Circe and Nausicaa in the Odysseys Essay

These four characters all stomach the same role within the Odyssey and the Aeneid as they are all put in place as obstacles to the haceks quest. Odysseus and Aeneas both have arduous journeys to undertake and these characters are simply temptresses, there to prevent the heroes from fulfilling there quests and in my opinion pattern a greater threat to the completion of the journeys hence the physical dangers both heroes have to endingure. However although within these epics the characters have negative roles to play they themselves are victims of hazard.Without each heroes underlying mission spurring them on it is sane to assume each of these women would have a good chance of having a long-term relationship with all Odysseus or Aeneas (indeed each character with the exception of Nausicaa engage in a brief relationship with the hero of there respective epic) and the fact these relationships have to be discontinued or unexplored seems unfair to the so called temptresses and the refore causes the reader to evoke sympathy for the characters. These women, although play identical roles, are in very polar circumstance and are very different characters and therefore the level of sympathy we feel for them varies and I cogitate it is fair to say that it is Dido we feel the most sympathy forAn eventful feature of why we feel so much sympathy for Dido is the fact we learn so much of her stage setting. In book 1 of the Aeneid we comment out Dido is an exile from her home city of Tyre after her br opposite Pygmalion killed Didos husband Sychaeus In blind lust for his gold (Sychaeus was apparently the wealthiest of the Phoenicians). Dido, by the advice of her dead husband, rounds up the men driven by savage hatred or lively fear of Pygmalion and sets sail for a new home. This background is important as it gives the reader a sense of fastener with the character that doesnt seem to apply to the other characters, the fact that Dido has such a troubled past mode we sympathize with her from a very previous(predicate) stage, which makes her ultimate big bucks fall even more tragic i.e. this is a character we know preferably then an other face slight characters that is sacrificed for the quest (such as Palinurus and Elpenor).The female characters of the Odyssey just dont come with this tragic background The knowledge the audience would have of Calypsos and Circes background would be through legend, which regardless of how tragic some legends may be, are fantastical, which actor the audience wouldnt relate to them like they would Didos background and doesnt give the goddesses the sense of vulnerability you get with Dido. Nausicaa is a young princess of Phaeacia, so although her background isnt mention in any great detail in the odyssey, as the princess of a paradise it is unlikely to be negative.Another impotent sympathy factor is the characters pauperization for falling for their respective hero. Calypso and Circe have the least sympathetic motives as they are simply look for a companion (a modern phrase we would use is trophy husband) and as goddesses have more then likely had many companions before Odysseus. Nausicaa simply has a crush on Odysseus, and therefore her emotional attachment to him is not very high, the fact they never engage in a relationship also fashion their attachment isnt as matured as the other characters. Nausicaa and Dido do have one function in common however as they are both victims of divine intervention. Nausicaas intervention by Athene (improving his appearance) however is not as direct as the intervention Dido endures (being forced into love by Cupid) as a consequent the audience doesnt get the same sense of the cruelty of mess with Nausicaa that we get for Dido.Probably the most important aspect of the characters for which evokes our sympathy is the aftermath of being let down by our heroes. Although Dido is the only character whose plot continues after the hero leaves we can still ma ke an educated guess as to what would happen to the other characters. Circe and Calypso are both goddesses and are likely to visualize other companions after Odysseus, both as goddesses are in control of there emotions when meeting Odysseus which actor they should be much more composed upon his departure (the fact Calypso takes Odysseus against his will shows she should foresee doable heartache in the future).Nausicaa as a young girl is much more vulnerable to heartbreak however as a young girl she has her whole life a head of her which means she is much more likely to find another man, and the fact no commitment is made means she is simply loosing a crush apposed to a lover which means her heartbreak will be less then that of the other characters. Dido as the most vulnerable (lost her husband and livelihood) has the furthest to fall, and assuming the educated guesses as to the outcome of the other characters are correct, by committing suicide Dido suffers the worst fate by far . Book 4 of the Aeneid dictates the devotion and laying waste of Dido Dido lets her civic duties slide due to the distraction of Aeneas and the City of Carthages construction grinds to a halt. Dido states in her speech to Aeneas that her people have lost all respect for her, and as a result she feels the only way to regain some respect is to kill herself.Book 4 could almost be a tragic play Didos hubristic act of sleeping with Aeneas before marriage leads to her catastrophic downfall a downfall which can be said to be entirely down to the cruelty of fate and the gods. Dido is the most vulnerable with the most too loose, and as far as we know comes to the worst end so for me is far more sympathetic a character then the female characters of the Odyssey.