The Role Of Calypso In The Odyssey

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While the Sirens are literally man-eating monsters; Calypso is metaphorically depicted as one. Calypso possesses supernatural abilities and attempts to prevent Odysseus from reaching home for her own selfish and womanizing purposes. “ Ulysses (...) There he is, lying in great pain in an island where dwells the nymph Calypso, who will not let him go; and he cannot get back to his own country” (book 5), as recognized by even the god’s Calypso’s presence is a bane in Odysseus’s plight home, as she shackles Odysseus from his return to Ithaca. "Mercury, you are our messenger, go therefore and tell Calypso we have decreed that poor Ulysses is to return home”; only upon interference by the gods does Calypso relent and send Odysseus on his way. Albeit

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