Throughout Homer’s Odyssey, a social hierarchy is present between the immortals and the mortals. The gods’ power and dominance is illustrated through their control of nature, people and the underworld. On the other hand, mortal people’s obedience and subjection to them is highlighted through the numerous prayers, libations and sacrifices. Traditionally, the mightier gods have been interpreted as obstacles within mortal lives that only those who live in servitude of and in accordance to the gods can escape from. However, the epic hints at a different view of the mortal-immortal relationship as well, displaying immortals as servile assets rather than obstacles in mortal lives. In the relationship between Calypso and Odysseus, where Calypso is of service to the mortal man, the female gender of the goddess curtails the great hierarchical divide expected between immortals and mortals. This creates a gendered imbalance between the two, as it exists in human relationships, and shows that mortals can view immortal power as a commodity to be exploited.
Through the setting of Ogygia, Homer reflects the feminization of Calypso’s character. The island is dictated as a place of abundance and prolificacy which echo the widely recognized characteristics of female fertility, and thus, femininity. In the description: The glossy green vine clustered with berries./ Four separate springs flowed with clear water, criss-/ Crossing channels as they meandered through meadows/ Lush with parsley and blossoming violets” (Odyssey V, 71-76), the adjectives used such as “glossy”, “lush” and “blossoming” connote liveliness to highlight the fertility of the pastoral grounds. The island, being Calypso’s home, is used to mirror her own fertility and underline her feminine persona. Through Ogygia, Homer dictates how Calypso breeds “berries” to eat and “clear water” (Odyssey V, 73-74) to drink. By demonstrating how she births life and sustains growth, he draws a distinct connection between her and fertility, and feminizes her character.
Historically femininity has long been related to servitude. Men have taken from the produce that women engender, making women the providers in the relationship and female fertility a servile characteristic. In Odyssey, the influence of these gender dynamics extend to Calypso and Odysseus’ relationship. The epic shows through Calypso’s femininity that gender roles override the social hierarchy between god and person, where mortal is required to serve god. Instead, they constitute a hierarchy similar to that between men and women, where the goddess and her female fertility serve the mortal man. Through the luscious grounds of her island sustained by her own fertility, Calypso has provided food and a resting place, therefore served Odysseus for seven years. Without anything else, Odysseus has stayed alive and nourished by virtue of Calypso’s servitude. Thus, Calypso and Odysseus have a more human-like relationship without the traditional divide between male gods and people. Calypso is the female provider figure who is servile and adapts the role of the giver within the relationship, just as mortal women of the time. Whereas Odysseus is the male who seizes her fruit and feeds on her fertility, giving nothing in return.
Calypso continues her servitude to Odysseus even after Odysseus rejects the wish of the goddess for him to stay. Odysseus’ ease in rejecting Calypso, a goddess from whose hands he has been fed, showcases his exploitative attitude towards her and her fertile grounds that have nourished him so far. Unlike men that pour libations to the gods as a display of gratitude, Odysseus does not only dismiss Calypso’s desire but also exhibits no requital to her after she has “loved him” and “took care of him.” (Odyssey V, 134) On the other hand, the lines: “I’ll stock with fresh water, food and red wine-/ Hearty provisions that will stave off hunger- and/ I’ll clothe you well and send you a following wind” (Odyssey V, 159-161) and “I’ll put my mind to work for you as hard as I would” (Odyssey V, 187) use future tense verbs in repetition to demonstrate that Calypso is yet willing to give for Odysseus the bearings of her grounds and safeguard him throughout his journey, despite his said attitude. Through these lines, Homer suggests that it is Calypso who is dependent on Odysseus as she cannot let go of him and is eager to serve him even when he is adamant to leave her. Here, Calypso’s unfaltering subservience to Odysseus mirrors the unbalanced master-servant relationship of men-women instead of immortal-mortal.
