The Odyssey: Book 5/6 Summary & Analysis

Chapter 5 All the gods except Poseidon hoard up again on Mount Olympus to question Odysseuss fate. Athenas idiom in support of the hero prevails on Zeus to intervene. Hermes, messenger of the gods, is sent to calypsos island to tell her that Odysseus moldiness at last be allowed to leave so he can return home. In reply, Calypso delivers an impassioned indict handst of the staminate gods and their double standards. She complains that they be allowed to take lethal lovers while the affairs of the female gods must always be frustrated. In the end, she submits to the domineering will of Zeus.By now, Odysseus alone remains of the contingent upon(p) that he led at troy his crew and the other boats in his pull were all destroyed during his journeys. Calypso helps him nominate a new boat and stocks it with nourishment from her island. With sadness, she watches as the object of her love sails away. aft(prenominal) eighteen days at sea, Odysseus spy Scheria, the island of the Phae acians, his next destination appointed by the gods. Just then, Poseidon, returning from a aerate to the land of the Ethiopians, spots him and realizes what the other gods exact done in his absence.Poseidon stirs up a storm, which nearly drags Odysseus under the sea, but the goddess Ino comes to his rescue. She gives him a veil that keeps him safe after his enthral is wrecked. Athena too comes to his rescue as he is tossed adventure and forth, now forth to the deep sea, now against the jagged rocks of the coast. Finally, a river up the coast of the island answers Odysseuss prayers and allows him to submerge into its waters. He throws his protective veil back into the water as Ino had commanded him to do and walks interior to rest in the safe backrest of a quality.Calypo complains to the gods that the male gods always draw a bead on to have relationships with mortal females whereas the goddesses Summary discussion 6 That night, Athena bets in a dream to the Phaeacian princ ess Nausicaa, disguised as her friend. She encourages the early days princess to go to the river the next day to rain kayoed her habit so that she will appear more fetching to the many men courting her. The next morning, Nausicaa goes to the river, and while she and her handmaidens are naked, playing ball as their clothes dry on the ground, Odysseus wakes in the forest and combats them.Naked himself, he humbly yet winningly pleads for their assistance, neer revealing his identity. Nausicaa leaves him alone to wash the tinkers dam and brine from his body, and Athena makes him look oddly handsome, so that when Nausicaa sees him again she begins to fall in love with him. Afraid of causing a scene if she walks into the city with a singular man at her side, Nausicaa gives Odysseus directions to the palace and advice on how to improvement Arete, queen of the Phaeacians, when he meets her. With a prayer to Athena for hospitality from the Phaeacians, Odysseus sets out for the pala ce.Analysis Books 56 Our first encounter with Odysseus confirms what we have already learned or so him from Menelauss and Helens accounts of his feats during the Trojan contend and what Homers audience would already have known that Odysseus is very silky and deliberative. The poet takes pains to show him weighing any finis whether to try landing against the flint coast of Scheria whether to rest by the river or in the shelter of the woods and whether to take on Nausicaas knees (the customary gesture of supplication) or address her from afar.The shrewd and measured approach that these instances demonstrate balances Odysseuss warrior mentality. Though raptorial and determined, he is far from rash. Instead, he is shrewd, cautious, and passing self-confident. At one point, he charge ignores the goddess Inos advice to abandon ship, trusting in his seafaring abilities and declaring, Its what seems best to me (5. 397). In each case, he makes a decision and converts thought to act ion with speed and poise. In his encounter with Nausicaa, a telling pillow slip of his skill in interacting with people and charisma, his voiced approach comes off as endearing, silklike and suave (6. 162).