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Homer's Odyssey: Themes From The Past

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The Odyssey: Themes from the Past Since ancient times, The Odyssey has been a source of inspiration for all. It tells of Odysseus, a Greek king, who goes on a great journey to make it home after the Trojan War. Homer, who wrote The Odyssey, copied it down after years of verbal communication to keep the great story alive. The epic poem blends heroic characters with moral themes and grievous death. Three themes seen throughout the epic The Odyssey are traitorous disloyalty, heroic bravery, and dire consequences for one’s actions. One theme shown in The Odyssey is faithless disloyalty, demonstrated in one instance when Odysseus is unfaithful to his wife Penelope. Though Penelope has been faithful to him, Odysseus sleeps with Calypso, who held Odysseus captive for seven years, showing that Odysseus is disloyal to …show more content…

Bravery is evident in when Odysseus is in the Underworld and evident in Telemachus, Odysseus’ son. Despite the fact that Odysseus was terrified of the souls in the Land of the Dead, he still bravely fights them. This is proven in the text when it says, “From every side the [souls] came and sought the pit/ with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear/... I crouched with my drawn sword to keep/ the surging phantoms from the bloody pit...” (lines 62-23 and 68-69). Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, also shows bravery because he goes on dangerous journeys looking for his father. Upon returning home after one of his journeys, Eumaeus, his old faithful servant, cries out, “Light of my days, Telemachus,/ you made it back! When you took ship for Pylos/ I never thought to see you here again” (lines 30-32). The quote shows how Telemachus is brave for continuously looking for Odysseus because he faces danger every time he leaves. Bravery is shown in many ways, most evident in the way Odysseus fights the souls in the Land of the Dead and when Telemachus goes on numerous trips to find his

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Nevertheless, Odysseus overcomes his hubris at the end of The Odyssey and returns to his rightful place as a father, a husband, and as a nobleman in Ithaca. Odysseus’s twenty years worth of karma depicts the reality of the saying, “what goes around comes around”. In ways such as when he vitiated and stole the Cyclops’s belongings and in return, his home and belongings were vitiated as well; and when he cheats on Penelope with Calypso, and afterwards, many men sought after Penelope for marriage Odysseus mistreated others and the same was done to him in the end. Treating others how you want to be treated is one of the ulterior messages in this story because when you treat others badly, you may get twenty years worth of

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Later, Telemachus is convinced by Athena to go searching for his father which he does. Book 3: Telemachus arrives at Pylos and talks to King Nestor. Nestor however offers no information about the whereabouts of Odysseus. The only thing he knew was that Odysseus

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Odyssey In-class Essay Outline H Name: Umar Muhammad Prompt: What effect did figurative language produce in the epic poem, The Odyssey? In other words, how has The Odyssey’s figurative language added meaning for its audience? The Odyssey created by Homer, a collective of Ancient Greek poets, is an epic poem that delves deep into human nature to answer questions about humanity's place in the world. This myth shows the hardships of Odysseus and his crew, showing how Odysseus alone persevered through a 10 year separation from his family. Myths like these often use figurative language to create more intense emotions in the work, as comparing an item to another sends a more thorough message than simply describing it.

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His actions prove that he is courageous because although he knew of the danger ahead he decided to proceed. Self discipline, just like courage, is a strength that was continuously shown by Odysseus in the selection in which he reveals himself to his son. For instance,  it is stated in lines 1124-1128 of page 599, “If they make fun of me in my own courtyard, let your ribs cage up your springing heart, no matter what I suffer if they pull me by the heels or practise shots at me, to drive me out.” This quote helps one understand why Odysseus could be categorized as disciplined by illustrating a way in which Odysseus’ self-discipline was enhanced, after all, not all people would be able to control their emotions after being humiliated in their

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In “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus faces many obstacles before returning home to Ithaca. The “Hero’s Journey” by Joseph Campbell represents the challenges Odysseus goes through, to complete his journey. Homer’s “Odyssey” reflects Joseph Campbell's “Hero’s Journey” in the way that the Call of Adventure, Entering the Unknown , and Reward and the Journey Home. In every Hero’s life they have at least one call to adventure.

