The Odyssey Book Five: Calypso's Island with Rewire the West

Dcn. Harrison Garlick and Adam Minihan are joined by Evan Amato of Rewire the West to discuss Book Five of Odyssey: Odysseus escapes Calypso's Island.

Check out thegreatbookspodcast.com for a written guide to the Odyssey.

A couple questions from the guide:

28.      What happens in book five?

King Odysseus is trapped on Calypso’s island. Zeus, at Athena’s pleading, agrees to two proposals: first, Odysseus may leave the captivity of Calypso; and second, Athena may help Telemachus escape the trap set by the suitors (5.24). Hermes, the messenger god, goes and tells Calypso that it is Zeus’ will that Odysseus be set free upon a make-shift raft, and Calypso, though upset, acquiesces to the will of Zeus (5.125, 176).[1] She tells Odysseus he may leave, and he has her promise she is not plotting some new harm against him (5.202). After four days of working on the raft, Odysseus sets sail on the fifth with gifts and provisions from Calypso (5.288).

Poseidon, who is returning from Ethiopia, sees Odysseus has left the island and, “it made his fury boil even more” (5.313). Poseidon sends a storm to sink Odysseus (5.321). As he’s being battered by the waves, a goddess of the sea, Ino, pities Odysseus, and tells him to strip off his clothes, tie her scarf around his waist, and swim for land (5.377). Poseidon smashes the raft to pieces (5.403), and Odysseus, with the help of Athena, makes it to the shore (5.471). The book ends with Odysseus falling asleep beneath two olive trees (5.544).[2]

29.      Why does Odysseus refuse Calypso’s offer of immortality?

Calypso tells Hermes that she has offered immortality to Odysseus (5.151), and again makes the offer after Odysseus knows he’s free to leave the island (5.230). How can Odysseus refuse immortality? How can a mortal man refuse an immortal life with a beautiful goddess? A subtle clue is found in the opening of book five. It does not repeat the typical line of Dawn and her rosy fingers but instead invokes Dawn’s lover, Tithonus (5.01).[3] It is said that Dawn (Eos) asked Zeus to make her mortal lover, Tithonus, immortal, and Zeus agreed—but Zeus did not grant Tithonus immortal youth. Thus, Tithonus, immortal, continued to age until he “became an old shriveled creature little more than a voice.”[4] Tithonus attempts to graft onto human nature something that is unnatural to it: immortality. As Dr. Patrick Deneen observes: “Tithonus accepts what is unacceptable for mortals to attain, but which is nevertheless clearly tempting to normal mortal desires.”[5]

One aspect of the unnaturalness of immortality in man is the necessity for the possibility of death to achieve glory (kleos). It is in facing death that man achieves renown. Without death, what is man? Furthermore, observe how those who are without death, the immortal gods, are presented: imploded personalities, obsessive, petty, and narcissistic. The sinews between man, death, and glory are one to observe, as the story of Odysseus continues to develop.

Similarly to Tithonus, we should observe Homer references the goddess Ino who was “a mortal woman once” (5.367). Ino, the sister of Semele, was driven mad by Hera, and she jumped into the sea with her son in her arms. She was transformed by Zeus into the sea goddess Learchos and her son the sea god Palaemon.[6] Here, we may observe on a preliminary level, that Ino’s transformation to the divine is tethered to two things unnatural to man: madness and suicide. Moreover, it is unclear that Ino made any intentional decision to become divine.

If we accept the premise that immortality is unnatural to man, Odysseus is then right in rejecting Calypso’s offer, but we are still left to discern how Odysseus can reject what is so tempting to mortals. Knowing what one ought to do and doing it are distinct. Homer presents this as a mystery to unravel, as we are introduced to Odysseus years after he’s left Troy. We are not told yet what experiences he underwent prior to being captive on Calypso’s island that may have helped form him to withstand such a temptation.[7]

Notes:

[1] Hermes presumably tells Calypso of Zeus’ will that Odysseus be sent away on a make-shift raft (5.27), because Calypso does so (5.176) without Homer recording any explicit line to that effect from Hermes.

[2] Thank you to Evan of Rewire the West who joined us to discuss book five.

[3] Deneen, 44-45.

[4] Companion, 572-73l Deneen, 44-45.

[5] Deneen, 44.

[6] Companion, 314, 208.

[7] Deneen, 41-45.