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Good Advice In Odysseus Free Will In Homer's Odyssey

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Choices to leave good advice caused disaster to unfold throughout the Odyssey. Odysseus was a legendary hero in Greek mythology, king of the island of Ithaca and the main protagonist of Homer's epic, the Odyssey. He was the son of Laertes and Anticlea, and is well known as an eloquent speaker, ingenious and cunning. Odysseus had to leave his home to fight the war in Troy. They had been fighting the war for years and then Odysseus came up with a plan. After the Greeks had won they left Troy and headed for home. During his journey home, Odysseus faced many struggles and hardships. If Odysseus were to take some advice offered to him, he may not have faced all of these adversities. One small piece of advice can make a huge difference in how events unfold.

During the Cattle of the Sun Gods, Odysseus’ men were tempted by Eurylochus into killing one of Helios’ cows and eating it. Teiresias and Circe warned them not to …show more content…

Odysseus begins to yell taunts at the giant. The cyclops then throws huge rocks at them, almost killing them. Odysseus' men implore him not to provoke the Cyclops to anger, but Odysseus only shouts louder, revealing to Polyphemus his real name. He said that he if anyone asks him who maimed him, they should know that it is him. When hearing this, Polyphemus prays to his father Poseidon, the king of the sea, to give Odysseus troubles during his voyage. He wants it to take a long time to get back home and him to only arrive there after a number of shipwrecks. He also wants Odysseus to be welcomed home to find out that his house had been invaded by men trying to replace him as king of Ithaca. If Odysseus had listened to his men telling him not to provoke the Cyclops, then Odysseus would not have been through these

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302 Words | 2 Pages

After Odysseus blinded Polyphemus, then revealed himself, Polyphemus screamed out, “Odysseus, raider of cities, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca, never reaches home”(9. 588-590), to Poseidon. He acted like an arrogant monster without thought, and then the monster unleashed the most monstrous revenge on him. By revealing himself he indirectly turned himself into even more of a monster. Then when his crew eats the cattle Zeuss rings out, “I’ll hit their racing ship with a white-hot bolt, I’ll tear it into splinters.

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157 Words | 1 Pages

In one of the episodes, Odysseus encountered Polyphemus: a Cyclops who held Odysseus and his men captive. Despite the wishes of his crew, Odysseus did not kill the Cyclops; Odysseus knew that if the Cyclops were to die, the men would not be able to move the boulder blocking the exit. Instead of killing Polyphemus, Odysseus blinded him by driving a sharpened staff into his eye. Blinded, Polyphemus sat by the exit blocking any passage; the men were faced with another issue: how would they slip away? Odysseus knew that in order to escape he needed to devise a carefully thought out plan, so he “drew on all [his] wits, and ran through tactics, reasoning as a man [would] for dear life, until a trick came–and it pleased [him]” (Homer 993).

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256 Words | 2 Pages

In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Odysseus taunts Polyphemus about outsmarting and defeating him. The exchange infuriates Polyphemus and causes Poseidon to create a sea storm in response to Polyphemus’ prayer to him to take revenge on Odysseus. Through Homer’s depiction of Odysseus threatening to “‘...ship [Polyphemus] to the House of Death’”, Odysseus’ extreme pride is displayed as he appears to believe he is capable of killing Polyphemus although Odysseus is a mere mortal and Polyphemus is a direct descendant of Poseidon. Odysseus’ inflated ego also convinces him that he does not have to fear repercussions for his actions as demonstrated through Odysseus taunting, “‘as surely as no one will ever heal your eye, / not even your earthquake

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1621 Words | 7 Pages

My people think nothing of that Zeus with his big scepter, nor any god; our strength is more than theirs.” This quote shows Polyphemus’s hubris and how he thinks he is above the gods and stronger than them. Due to the circumstances of Odysseus’s men being eaten and the cyclops showing no hospitality, he had to come up with a plan to escape. He came up with a plan where he got the

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193 Words | 1 Pages

Odysseus goes to the land of the dead and during the time he is there he will encounter many new fates and things he must do as well. First, when Odysseus is in the Land of the Dead he is to sacrifice a lamb” I swore to sacrifice a black lamb, handsomest of all our flock”(11.1071-72). In this Odysseus is saying how he had made a promise to Teiresias and now he was to slaughter this lamb that he said he would do. Next, Odysseus encounters the spirit of his deceased mother “I see my mother’s ghost among the dead sitting in silence near blood. Not once has she glanced this way toward her son, nor spoken” (11.1145-47).

