Importance Of Odysseus 'Actions In Homer's Odyssey'

Odysseus’s actions in Book 10 show that while his men can be rather foolish, he still cares for them. This is seen by how he goes back into Circe’s mansion after the first group of men are changed into pigs in order to save them despite the dangers as shown here “how could any man in his right mind endure the taste of food and drink before he’d freed his comrades in arms?” (Homer 242: 10: 424-425). If Odysseus did not care about his men he would not go back to save them despite his helplessness. When he first went to the house of Circe, he didn’t have any way to combat her which meant that he was going on a suicide mission to save his men if Hermes hadn’t shown up to prevent him from dying at her hands. Their actions show that while they

Odysseus’ relationship with Circe keeps him from returning home because he stays there for a year. Odysseus says “So she enticed and won our battle-hardened spirits over.” (245:10: 513-514) While Odysseus is there, he is so enamored with Circe that he forgets about the home he loves so much, and the son and wife who he had left behind. Similar to the situation with Calypso, Odysseus is lured to spend time with Circe even though he focused on returning home otherwise. This shows that Odysseus may be a lot more fake than he lets on because for all his talk of wanted to return home he spent a year on Circe’s island not making an effort to return to his homeland. Maybe the real reason that he is always saying that he wants to go home despite the way he acts is because he is telling this story to the people that he hopes will bring him back to Ithaca so he is trying to extract pity from them even if he isn’t as

This could show that she is able to be trusted because she sticks to the oath that she made, but at the same time she tricked the first group of men that came to her mansion. She deceived them by saying that she would offer hospitality while she ended up putting her magic drugs into their food “into the brew she stirred her wicked drugs” (Homer 237: 10: 259), this shows that maybe Circe is only honest when she gets a benefit out of