The gender dynamics that make Calypso the subservient figure also constitute to the limitations of her power over Odysseus’ actions. Calypso is willing to make Odysseus a god, completely demolishing the divide between her immortal and his mortal state. In the lines: “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!” (Odyssey V, 205-208), the use of the imperative word “think” along an exclamation mark highlights Calypso’s ambition to persuade Odysseus to stay and her willingness to make him “deathless” in order to change his conviction. Although wishing to be like gods as a mortal is reason enough to be punished, in this instance, Calypso is inclined to make Odysseus immortal, indicating that she has no desire to have power over him or uphold the social order between god and person. In fact, it is Odysseus who holds the power as he has a goddess begging to yield him even more power to make him stay besides her. Furthermore, Odysseus makes Calypso swear an oath to assure she will not hurt him in his journey upon leaving the island. Conventionally oaths are sworn to gods by mortals, the reversal of these roles showcases the subjugation of Calypso by a mortal man. The oath: “I swear by Earth and Heaven above/ And the subterranean water of Styx- the greatest/ Oath and the most awesome a god can swear-/ That I’m not planning more trouble for you, Odysseus” (Odyssey V, 183-186) portrays Calypso’s compliant attitude towards Odysseus to show her ungodliness besides the mortal men and infer that she is overpowered by him. The oath also depicts that, as Odysseus holds the power in this relationship, Calypso is willing to let him go after she has failed to convince him. Unlike an omnipotent deity, she is not capable of forcing him to stay or altering his fate. This shows her idle state besides him and demonstrates that she was never a substantial obstacle between him and his pursuit. She was rather a source of fecundity, as most feminine figures of the past are, that Odysseus utilized to his advantage.
Despite rejecting Calypso’s offer to be made immortal, Odysseus sets off on his journey home even more god-like in state than she is. Zeus orders the Phaeacians to “treat Odysseus as if he were a god” (Odyssey V, 38) once he reaches their city and Homer refers to him as “god like Odysseus” (Odyssey V, 197). The repetition of the word “god” indicates that Odysseus’ stay in Ogygia only strengthened his condition. As Calypso serves him with her island’s blessings for seven years and Odysseus benefits from her creations, he grows into a god-like subject even before the eyes of Zeus and leaves the goddess behind with ease. There is no change in his will to return home, nor in his love for Penelope, nor in his abilities to travel, demonstrating that immortals are not all-powerful forces who fiddle with mortal lives, but are often exploited as resources by the mortals to get further in their journey.
It can be argued that different goddesses in the epic, primarily Circe, have been powerful obstacles upon Odysseus. However, similar to Calypso, Circe holds fertile grounds where Odysseus is fed and cared for, without being obliged to return favors, and willingly let go off by the goddess at the end. The lines: “In the glowing bronze, she set me in a tub/ And bathed me, mixing in water from the cauldron/ Until it was just how I liked it” (Odyssey X, 383-385), create a semantic field of luxury through the words “glowing”, “bronze” and “cauldron” to highlight the lavish treatment of Odysseus by Circe’s serving women. The all-female characters in Circe’s house, including herself who feeds him “abundant meat” and “sweet wine” (Odyssey X, 489) for a year, all tend to Odysseus, treating him as a god. Odysseus also utilizes Circe as a subject for his sexual satisfaction, as he climbs “into Circe’s beautiful bed” (Odyssey X, 369). The goddess is deprived of sexual attention as she lives isolated from the outside world and Odysseus uses her unsatiated sexual desires to his own benefit. In this sense, Circe serves Odysseus physically to many extents. This further underlines that gender demolishes the hierarchical divide between the immortal and the mortal. The fertile and ever-giving characteristics of the goddesses, derived from their femininity, make them obsequious to mortal men and lends mortals the entitlement to exploit them. Circe, like Calypso, was no obstacle in Odysseus journey home but an asset he subjugated and took advantage of for his rest, nourishment and growth.
Given this change to the conventional hierarchy between immortals and mortals, the epic insinuates a different Greek perspective of the divine. As the divide between men and women overpowers the divide between immortal and mortal, Calypso serves Odysseus with her fertility. In this respect the characteristics of the feminine divine in Odyssey are akin to the great cosmic mother figure from older epics who birth life and sustain growth. Through Calypso and Odysseus’ relationship, however, Homer infers that the role of such feminine divine is that of an exploited servant in mortal lives. This alludes that immortals have lost power in the eyes of the Greek people, as the fertile feminine divine is no longer a domineering mother and creator figure but a servile side character.