Examples Of Greed In The Odyssey

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Everyone wants to be happy, and some even sacrifice the joy of others in order to feel happy themselves. This selfish behavior is shown by Calypso, one antagonist in Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. In the story, the goddess Calypso keeps the hero, Odysseus, as a prisoner on her island to fill her loneliness. She enslaves him and makes him stay to make herself satisfied without taking into account Odysseus’s misery and his desire to return home to his family. In The Odyssey, Homer reveals that one cannot be forced into a relationship and be expected to be happy; the member who is forced into the relationship will live in sorrow, while the other will end up lonely.
In the story, Odysseus has a latent desire to return home, but he is forced to …show more content…
Under the instructions of one of the strongest gods, Zeus, the messenger of the gods, Hermes, tells Calypso that she must let Odysseus go. Calypso hesitates at first because she knows she will be lonely, and when Odysseus replies positively to her letting him go, she takes some offense. She saddens at the thought of returning to isolation, so she tries to persuade Odysseus to stay by warning him of “all the adversity [he] will face at sea” and tempting him with the ideas of being able to “guard [her] house… and be immortal” (Homer 106-107). Calypso keeps Odysseus as a slave in the first place to not be lonely on her island. She does not take into account that Odysseus is suffering because she is focusing on what is best for her. Calypso does not want to live in loneliness, and this is why she tries to convince him to stay; she is willing to risk someone’s joy in life for her own personal benefit. Calypso forcing Odysseus into the relationship is what makes him eager to leave it; this makes even more empty than before because now she knows she had a chance to live together with someone, but because she caused him misery, it does not work

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