Sex plays a predominant role in every society known to man, and the culture portrayed in Homer’s Odyssey is no exception.
What is believed to be right and wrong in a sexual context creates the parameters for which the characters abide by. Aggressive and congenial sexual relations in The OdysseyThe Odyssey portrays various sexual relations, abusive and pleasurable, but it is evident throughout the text that the Greeks believe that for love’s and honor’s sake, the act of sex is a sacrament that should only be done between husband and wife. are paralleled through Odysseus’ time spent with Calypso and Circe. Moral relations are demonstrated again and again through Nausicaa’s speech to Odysseus and through the idea that the day should end with husband and wife going to bed together. The reuniting of Odysseus and Penelope is so important that it occurs at the very end of the story to display that finally all is resolved and balanced in Odysseus’ world. The characters of The Odyssey struggle to decline sexual temptation and are subject to experience unfavorable results when the boundaries of wedlock are breeched.
Right away this idea is introduced as the audience learns that Penelope has been turning down the advances of the suitors for many years. She is preserving the bond that she made with Odysseus and the promise she made to him when he left for the war, even though she is lonely: “She seems attentive to their pleaded vows, Her heart detesting what her ear allows. They, vain expectants of the bridal hour,” (1). While Odysseus is detained on Calypso’s island he wants no part of the sexual advances of Calypso, even though she is a beautiful nymph, “Calypso in her caves constrain'd his stay, With sweet, reluctant, amorous delay,” (1). But instead he longs for his own wife: Penelope is, “The dear, though mortal, object of my love,” (5) and he wants nothing more than to get back to her and his home land. Calypso abuses the act of sex and even though she is aware that Odysseus has a wife and home she keeps him as her sex slave, abusing the bond he has made. She uses sex only for pleasure and eventually Athena sees to it that Zeus puts it to an end.
On his journey, Odysseus encounters Nausicaa who gives a speech that dispels any question of the Greek parameters on sexual relations. She speaks to uphold her morality, showing Odysseus that she is a child of virtue who wishes to be done right by:
“And the least freedom with the sex is shame, Till our consenting sires a spouse provide, Till our consenting sires a spouse provide, And public nuptials justify the bride,” (6)
She drives home the idea that sex is wrong outside of the nuptial bed. Her parents Alcinoos and Arete reflect this model as they end the day by going to bed with one another.
In parallel, The Odyssey also portrays what happens when the marital vows are not kept sacred. The audience knows that the Trojan war began on an account of infidelity when Helen was unfaithful to Menelaus. Agamemnon, in Hades, scorns her for it. Agamemnon is an example of the unfortunate events that always seem to follow adulterous acts, as his wife who was also unfaithful, lands him in Hades. This act was punished, as almost all acts of distrust between spouses in this story are. Story telling is one of the major methods that the Greeks use to pass down information and rules to live by. The story of Hesphaetus and Aphrodite’s love affair is told, emulating the idea that punishment shall ensue if the holy bond is broken. “Yet Vulcan conquers, and the god of arms Must pay the penalty for lawless charms." (8)
There is one instance when Odysseus is almost lost to the sexual charms of Circe. Their relationship portrays the pleasurable, engrossed type of lover’s relationship that can get so many Greeks into trouble, Agamemnon, Helen and Aphrodite have all been used as examples of this throughout the tale. “Sheathe thy bright sword, and join our hands in peace! Let mutual joys our mutual trust combine, And love, and love-born confidence, be thine.' (10). This is the one instance where Odysseus is blinded from his goal of nostos, revealing just how powerful of a role sex plays. Thankfully his crew men remind him of his purpose and he sets out with a vengeance again, turning down a lifetime with the illustrious Circe to get back to Penelope, where he knows he should be. Their reunion is held in suspense throughout the entire story. The audience sees pairs of husband and wife-Alcinoos and Arete, as well as Menelaus and Helen- ending their days together when all is right. The rejoining of Odysseus and Penelope demonstrates to the Greeks that all is well and Odysseus’ plight is to be over. “The instant his fair spouse Ulysses led To the chaste love-rites of the nuptial bed.” (23)
It is clear in The Odyssey that the bond between husband and wife is revered. Those who love within the nuptial bed’s domain, as defined through Nausicaa’s speech, uphold their morality and live peacefully in the Greek world. Even the Gods are unable to break the marriage bond for long without receiving retribution. This bond is so well recognized as something sacred throughout the story, that it caps off Odysseus’ long and eventful journey. The audience is so accustomed to this idea that by the end of the story Odysseus and Penelope adjourning to bed together solidifies Odysseus’ success and safety. Pleasure and force both play a role in the characters sexual relations but it is the bond between husband and wife that is imperative in the Greek’s culture.
