Persuasion Essay: The Odyssey

First-person PERSUASION ESSAY: THE ODYSSEY

It was in the first moment, that one millisecond, when I had first seen him that I knew he was going to be mine. I knew without a doubt, that Odysseus, Laertes’s son and child of Zeus, would forever be in my possession, no, it’s more like, I would in his. It would only take just a certain amount of persuasion on my part.

I could tell that he was suspicious of me at first. But, I did my best to show that he did not need to fear me in that way, although he was right to do so in the first place.

"Now let Earth be my witness, with the broad Sky above, and the falling waters of the Styx ... that I harbor no secret plans against you..." [Calypso 3 to Odysseus. Homer, Odyssey 5.184]

The persuasion was a gradual process. I acted my best, playing the part as the sympathetic friend whom he was emotionally detached with. His suspicions little by little died down until it was but a mere pebble in the ocean. I knew of only two things that were delaying me from reaching my goal: One, his beautiful mortal wife, Penelope, and two, the father of gods, Zeus himself.

Zeus pitied poor Odysseus, being stuck on my island, Ogygia, with only memories of his homeland, Ithaca, to comfort him. So, he sent Hermes to confront me.

"... Now Zeus bids you to send Odysseus off without delay. He is not doomed to end his days on this island, away from all his friends. On the contrary, he is destined to see them yet, to reach his native land, and to step beneath the high roof of his house." [Hermes to Calypso 3. Homer, Odyssey 5.112]

They just didn’t understand, though, why I couldn’t let Odysseus leave. They’d have to be a lonely goddess, like I, doomed by isolation and seclusion of my island to fully comprehend the situation.

"Cruel folk you are, unmatched for jealousy, you gods who cannot bear to let a goddess sleep with a man, even if it is done without concealment and she has chosen him as her lawful consort." [Calypso 3 to Hermes. Homer, Odyssey 5.120]

When Hermes had departed, I had discovered that Odysseus had been listening in on the conversation with hopeful eyes and unmatched sadness in his heart. I almost let him go then. Almost.

"My unhappy friend ... as far as I am concerned there is no need for you to prolong your miseries or waste any more of your life on this island. For I am ready with all my heart to help you leave it." [Calypso 3 to Odysseus. Homer, Odyssey 5.160]

But even as I said this, I knew he would pity me on some level, and told me that he would stay for one more year. So, I had one year left to convince him to stay with me, just one more year to prove that I was the only one for him. It was time to stop playing, and take it seriously.

“Dear, Odysseus,” I began as we were dining in my home on delicacies my maid’s laid out for me, “If you agree to stay with me, and leave that human, Penelope, that you call your wife, I swear on my father, Atlas’s, throne that I will grant you immortality, you shall become ageless, like I and all the other gods.”

"Mighty goddess, be not wroth with me for this. I know full well of myself that wise Penelope is meaner to look upon than you in comeliness and in stature, for she is a mortal, while you are immortal and ageless. But even so I wish and long day by day to reach my home, and to see the day of my return." [Odysseus to Calypso 3. Homer Odyssey 5.220]

This angered me of course, but this did not show on my face.

“Do you not see what you are refusing? What opportunities that you are laying to waste? You could be a god. No longer shall you be weighed down by petty mortal obstacles, you will be above them.”

Odysseus, I could tell, was beginning to consider my offer, but by the look on his handsome face, the thought of betraying his wife was still stopping him from agreeing. So I decided then, to inform him of something I had discovered a while ago from the blind prophet, Teiresias, who resided in the Underworld.

“Oh, glorious Odysseus, I did not want to tell you this, for fear that you might be pained