Examples Of Divine Intervention In The Odyssey

The Odyssey-Final Exam: Divine Intervention in Human Life

Robert Ingersoll once said, “We rise by lifting others”. This insinuates that people are at their best when they encourage others. It manifests that it is best for people to approach situations by being understanding and offering help to reduce the suffering. This corresponds to the way the immortals in The Odyssey behave towards humans in need. Written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, The Odyssey describes the extensive journey Odysseus takes to return to Ithaka, ten years after the fall of Troy. It also surfaces deep developments of characters including relationships between the divine and humans. As Odysseus’s homecoming is prolonged, he and his crew are lost in the sea,

Odysseus and his family confront innumerable amounts of people, but the divine makes noticeable impacts for the better, making Odysseus’s arrival possible. Throughout Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, the divine interacts with humans to help them by providing protection, guiding them and motivating them.

The gods helps common mortals by protecting them. Specifically, when Odysseus was on his journey return to his home, he stayed at Calypso’s island for a long duration and it was time for him to depart. Odysseus leaves Calypso's island and sails into a menacing storm, which causes him to lose hope. To his rescue, Athena creates a wind that helps Odysseus to reach land, “Then sent a long swell running under a northern / to bear the prince Odysseus, back from danger, / to join the Phaiakians, people of the sea” (V, 402-404). While traveling, he feels hopeless when he realizes that the storm

Towards the end of this epic poem, when Odysseus returns to Ithaka, he faces a battle against the suitors. In the beginning stages of the battle, Odysseus found it easy to take the lives the suitors, but that quickly changed when the suitors found weapons from the storage room. Due to the suitors outnumbering Odysseus and his men, Odysseus felt that he and his men did not have a chance against the suitors. Becoming hopeless, this results in Odysseus accepting his upcoming defeat. This feeling quickly changed when Athena came to his assistance in the form of Mentes. She brings forth her presence at the time when the suitors formulates their plan and vocalizes it. Athena spoils all the arrows shot by the suitors, giving Odysseus and his army a chance. This motivates Odysseus to keep on fighting as he bellows words of encouragement to his men, “ ‘Now I say, friends / the time is overdue to let them have it. / Battlespoil they want from our dead bodies / to add to all they plundered here before’ ” (XXII, 288-291). Without Athena’s presence, Odysseus loses confidence when he meets the suitors with weapons. When Athena arrives, Odysseus feels relieved. Since the majority of the suitors’ arrows were led astray by Athena, it creates an advantage for Odysseus and his men because their opponents’ amount of weapons decreased significantly. This increased momentum fuels Odysseus with remembrance of the mischief