Great Works of Literature I (Fall 2017)

The Second old man tale with the two dog’s stories

Un God-like demon, my story is far more disturbing than the one you have heard already. All men are made from God and even a Demon like you will weep. These two dogs are my mother and father a curse that can never be broken or undone. I will sacrifice my life to turn them back to humans. We grew up in in a house, my parents built from scratch. My father a herdsman to provide for me. I was spoiled rotten by my parents, even though they did not have much, my father has given me more, that I feel like a King. My mother pregnant with another child, I said mother how can you bring another child into this world, when all you have is enough for me. Selfishly as I was, cursed my mother and ran away.

I ran into the field at night, and continued to run, my mother wept for my return, and my father tried to console my mother to not cry anymore. “Ugh my only son, ran off into the fields, All mighty God please bring the Sun up sooner as there are many dangers lurking into the fields”. I continued to run until I reached a hut, smell of blueberry pie coming from the Window, a woman and a man opened the door and they welcomed me. As soon I stepped in the home, I should have known it was a trap. The moment I went through the doors I felt at home as if they were my family, the feeling was so vivid, that I knew it wasn’t right but I continued. I ate their food and it was cursed with a spell, meant for a young son, who betrays his family for another, and if after he eats the cursed food and fell into the bed and the woman tells him the story of his fate and drifts off as he did. Parents will turn into dogs.

The next day I woke up and my stomach had a nerve wrecking pain, the woman fed me soup, bathed me and put me back to rest. For days and days, I have been feeling ill, I told the woman and Man, it is time that I return home and apologize to my parents for leaving them. The woman sent me off because she had known what she had already done. When I got home, I seen two dogs on the floor in front of my parent’s beds. The woman dog had giving birth, as there was blood everywhere and little bones. The father dog is crying. The woman who had cursed my family came to the door and bought me dog food and rituals for a burial and said “You betrayed your family, and your unborn sister was mauled by your father because they had no food and trapped in the house as you ran off to another families’ home, this is your punishment. Live with it”. The old men and the Demon started hugging and weeping, that the world can be so cruel, even to a child, who did not know better.

Both paintings describe the story happening in a cave at Ogygia, where Calypso – a beautiful goddess – spends seven years tirelessly yet unsuccessfully convincing Odysseus to stay on her home-island. Although making artworks on the same plot, Arnold Böcklin (left) and Jan Brueghel the Elder (right) choose two totally different scenes and approaches to interpret. 

On the left side was when Odysseus and Calypso sort of cuddling and enjoying each other’s companionship with several servants at the background. Arnold Böcklin, by using bright colors and small details such as fruitful plants or animals harmonically joining goddess and mortals, also gives the painting a sense of liveliness and beautifully portray the type of sincere hospitality that is commonly seen in the Odyssey. The painting, which displays the vivid atmosphere in Calypso’s cave, surely reflects Calypso’s committed intention to serve and entertain Odysseus, hoping to keep him around and make the godlike hero her husband.

In contrast on the right side, the Jan Brueghel the Elder chooses to portray the final scene of the story when Calypso saying goodbye and sending Odysseus back to Ithaca. Calypso is the main character in this painting. The painter purposely places Odysseus at far left and in full black, which helps shifting entire attention to Calypso who, through facial expression, seems to be enduring her grief and disappointment of letting Odysseus go. Unlike vividness and joyfulness appearing on Arnold Böcklin’s painting, Jan Brueghel the Elder instead chooses dark-shaded colors to give the overall painting a sense of sorrow and soulful heaviness.

One interesting similarity between the two artworks is Calypso both appear in nude. It is not uncommon for female figures, in The Odyssey specifically and Greek myths generally, to abuse their beauty and distinctive traits in order to cause trouble or attract man: Trojan War is fought over Helen; Circe attracts and poisons a whole crew using her beauty; or Calypso, in this case, tries to hold onto Odysseus. I think both painters want to emphasize the importance of female body as a resource of troubles as well as reasons for all Greek stories to happen.