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The role of “Calypso, the bewitching nymph and lustrous goddess,”(16-17: 78) interrupts the course of the quest to display the hero’s battle with self-restraint. “Calypso holds (Odysseus) back, deep in her arching caverns,”(377-378: 466) although he does not succumb to the common temptations of women “forever trying to spellbind his heart with suave. ”(67: 79) Even when offered a gift “to make him immortal, ageless, (for) all his days,”(379: 466) the hero “Odysseus, that seasoned veteran cursed by fate so long” controls his urges. Instead, Odysseus has “his heart set on his wife and his return,”(16: 78) longing for “the native land he loves, not even if iron shackles bind (him) down.

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In Homer’s The Odyssey, he demonstrates the strength of bonds formed by members of society, and how their loyalty is not affected over an extended period of time. Homer utilizes a faith connection to loyalty, Odysseus and Penelope’s marriage bed, and Odysseus’s dog Argos in order to articulate his strong belief in the importance of loyalty. Everywhere Odysseus went, he left his mark on the world.

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A second characteristic that represents Odysseus to be an epic hero is being courageous. Meanwhile, as Odysseus traveled on his quest he landed on the island The Land of the Dead. He was advised by Circe, a powerful witch - who Odysseus met previously in his voyage - in order to go home was to speak with dead blind prophet. When Odysseus was on the island, he presumed to be slightly timid around spirits. As stated in Book 10 of The Odyssey, “From every side they name and sought the pit with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear.”

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He has been dropped off back on Ithaca by the Phaeacians. On his journey back to Ithaca Odysseus has changed greatly. As the prophecy has said he has returned home on a strangers ship, without his crew, and as a broken man. Odysseus has gone to his loyal swine herder, Eumaeus. This passage that is spoken by Eumaeus represents two themes.

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Homer was the author of the Odyssey and conveys Odysseus as a great epic hero, but there is an underlying lesson to these conflicts in the Odyssey that he goes through that not all pay attention to. Welcoming strangers into your home is frightening yet they do it all the time. What's even more frightening is not letting someone into your home who is disguised as a god and could be testing you. One can only hope the people they welcome are good ones, but this did not always happen. The theme of the Odyssey is loyalty and Xenia.

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In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus must show courage, trust and discipline. Throughout the epic, Odysseus faces many monsters who he has to be brave enough to kill. He and his wife, Penelope are apart for many years and must show trust and remain faithful to each other. Odysseus shows discipline by always remaining the leader even through hard times. Even though The Odyssey was written around 8 BC the base of it’s conflicts are still present in modern day society.

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After ten years of fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus is forced to endure another ten years of hardship while on his journey to his homeland in Ithaca. In a dialogue between Telemachus and Menelaus, the King of Sparta, exclaims, “…no one of the Achaeans labored as much as Odysseus labored and achieved, and for him the end was grief for him…”(Odyssey). Menelaus’s examination of Odysseus not only displays his unyielding discipline and courage, but it also presents one of the fundamental dilemmas of the Greek belief system—that suffering is oftentimes certain and unavoidable. During Odysseus’s telling of his travels to the Phaeacians he recounts, “Dear friends, surely we are not unlearned in evils. This is no greater evil now than it was when the Cyclops had us cooped in his hollow cave by force and violence, but even there, by my courage and counsel and my intelligence, we escaped away” (Odyssey).

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Courageous here is defined as “not deterred by danger or pain; brave.” It is manifest throughout The Odyssey that both of these heroes represented this major epithet of a Greek hero; courageousness. Every time Odysseus faced a danger, he never wavered like a hero would. He had to navigate the stormy seas Poseidon struck down on him. “Now Zeus the lord of the cloud roused in the north a storm against the ships, and driving veils of squall moved down like night on land and sea… We saw death in that fury, dropped the yards, unshipped the oars, and pulled for the nearest lee; then two long days and nights we lay offshore worn out and sick at heart, tasting our grief, until a third Dawn came with ringlets shining.

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756 Words | 4 Pages

The Odyssey written by Homer is a hero’s story based on the character Odysseus. Odysseus fought among the other Greek heroes at Troy and struggled to return to his kingdom in Ithaca. The story is his ten-year journey home and all of the obstacles he has to overcome. The major themes of the book include perseverance, determination, hospitality, pride, and suffering. The narrator speaks in the third person as if he already knows the story.

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611 Words | 3 Pages

5) AMOS 5:10-12 “They hate the one who reproves in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks the truth. Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins- you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and push aside the needy in the gate.” From verse 10 we can realize that Amos gave crucial importance for the court in the gate. The one who reproves in the gate can be understood as an advocate with righteousness.

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