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474 Words | 2 Pages

With their hunger, they could not resist but to try to steal it. Polyphemus, a cyclops was awakened by the men. He ate two of Odysseus’ men. Giving in to their temptation costed two lives. Another temptation that the men could not resist was when they were on the island of the sun’s cattle.

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1107 Words | 5 Pages

After he successfully exits the cave by blinding the cyclopes, he and his surviving men board the ship. As a result of his pride, he calls out to the monster, "If anyone asks who put out your eye, tell them it was Odysseus of Ithaca!”(Hinds 109). Considering the fact Polyphemus is the son of Poseidon, the cyclops calls out to him and therefore starts the troublesome voyage for Odysseus back home. When he returns to Ithaca he learns to control his hubris by replacing it with patience. Athena, the goddess of war and strategy, disguises Odysseus as a beggar because it is wisest to arrive in Ithaca without anyone being able to recognize him.

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1764 Words | 8 Pages

In the book called The Odyssey by Homer, it mainly follows the story of a king of a village called Ithaca, hundreds of years ago-This man, is named Odysseus. Odysseus goes through many adventures after the victory of the Trojan War. However, this is where Odysseus, is not being as strong as a great war hero and a king as he should be. Although Odysseus was seen as a very strong person, physically and mentally, he lacks the appreciation and the care of his crew throughout the trials and didn’t think through many of his actions thoroughly and how they would affect not only his crew but people around him.

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415 Words | 2 Pages

When they get back to the boat and Odysseus yells out to the Cyclopes his name. Which means a harder journey for Odysseus and his men because Polyphemus is Poseidon's son. In this book Odysseus shows his pride when he yells from the boat and almist gets him and his men killed. In the movie Odysseus pride is most shown when he blames her situation solely on his men.

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500 Words | 2 Pages

In addition, when the cyclops asks Odysseus for his name he responds

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968 Words | 4 Pages

Odysseus invoked the wrath of the Greek god Poseidon for the blinding of his son Polyphemus the Cyclops. Odysseus almost escaped the Cyclops and was practically home free before his pride got better of him. Upon leaving, the island where the Cyclops lived Odysseus originally had called himself “No one” when he first blinded Polyphemus but while

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529 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout the story, Odysseus demonstrates his courage that ultimately allows him to survive. One of these moments was during his journey back to Ithaca, where he faces a race of man eating giants called the Cyclops. Odysseus originally stops his ship there to relish a feast while on his journey back to Ithaca, but while doing so, out of curiosity explores the island. Soon, he finds a deserted house and decides to wait of the owner. The owner was unknowingly one the Cyclops, named Polyphemus.

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922 Words | 4 Pages

Odysseus does this because he is prideful and haughty and wants Polyphemus to know who Odysseus was and that Odysseus defeated him. However, by doing so, he alerts Polyphemus of their location, and the cyclops hurls a massive boulder at the men, causing, “a giant wave that washed the ship stern foremost back to shore” (III: 484-485). This shows that Odysseus’ pride and honor which causes him to boast to others about his victories and their losses, is very dangerous to him and his crew. Instead of taking the easy way out, Odysseus decides to show off to the cyclops, who nearly washed them back to shore and kills them because of Odysseus’ foolish arrogance. Figurative Language: 1.

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414 Words | 2 Pages

While Odysseus and his crew are slowly moving away from Cyclopes Island, Odysseus tells Polyphemus that he is “Odysseus, Laertes’ son,” whose home “lies on Ithaca” (Homer 459 and 460). Because of his arrogant decision to tell Polyphemus the truth of his origins, he essentially dooms him and his crew. Polyphemus, who is Poseidon's son, asks of his father to punish Odysseus for his arrogance, whom grants his prayer. In cessation, Odysseus’ haughty decision to tell Polyphemus his whereabouts leads to his utter

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909 Words | 4 Pages

“…his hardy life spirit left his hones behind. Then, then in the same breath Zeus hit the craft with a lightning-bolt and thunder. Round she spun, reeling under the impact…” (Odyssey 12. 446-449). The most important lesson that is learned in this episode is that Odysseus should have trusted his own instincts, and should have acted upon them.

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