Odysseus and the Sirens: John William Waterhouse

Penelope and the Suitors: John William Waterhouse

John William Waterhouse, an English painter of the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, portrays the two above illustrations from The Odyssey. These two paintings, juxtaposed, reveal many of the cross cutting themes in The Odyssey, specifically the role of gender in ancient Greece. Throughout much of The Odyssey, female characters are generally given roles without much power, such as being head of the household. This begins to change in Books 9-12, as women such as Circes, Scylla, and the Sirens are given stronger monstrous forms.

The first image depicts Odysseus and his men while they defend themselves from the songs of the Sirens. The second image depicts Penelope while she is weaving her loom and is seduced by the suitors. Both Penelope and Odysseus are being seduced and lust is portrayed in an opposite manner. The suitors appear to beg Penelope for her attention, whereas Odysseus is tied to a pole while the Sirens surround him. The role of gender in these two images is reversed; Odysseus is helpless and appears weak, the opposite of idealistic masculinity in Ancient Greece. Additionally, both Penelope and Odysseus are cleverly escaping their situations. Odysseus has tied himself to the pole to not fall victim to the Siren’s songs, while Penelope is unweaving the loom each night so that she will not have to marry any of the suitors.

While both images were painted by the same artist, John William Waterhouse, they appear vastly different. One employs watercolor techniques, while Penelope and the Suitors is painted in a more realistic style. Odysseus and the Sirens also is more colorful, and takes advantage of the contrast between the beauty of the sea and nature and the despair that Odysseus and his men are faced with. Penelope and the Suitors uses darker colors to exemplify the gloom that she is facing while longing for Odysseus to return. Another interesting aspect of gender in Penelope’s image is that all of the male suitors are on the outside of the house, attempting to enter, while the three females are on the inside.

Amal Mukalel A significant scene in the Odyssey is when Circe turns Odyssues’s men into pigs. The men were tricked by Circe’s hospitality when she invited them into her home and provided food and shelter. The men foolishly went inside her home and accepted her wine which turned them into pigs. In the oil canvas painting by John William Waterhouse, Circe offers Ulysses a cup of wine to begin the feast. The painting shows Circe sitting on a chair with a dead pig near her feet. This gives the viewer the impression that Circe has more power than the men and that they are literally beneath her. Circe finds it unjust that male gods can take mortal lovers whike goddess don’t have same right. Moreover, the colors appear the brightest on Circe while the rest of the picture fades away with darker colors. Circe is definitely the focal point of the picture where her power and presence is made known in the painting. Although Circe is luminous, everything around her is dark which is a clear sign of her malicious intentions. The painting gives readers images that reflect the dialogue of the story. Anorher painting that gives a similar message is by Briton Riviere, where Circe causally looks over the group of pigs that have been transformed by her wine. Briton made this portrait in 1871 to resemble the effects of the temptation without any precaution. In this picture, Circe is unfazed by her actions while all the pigs are crying out to get her attention. They are desperately trying to reach out to her but she isn’t making any effort or acknowledging their presence. Her bright yellow wand is also behind her in the picture. The wand is an extension of her powers as a goddess. The colors in the painting appear to be dull throughout the photo from the pigs to the clothing woren by Circe. This dullness resembles her mood toward the men and their hopeless situation. In conclusion, both pictures accurateley captures Circe’s power and gives the viewers a better sense of her true intentions.

http://www.jwwaterhouse.com/view.cfm?recordid=62

http://arts.mythologica.fr/artist-r/riviere.htm

The Scene i decided to choose is when Odysseus meets Nausicaa after he has been ship wrecked ( chp. 6). The images depict a few obvious differences, the first is unfamiliar while the second image seems familiar to the books translation we’ve read in class.

