multitude of hidden messages in the photo. One message being the difference of shame that comes with nudity between men and women. In other photos that depict naked women men are unaffected and tend to even tend to seem to be pining over the woman/women in the photo, but in this picture we see that the women are covering up their eyes in disgust even though my research had described that the women were interested in Odysseus and wanted to get his attention. This highlights the voice that women should be ashamed of their sexuality and the human body even though both are human nature and come naturally to everyone. There is also a message from the artist’s choice to depict a story that involves a princess. Using someone with such a high title attracts an audience through the scandal that is a woman taking care of a naked man that she doesn’t even know. It causes people to question hospitality and how far it should be taken and to whom it should be offered. It also makes people question the judgment of women. Many people would find it shameful that Princess Nausicaa is staring at a naked man rather than covering her hands, but this painting challenges the shame that comes with sexuality. Women shouldn’t be ashamed of having feelings for men just as men aren’t ashamed of having feelings for other women.