I decided to pick a song for this week’s blog post and the song I chose to represent the type of character Calypso is in the Odyssey the song is called Calypso by Suzanne Vega. I feel like this song does a really great job at illustrating the type of character Calypso is throughout the book but especially when she had Odysseus captive on her island for seven years to when she was ordered by Zeus to let Odysseus go. Throughout the song, there are three main themes that really catch my attention. These words effectively showcase the important aspects of Calypso’s character. The three themes are sadness, isolation, and embracing. I also feel like there is also a lot of symbolism throughout the song too. We first get introduced to Calypso in book 1 as the goddess who tried to lure Odysseus.
Calypso plays a big role in Odysseus’ journey back home to Ithaca because she is the goddess who kept him captive for seven years on her island because she was lonely but also in love with Odysseus. Which leads to the three main themes of the song. Starting with the line “Salt of the waves and of tears and though he pulled away I kept him here for years I let him go,” we can notice some symbolism. I believe that the salt from the waves symbolizes sadness because tears have a salty taste, and the waves also stand for the desire to return home. You can interpret the sadness in two different ways, one of which is that she is upset that Odysseus is upset and sad that he wants to leave and return to the island of Ithaca. But if we want to tie in some examples from the book. We can see in book 5 is when this all started off when Calypso was given the direct order from Zeus to let Odysseus go. Homer ‘s Odyssey fails to represent woman in this book I think he basically ignores everything and is only concerned with the men, and specifically the gods of the Odyssey. This is evident in book 5, when Zeus gives Calypso the command to free Odysseus, and Calypso tries to defend herself. On pages 117-145 of book five, page 183 includes significant language that illustrates Calypso as someone trying to stand up for herself. Yet, she can’t because she is a woman, and there are gender roles that are set into place, as well as the hierarchy. The following hierarchy starts with the gods at the top; next is the mortal men, followed by the goddesses, and ending with the mortal women. Furthermore, “ Calypso shuddered and let fly at him. “You cruel, jealous gods You bear a grudge whenever any goddess that takes a man to sleep with as a lower in her bed. Just so the gods who live at ease were angry”
For these two question “How does your own narrative embody your reading empathy and feelings to reimagine what your chosen case study has experienced” and “How do the multimedia sources you examine in this post help the reader to approach The Odyssey from a critical and diverse lens” I feel like the song does a really good job at highlighting what Calypso is going through in the book especially when she is given a direct order from Zeus to let Odysseus go after having him captive on her island for seven years to when she lets him go and what she is going through during that process. Additionally, I think that the song offers you an alternative viewpoint on Calypso because we are so accustomed to viewing her from the perspective of books rather than songs. I can really relate to Calypso’s feelings when she is asked to let Odysseus leave and return to Ithaca, where he belongs, and when she helps him leave the island knowing that’s what he wants. However, I also know that Calypso only did this out of pure love for Odysseus and that her main motivation was to see him happy, even though I could tell it hurt Calypso to let him go.