The picture above shows Odysseus on his knees and what appears to be Nausicaa and her servants. To me it’s difficult to figure out who Nausicaa is and why Odysseus is kneeling and why he is extremely close to the group. In the book Odysseus wake up to girls playing ball after cleaning Nausicaa’s clothes, he holds a branch to shield the girls from his nude body. Odysseus realizes the girls are of a young age and they run screaming. He is suppose to look dirty, older and his and tired. All of the women in this depiction seem to be startled and scared. He’s seems to wrap him self with vines while looking clean while being oddly muscular. Odysseus also speaks of Nausicaa’s beauty. I don’t think the artist focused on that part of the scene, which i find odd considering it’s large part of Odysseus speech to Nausea. When reading about their interaction this was not the image that came to mind.

This picture of Odysseus, Nausicaa and the Servants encounter, to me is more along the lines of the translation we’ve been reading. When i came across this image it reminded me of what i imaged in my head while reading the passage. Odysseus actually holding branch, looking tired, dirty, older and rugged. His beard and hair look unmaintained and filthy. The girls look very young, scared and half naked. Naussicaa is the only one that does not run while looking the most attractive and desirable.  Odysseus seems to approach the girls with caution trying his best not to scare them off. Although this artist didn’t depict this scene as vibrantly and detailed as the first one, I feel it captures the first moment they all interacted as described in the book.

 By  Arnold Böcklin, a Swiss symbolist painter

By William Russell Flint, a Scottish artist and illustrator

“Calypso composed herself and went to Odysseus,

Zeus’ message still ringing in her ears.

She found him sitting where the breakers rolled in.

His eyes were perpetually wet with tears now.

His life draining away in homesickness.

The nymph had long since ceased to please.

He still slept with her at night in her cavern,

An unwilling lover mated to her eager embrace.

Days he spent sitting on the rocks by the breakers,

Staring out to sea with hollow, salt-rimmed eyes.”

Both two images depict the scene of Odyssey and Calypso above. However, there are several differences between the two paintings.

Initially, the natural surroundings are different. The environment of Arnold Böcklin’s setting is barren and bleak, only puce and rugged rocks in front of the cave without any breakers. It is difficult to divide the sky from the sea on account of the same color applied to them, hazily ashen. On the contrary, the surroundings in William Russel Flint’s picture look bright and beautiful. Breakers in white roll in, “tendrils of ivy curl around the cave’s mouth”, “the glossy green vine cluster with berries”, and the sky in light blue is easy to differentiate from the sea in dark blue. The woodland in bloom in Flint’s image emanates flourishment and vigor while unfortunately, the two persons in this picture seem sorrowful and helpless. Calypso has detained Odysseus for seven years, the longing for returning home makes Odysseus feel grieved. Hermes conveys the command from Zeus that Calypso should release Odysseus immediately, which brings a huge strike on Calypso, who has taken a good care of Odysseus in these years. Böcklin makes the hue of background accordant with the negative mood of Odysseus and Calypso. Flint takes advantage of bright and distinctive colors to contrast Odysseus’s agony of imprisonment and Calypso’s reluctance.

Besides, Odysseus in Böcklin’s picture stands with his back, dark blue robe wrapping his whole body, weary and desolate. We cannot figure out the expression in his face and he just lower the head, seemingly devoured by front endless offwhite. Odysseus in Flint’s picture sits sideways, staring ahead blankly.

Moreover, Calypso by Böcklin is nude and leans against the rock, a loom with a golden shuttle in hand. Calypso by Flint stands at the entrance of the cave, wearing a water blue dress. In this aspect, Böcklin is more faithful to the description of original text, which reads “She was seated inside, singing in a lovely voice, as she wove at her loom with a golden shuttle.” Nevertheless, Calypso in both pictures gazes at Odysseus, her eye expressions being worth a thousand words.

In book 12 – 14 Odysseus leaves Circe and faces many trials. In the text, neither Circe nor Odysseus describe them as there is no direct interaction.

