Odysseus Speech To Nausikaa In Homer's Odyssey

9/1/2015 When Odysseus wakes up, he sees a group of girls by the river doing laundry. He is naked and very hungry. He goes over to the women, in order to try to receive clothing and directions to the nearest town. When he walks up, all the girls run away except for one. Her name is Nausikaa. Nausikaa is the daughter of the Prince Alkinoos. When he walks up to her, he knows he has to try to convince her to help him. The words that he would choose would be very important. Odysseus begins his speech to Nausikaa by complimenting her. He starts by asking her “are you divine, or mortal?” (Homer 161). This is a huge compliment. Odysseus is claiming that he cannot differentiate between a goddess and Nausikaa, which shows us how beautiful Nausikaa really is. Odysseus compares Nausikaa to the goddess Artemis who is said to be one of the most beautiful goddesses, and she is Zeus’s daughter. He goes on to say “Never have I laid eyes on equal beauty in
“Twenty days, yesterday, in the winedark sea” (Homer 182). Odysseus could be trying to receive some pity from Nausikaa. He could be trying to get her to feel sorry for him so that she would be more likely to help him out. He could also be explaining why he looks so filthy. He also tells her “the terror of the Storm has left me stranded upon this shore – with more blows yet to suffer” (Homer 185–186). When he says this, he is telling her that he has no idea where he is and he has no idea where to go. He is in a foreign land which he has never seen before. He is also telling her that he has quite a journey ahead of him. That he will be suffering more blows, which could be a cry for help. If he tells her that he is going to suffer many more blows, he could be pulling the sympathy card again, trying to appeal to her emotions. Women do tend to be more emotional than men are, which is probably why he is trying to go this