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What did odysseus do in the odyssey
Challenges faced by odysseus in the odyssey
Challenges faced by odysseus in the odyssey
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Throughout the book Odysseus would undergo many challenges as well as life threatening situations in order to achieve his quest. He is a man who was both loved and hated by the god of Mt. Olympus. While others used their powers in his favor, some used them to hinder and if possible stop him from going home. For example due to his both his arrogance and conceitedness, the god Poseidon would cause for a rough voyage that would push him further from Ithaca and at one point cause a shipwreck that drowns his crew. One other notable trial of his journey was the encounter with the sirens.
Odysseus receives guidance, and help, from mainly Athena, the daughter of Zeus. She helps Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, throughout the whole book. Often, she disguises herself as the Mentor or another person. Athena was also the one god who spoke up for Odysseus and his son during the council of the gods. Although Odysseus does gain support from a few of the other gods, at the same time, he becomes an enemy to others, such as Poseidon, so having Athena on his side helps him to further move towards his end goal to return home.
Throughout the Odyssey Calypso is depicted as a selfish goddess who is keeping Odysseus in her Island by force. Odysseus was always painted as the victim, always weeping and said to be an "unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing...". She's painted in a darker light when Hermes comes and delivers Zeus's commands. When Zeus tells her to release Odysseus from her island and to let him sail back to Ithaca, she lashes out, claiming that the gods are "scandalized when goddesses sleep with mortals". When the gods ask her to release Odysseus she assumes that the gods are upset at her and are concerned about the nature of her relationship.
The first instance that a grand event affects Odysseus includes Calypso holding him hostage on her island for seven years. Starting on page 187, Calypso holds Odysseus captive as a slave for seven years. This affects Odysseus because after Zeus convinces her to let him go, he has to build his own ship and swim for two days and two nights. Last of all, Odysseus’ whole journey back to Ithaca affects him. Most of his struggles come from when he says that no one helped him in the Trojan War and that he did everything himself.
The last key point that is important to realize is that Odysseus thinks through his choices and advice. We have already seen that Odysseus is a thought out planner and a social situation genius, yet he is also wise with the choices and advice he decides to take. When Odysseus returns to Circe for the funeral, Circe gives Odysseus some significant advice that can help him get home. She tells him about the Sirens and the monsters and gives him advice on what routes to take and what precautions to take. Odysseus could of easily ignored this information, seeing as he is a crafty man who thinks very highly of himself, but Odysseus realizes that the advice will benefit him and his crew, so he decides to put this advice to use.
1) Athena played a huge role in ensuring Odysseus’ safety and acceptance on Skheria. On page 99, it quotes “so on this night the goddess, grey-eyed Athena, entered the palace of Alkínoös to make sure of Odysseus’ voyage home.” When Nausikaa was sleeping, Athena disguised herself as Dymas’ daughter, a good friend of Nausikaa, and instructed her go to the washing pools in the morning to do the laundry. Athena intentionally sent Nausikaa to the area where Odysseus was sleeping. She knew Nausikaa, the daughter of Alkínoös, would be able to assist Odysseus in the asking of Alkínoös’ and Arêtê’s assistance in his voyage home.
As Odysseus arrives to the island-home of Calypso, the beautiful nymph, he is quickly held prisoner. Although it may seem that Odysseus felt that he was truly a prisoner, he, at one point in his stay, enjoyed Calypso’s presence and was willingly seduced by her. It is clear that over the seven-year stay, Calypso had fallen in love with Odysseus and he had let his vulnerability to women become his harshest weakness. Her female dominance was even shown at times of manipulation through her ability to hold a man prisoner and prevent him from carrying on with his travels home. Although, when it came upon Athena that Odysseus was eager to arrive home to Ithaca, Zeus sent Hermes to have Calypso free Odysseus.
Athena is a major character throughout the book of The Odyssey and is known as the goddess of wisdom and battle. Throughout the course of the book, it is evident that Athena has a weak spot for the main character, Odysseus. Odysseus is trying to return home after the Trojan War, as the other Greek hero’s have already done, however he faces multiple challenges a long the way. Fortunately, for Odysseus, Athena was there to guide him through a few of these troubling situations.
During Odysseus’ adventure back home, he gets help from goddess Athene along the way. The goddess stands loyally by Odysseus as she persuaded many gods to be on his side and protected him and got him home safely from his journey. While Odysseus had believed he, “never caught sight of [her] there, on the deck of [his] vessel, helping to shield [him] from danger,” Athene had never abandoned him and was assisting him the entire time. Her loyalty is shown as she shielded Odysseus from any dangers, even going as far as arguing with one of the other gods to keep him safe. Her faithfulness to Odysseus shows the relationship between gods and mortals and how they were to protect their people.
From early on in the book, Athene establishes her liking and sympathy toward Odysseus when speaking to Zeus, “‘Yet is my heart distressed for wise Odysseus, hapless man, who, long cut off from friends, is meeting hardship upon a sea-encircled island, the navel of the sea’” (2). She is worried about the hero and wishes only the best of fortunes for him on the rest of his travels back home. Along with these feelings of remorse for him, comes also a hate and distrust of the suitors, since they all long to court Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, and obtain the wealth he has. So, when Odysseus is killing the suitors, he is joined by the goddess Athene to ensure his victory in the slaughter. The goddess wanted the hero to be triumphant so much, that she aided him in the massacre.
Athena is known as the goddess of war. Odysseus was aided by her ideas on how to regain power through her tactical skills. The fact that the goddess warrior was on his side through the journey home, reclaiming his land, and killing the suitors was a huge advantage. Athena is very intelligent in how she strategizes and won wars in the past. Some may argue that Odysseus is the real hero but there were many times throughout The Odyssey where he needed Athena’s protection and input of logical ideas.
Here, Odysseus tells Athena that she is all he has left and through her immortal powers, she is the only god still on his side who can help him in his time of need. Therefore, through Athena’s encouraging words, she is able to make Odysseus feel uplifted and more useful, especially as Odysseus is, at this point, very hopeless and miserably
Odysseus has grown from the man he was before, as now he finds comfort and safety in obeying the gods when in the past he did not consider their wishes. Odysseus has only returned due to Athena and he has recognized that and his compliance is founded in his appreciation and respect for her. Odysseus is now a hero due to the obedience he now has to the gods, founded in a sense of humility. Through Odysseus’ experiences on his journey, he learns the value of obedience and dangers of arrogance and ultimately, become a hero through the lessons learned.
It was through Athena’s persuasion that convinced Zeus to have Calypso to let Odysseus leave her island. In response to Athena, Zeus said, “You conceived it yourself: Odysseus shall return and pay the traitors back” (Homer, Odyssey, V.26-27). The only reason Odysseus was free and performed the actions that he did after leaving Calypso’s island was all attributed to Athena. Whenever Odysseus appeared to be in a perilous situation, it was Athena who always aided him. “But Zeus’s daughter Athena countered him at once.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus was a major hero of the novel. He had both heroic traits and human weaknesses. Odysseus defeated the Cyclops, defeated the suitors that were courting his wife, and overcome other challenges throughout the novel. A special trait that made Odysseus a hero was that he was a courageous