Though there are many paintings and sculptures that depict this event I chose to focus on a traditional Greek pottery piece and a more contemporary work by John William Waterhouse. The pottery piece depicts the sirens as half woman and half bird. It shows three of the sirens around the ship with Odysseus tied to the mast, two perch on clouds while one dives towards the crew and Odysseus. Though Homer does not write about any direct interaction this depiction allows the audience to better visualize how Odysseus was tormented by the sirens. Notably, this depiction is very different than what I had visualized the sirens to look like. In contemporary art, most associate sirens with the ocean and believe that they are half fish half human (mermaids).

However, Waterhouse drew from the early Greek portrayal for his painting “Odysseus and the Sirens”. Painted in 1891 it would have followed many literary works that supported the idea that sirens were aquatic in nature, yet Waterhouse chose to paint the seven sirens in his work with the body of a bird (like a hawk or falcon) and head of a woman. These sirens are also showed directly interacting with Odysseus and his crew. One is even perched on the ship and looking at a member of the crew. In this painting, the conflict is much more clearly highlighted as Odysseus strains against his binds and his crew continues to row. One member towards the front is huddled with his hand over his ears.

Both pieces ultimately depict the sirens as terrifying and aim to help the audience visualize how they tormented Odysseus and his men.

Art:

https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/j-w-waterhouses-ulysses-and-the-sirens-breaking-tradition-and-revealing-fears-2/

https://www.college.columbia.edu/core/content/odysseus-and-sirens-red-figure-stamnos-vase-c-480-460-bce

Odysseus and the Sirens-John William Waterhouse 1891

Odysseus And the Sirens-Leon Belly 1867

Both of these paintings depict the scene where Odysseus meets the Sirens, who attempt to seduce him. Both painters use feminine faces but Waterhouse has his Sirens in a bird’s body, which could symbolize freedom and liberation. Had Odysseus not told his crew to bind him tightly to the mast, he would have been liberated from this journey home, and freed from Poseidon’s wrath. Belly uses female bodies to further empathize their power of seduction. Also, he has Odysseus staring into the murky water that is of different color than Waterhouse’s, which is a clear blue. The orientation between the Sirens and Odysseus is different as well.In the first painting, the Sirens are aloft, looking down and surrounding Odysseus and his crew like vultures. In the second painting, the Sirens are looking up at Odysseus and calling to him. In the first painting, Odysseus is in the center of the ship. In the second, he is at the bow of the ship. These two different placements of Odysseus also shows the differences both painters and how they relate Odysseus to the Sirens. Also, the clothing Odysseus wears in each painting is different, with the first painting having him wearing white, and the second one in stark orange red colors. All the Sirens in both paintings with the exception of one is are looking at Odysseus or in the direction of Odysseus. Waterhouse puts one Siren perched on the ledge of the ship seducing a crew-member.That particular Siren is also a different shade than the other Sirens in Waterhouse’s painting. The significance of this is that the Siren is trying to seduce the crew-member to release Odysseus from the mast. This would be a deviation from the original story line, but a unique deviance.

