Parallel Lives: Demeter and Penelope in Homer's Odyssey

In Homer’s Odyssey, the nymph Calypso protests the unfairness and jealousy of the gods when Zeus commands her through Hermes to release Odysseus. She cites Artemis, who shot Orion after Dawn took him, and likens herself to Demeter, who made love with Iasion, before Zeus struck him down. However, in Homer’s Hymn to Demeter, wherein the goddess loses her daughter Persephone because of Zeus’ schemes, she is portrayed in a way that more closely resembles Penelope rather than Calypso. Demeter and Penelope are put in identical circumstances: they are cheated by the gods, who kidnapped Persephone and delayed Odysseus homecoming, they remain loyal to their loved ones, despite encountering people who could replace them: the baby Demophoon to replace Demeter’s daughter and the suitors to supplant Penelope’s husband, and finally, they are reunited with their family and given happiness by the gods, who granted Demeter her daughter for two-thirds of each year along with rights she wishes among the gods, and gave Penelope and Odysseus peace in Ithaca for the rest of their lives. Both Demeter and Penelope lose a loved one because of the schemes of the gods. In the Hymn to Demeter, Zeus gives Demeter’s daughter, Persephone, as a wife to Hades, who kidnaps her and takes her to the Underworld. When she discovers Persephone’s fate from Helios, Demeter is bereaved. “But a more terrible and savage grief

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In light of this, Calypso’s complaint about the unfairness of the gods becomes ill-founded. “’Hard-hearted / you are, you gods! You unrivaled lords of jealousy— / scandalized when goddesses sleep with mortals…’” (Od. V.130-32) The gods are acting not to stop Calypso from keeping a mortal man, as she claims, but to reunite Odysseus and Penelope. This further detaches Calypso from Demeter while clearly exhibiting similarities between Demeter and Penelope. Demeter’s loss of Persephone and her subsequent grief directly parallel Penelope’s loss and sorrow for