The fact that I can't think of any big Odyssey adaptations that include Nausicaa makes me so sad and frustrated.
Because Nausicaa and Arete are really important if you look at the Odyssey with gendered politics in mind.
Odysseus' success and failures boil down to essentially 2 things- the loyalty/disloyalty of his men, and the favor/hostility of powerful women.
Circe is deadly foe and then key ally after being overpowered. Calypso acts benevolent but keeps Odysseus trapped. Scylla and the Sirens both represent the feminine as a natural disaster, unreasonable, unconquerable, maybe survivable if you keep your distance.
Penelope is Odysseus' goal, but could also be his final undoing, as Clytemnestra was to Agamenmon.
And of course, Athena, patron goddess and guide.
And then you have Nausicaa. Odysseus washes up on her shores, naked and alone, mirroring Calypso. But Nausicaa does not exploit his vulnerability- she deftly understands the potential politics at play and assists Odysseus while granting him his dignity. With her help he wins over Arete, the real power behind the throne, and he is granted the highest hospitality and, at last, a way home. They stand as a foil and a mirror with many of the other women in the Odyssey- what is the proper role of a noble woman? How to wield that power in a way that is helpful and just, noble and kind.
Odysseus has seen so much deception and betrayal since leaving Troy. He has been warned that Penelope might mirror her cousin, clytemnestra, and be disloyal. She might need to be overpowered, like Circe. She might seek to control and emasculated him, like Calypso. OR, she could be like Nausicaa and Arete- powerful, but kind, hospitable and dignified. (As she is like Athena- clever and skillful.)
And I just feel like leaving Nausicaa and Arete out of adaptions, we lose a lot of the cultural nuance surrounding women that the Odyssey can let us dig into.
blakekathryn
areudirty
titsay