The first more monochromatic piece is by the Italian artist Lorenzo Garbieri and the more vibrantly colored second piece is by Russian artist Edmond Dulac. Both intricate pieces present the Goddess Circe determined to have her guests drink her potion, that of which turns men into swine. Garbieri’s piece offers a more insightful depiction of Circe herself. The focal point of this piece lies in her facial expression. Circe’s eyes are inviting; however, still capture this essence of imminent danger. Her eyebrows are protruding in, clearly illustrating her cunning thoughts through her facial notions. In this piece, her superiority is visible. Circe is waiting for the men to fall into her trap, as all other human men have prior to Odysseus. Her face is presumptuous of the ongoing situation, she assumes every man she encounters is beneath her and as significant as the literal swine the potion turns them into. The darker shades and cool tones of this piece dial down the immense sex appeal that is implied by Homer’s language that explicitly refers to red tones when discussing Circe and her power as a Goddess. This piece focuses primarily on her mind, thoughts, and intelligence as given from the intricate details of her facial expressions. This motif of sex appeal is rather exemplified in Edmund Dulac’s piece. There is a major color shift when comparing the two pieces side by side. In Dulac’s piece, we have the same scene; however, the perspective is less narrow. In this depiction of Circe offering potion, we see her whole body lying on a bed beside Odysseus. Circe’s face in the Russian piece is still intricately created with an intense inviting, yet dangerous expression. However, there is more detail in the scenery here, unlike Garbieri’s piece. Dulac sexualizes Circe, presenting her whole body lying beside Odysseus with detailed makeup on her face, wearing a rather short slit dress. The warm tones of reds in this piece portray the sexual intensity more here which is the complete opposite in the Italian piece. This piece also differs from the first because Circe’s display of superiority is not implied, but explicit in her positioning next to Odysseus. Circe is the more dominant figure hovering over, whereas Odysseus looks more submissive and vulnerable. Both of these drastically different interpretations of Circe offer more depth to her character in the text. She was always a dimensional character; however, it is interesting to see the different interpretations of her that illuminate different qualities. She becomes more than just a  bored predatory sex-driven goddess.

A scene in Homer’s “The Odyssey” that interested me was his meeting with Tiresias in the Underworld in Book XI. It’s always interesting to see how different artists portray the underworld. Another interesting element in this scene is that Tiresias is supposed to be a fortuneteller who tells Odysseus about his future and what he must do to get home. When I think of depictions of oracles, I think of glowing eyes or something showing that presence of a clairvoyant power. I decided to take a look at two paintings by two separate artists. The first one I found is by Alessandro Allori and titled “Odysseus Questions the Seer, Tiresias”. According to the website I found it on, it dated back to 1580. The second depiction of this scene I found and decided to analyze was Henry Fuseli’s “Teiresias Foretells the Future to Odysseus” which dated back to some time between 1741-1825.

The first painting is one that doesn’t really shout out that Odysseus is in the underworld at first glance. Tiresias and Odysseus stand out in the forefront. An abundance of color was used and I thought this was interesting due to that fact that in my imagination their setting would be void of color or light. But perhaps this light is to show how Tiresias is bestowing Odysseus with the knowledge of the future. It might also be symbolic to how light makes your path clear similar to how Tiresias’ fortune telling made Odysseus’ voyage home clear. The painting shows more than their meeting as well. In the background, you can see many shadowy figures. I assume that they are other wandering souls in the underworld. The most notable figures are the bleeding man ,which I assumed was Agamemnon who told Odysseus the story of how he was murdered by his wife, and the lady to the far left, which I assumed was Odysseus’ grieving mother. Besides that, Allori also depicted very clearly the sacrifice in order for the journey to the underworld to take place. Lastly, I’d like to point out that Odysseus seems to take in the information very well and even seems to question the fortuneteller like the title implies. With that being said, the second depiction had similarities but also many differences.

Fuseli’s depiction gives off a different feel; one that seems very foreboding. The colors seen in the first painting aren’t really present in Fuseli’s. The entire painting is very muted with lots of blacks and whites. The only one in actual color is Odysseus which makes sense because he is the only one in this painting who is alive. I also liked that Fuseli painted white, seemingly free-flowing spirits around the border. It gave off a ghastly visual. One spirit that was clearly depicted was Odysseus’ mom again. I think both artists decided to portray her because meeting her left that much of an impact on Odysseus and readers of the Odyssey in general. Finally, I think the biggest difference is the placement and expressions of Tiresias and Odysseus. In this painting, Tiresias looks more powerful and more commanding. His warnings and words are absolute as he is depicted on higher ground and points down at Odysseus. In this painting, you get the impression that Odysseus pays heed to his fortune. He seems more worried and in an hurry to get home instead of questioning what he has been told like in the previous painting.