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Odyssey Telemachus Trial Essay

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The Odyssey is a masterwork of storytelling, with an intriguing plot, fleshed out characters, and a multitude of conflict, however within the fantasy world of “The Odyssey” with its Sirens and Cyclops, we could perhaps interpret a meaning to the adventures of Odysseus and his son. While the trials of Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, are often debated, I believe that the first trial that takes place in The Odyssey is Telemachus in attempting to take care of the suitors. In this trial, Telemachus finds that an abundance of suitors are attempting to marry his mother Penelope in an attempt to claim the house that should be given to Telemachus by inheritance. The suitors use the excuse of Penelope never leaving the house in order to take residence in the home. Telemachus, with the …show more content…

This all ties back to the meaning of his adventure by conveying the single mindedness and strength of character that Telemachus possesses. The next trial in the book is Odysseus and his crew's experience at Ismarus. In this trial, the wind brings Odysseus and his men to a city named Ismarus in which they pillaged and helped themselves to all the wine, food, and treasure in which they divided evenly among themselves. The conflict makes itself known when despite the pleas of Odysseus, the crew rest and drink too long and give the rest of Ismarus time to regroup and find reinforcements, due to this the natives are able to outnumber Odysseus and his crew and drive them out. With the death of many of their crew in the survivors hands, the crew grieves. The meaning of this trial is to teach Odysseus and his crew that greed is a temptation that they must overcome in order to make it back to Ithaca

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Odysseus’s goal is to reach his home land Ithica where he will be reunited with his family and restore his kingdom. After ten years of war, he finally sets sail to return. The forces along the way make Odysseus’s journey challenging and at times, overwhelming as he tries to reach home. Internal and external forces dramatically change the long, arduous trek for Odysseus and his crew. Despite all these forces, external conflicts like monsters and temptation hinder Odysseus’s journey more than internal forces do.

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Throughout Homer’s The Odyssey, there is a continual reassertion of the strength of the bond between Odysseus and Penelope. For her husband’s absence of twenty years, Penelope never stops anticipating her husband’s return. For Odysseus, decades of fighting wars, being held prisoner of nymphs, and surviving multiple atrocities, never shake his strong willingness to return home, back to his motherland and his partner. Homer characterizes the strong bond between Odysseus his wife, Penelope, by exhibiting that they both act shrewdly, remain faithful to each other, and do not reach hasty conclusions.

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His fate and journey are ultimately changed by the actions of others who are selfish, greedy, and foolish. The suitor’s greed gave him the extra desire to finally return to Ithaca, and his journey changed as he became desperate to return to Penelope. The selfishness crew caused his journey to be delayed, as he was forced to travel for ten extra days. The foolish crew, and their need to die with full stomachs caused Odysseus to be alone and stuck on an island with Kalypso resulting in more time away from

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At the end of the story, it is evident that, the character of Telemachus is fully developed. He is no longer the young powerless and weak boy who his mother’s suitors took advantage of in his father’s absence. At the end of the text, he depicts a character with great change after leaving Ithaca and in his own odyssey; he was able to prove his worth. Telemachus is a character who undergoes constant transformation and development throughout The Odyssey. His expedition was an initiation into the heroic world of his father, and a voyage that managed to endow him with the familiarity and essential virtues needed to become a future monarch.

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In an epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus struggles to come back home while his wife, Penelope, faces barbarous suitors who plague her house to court her for the marriage in order to claim the kingship of Ithaca. With an absence of the man of the household and a son who is not old enough to rule over the country and handle the domestic complications, Penelope endeavors to keep the household orderly and civilized. In order to prevent further chaos in the household, Penelope maintains her role as the Queen of Ithaca and Odysseus’s wife through her loyalty and cunning. For a woman who does not know when her man will return home, Penelope is extremely strong to keep hope and wait for her husband; thus, her unwavering loyalty to her husband

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This constantly reminds readers of why Odysseus has to be back in Ithaca. As suiters “feed on another’s goods and go scot-free” and aim to marry Penelope, Homer vividly describes how Telemachus is not able to handle the uproar of the suitors and Penelope “[falls] to weeping for Odysseus, her beloved husband.” By knowing this information – that is blind to Odysseus but not to the readers – the readers are able to understand the urgency of Odysseus’s household. By doing this, Homer emphasizes not only Odysseus’s responsibility as a ruler, but also his duty as a husband and a father, leading readers to regard Penelope as the main drive for Odysseus’s grand journey. Therefore, the readers are able to deduce that the reason Odysseus has to return home is to protect his household, especially Penelope who is continuously forced to marry one of the

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