Cover Letter

Dear reader, after reading Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, I discover numerous themes that without doubt we can connect to the modern world. However, one theme that really grabbed my attention is the love relationships Homer portrays in the poem, to be more specific the love relationship between Odysseus and Calypso and Odysseus and Penelope.  I think these two love relationships are very much different in the way the character portrays their love. In the love relationship of Odysseus and Calypso both character portrayed their love differently thus making this a weak and unbalance relationship. In the other hand, the love relationship of Odysseus and Penelope, both character portrayed their love equally thus making this the strongest and most plutonic love. Therefore, the love relationship of Odysseus and Penelope is an unconditional  love and the highest form of love that not even the gods can understand.  In page 2 of the essay, where I start to describe the love relationship between Odysseus and Calypso, I beats manage to make this point. I intended for you, the reader, to see the gap there is between one love relationship and the other and how it’s that the strongest and most unconditional love works and overcomes all the sufferings. I think, I need to polish my analysis in other to better communicate my ideas. I can see the spine cord of the essay but I need to expand the development of the analysis so my ideas can successfully stand out.

The Essay

We all love someone, we love some based on passion others based on familial status but we all want to love and be love unconditionally. In homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus forms many love relationships through his journey but he portrays his love differently in each relationship. Odysseus’s love for Calypso was passionate but with time it faded while his love for Penelope was deep unconditional love that never fades.  The goddess, Calypso loved Odysseus in all forms but Odysseus could not reciprocate, it was an unbalance relationship. He and Penelope had a balance relationship, both matched each form of love they had for each other thus making their love incomparable to the others.

Odysseus left troy victorious but his biggest battle was his journey back home and is in this long suffering battle, the battle that almost took his life, where he is rescued by the goddess Calypso at the island of Ogygia and learns to love her.  But his love for her was not comparable to the love she had towards him. Homer says, “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.” (page 388). Odysseus journey home was full of unthinkable sufferings and been saved by Calypso seen to be the light at the end of the tunnel. Calypso opened her arms and heart to him and odysseys did so as well, however Odysseus loved her ”unwilling” because he was not able to find in calypso what she found in him.  Odysseus’s love for Calypso is in form of passion and not unconditional thus making this an unbalance relationship.

Any mortal would’ve giving up anything to have a god or goddess love them as much as Calypso loved Odysseus.  But Calypso and Odysseus’s love was not mutual and it became more evident that his love for Penelope was built on much stronger blocks. Calypso says

“But if you had any idea of all the pain

you’re destined to suffer before getting home,

You’d stay here with me, deathless—

Think of it, Odysseus!—no matter how much

You missed your wife and wanted to see her again.

You spend all your daylight hours yearning for her.

I don’t mind saying she’s not my equal is beauty, no matter how you measure it.

Mortal beauty cannot compare with immortal”. (page 390)

And Odysseus answered,

“goddess and mistress, don’t be angry with me.

I know very well that Penelope,

For all her virtues, would pale beside you.

She’s only human, and you are a goddess,

Eternally young. Still, I want to go back” (page 390)

The love relationship between Calypso and Odysseus is not balance, both love each other very differently. The obvious gap is that Odysseus is a mortal and calypso is an immortal but this represents a more deeply division. Mortals and Immortal do not love or fear alike, so Calypso tried to disappear this gap by offering Odysseus immortality. She believes this will persuade Odysseus heart to stay next to her but he is a mortal and he thinks and/or feels differently. As mortals, we have the unique quality to understand fear, love and life differently so when Odysseus said, “She’s only human…still, I want to go back”, is because he is not content with Calypso. He doesn’t want immortal love instead he hopes, as a mortal, to see his wife and love her even if its only for few days. His suffering did not dilute his hope to see his wife again because It’s only with his wife that his heart feels the unconditional love he cannot find in the Calypso.

With the help of calypso Odysseus was able leave the island and continue his journey back home. After twenty long suffering years, Odysseus reached his homeland and took vengeance upon the suitors who like savages courted his wife and diminished most of his wealth. But the most crucial task was to reconnect with his wife, to rekindle their love relationship. Penelope says “I am lost in wonder and unable to speak or ask questions or look him in the eyes. If he really is Odysseus come home, the two of us will be sure of each other, very sure. There are secrets between us no one else knows” (page 602). Their love goes beyond physical beauty and appearances, their love has a much deeper connection. That connection is the love of mind, they both think, scheme and feel alike, these shared qualities is what makes them a perfect match. In this case, the shared “Secret” is the only thing by which they can rekindle their love because it’s the key the opens their hearts. Thus, when the “secret”, which is the specific construction of their bed, was reveal and confirm by both. This makes them 100% sure they are finally together. This deep connection makes their love incomparable to others.

Odysseus and Penelope’s love is beyond the appearances and loyalty that friends and servants have for Odysseus. Their connection is deep of the mind and the following conversation demonstrates this,

“We have not yet come to the end if our trials.

There is still a long, hard task for me to complete,….

And Penelope calmly answered him

“Your bed is ready for you whenever

you want it …..

But since you’ve since you’ve brought it up, tell me about this trial. (page 606)

They are finally reunited after twenty long suffering years and both longed for each other’s bodies but that night of their reunion it was about the getting to discover each other’s stories, sufferings and happiness to rekindle their love. Odysseus tells Penelope that “there is still a long, hard task for me to complete” and instead of going to bed right away and make sweet love, Penelope insist of him telling her all “about this trial”. This the unconditional love in all forms that makes them a perfect match. Is like they both shared the same mind, soul a body because they discover and rediscover new things about each other. Even after they talk and move on to make sweet love, they continue talking sharing all that they suffered.

In the odyssey, homers epic poem, we see many relationship and all of them are built differently. Some built on loyalty, respect, fear, passion or wealth but ones built on unconditional love have the greatest impact. The love relationship of Odysseus and Penelope overcomes numerous sufferings and temptations for their love is equally shared at all levels someone can love a person. They have love for their beauty, courage, fears, history and most importance their mind love.