Another conflict that takes place in this section of the poem is the one between the nymph, Calypso, and Zeus (via his messenger, Hermes). Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso that she must release Odysseus from imprisonment on her island and she takes real issue with his involvement, saying,
"Hard are you gods and envious beyond all to grudge that goddesses should mate with men and take without disguise mortals for lovers."
She points out...
Another conflict that takes place in this section of the poem is the one between the nymph, Calypso, and Zeus (via his messenger, Hermes). Zeus sends Hermes to tell Calypso that she must release Odysseus from imprisonment on her island and she takes real issue with his involvement, saying,
"Hard are you gods and envious beyond all to grudge that goddesses should mate with men and take without disguise mortals for lovers."
She points out the double standard held by the gods: male gods are allowed to take female human lovers, but when female gods take male lovers, the male gods force them to end the relationship. She says that when Dawn took Orion as her lover, Artemis shot and killed him with an arrow. Then, when Demeter fell in love with Jason, Zeus threw a lightning bolt at him, killing him. Calypso very much resents being forced to give up her mortal lover, Odysseus, because the gods would likely stay out of it if she were a male and her lover a female.
The resolution, of course, is that she does as Zeus commands. She tries to offer Odysseus immortality so he can stay with her, but he turns her down. She ends up letting him go because one does not oppose Zeus.
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