Research Paper On The Odyssey

The Odyssey was one of the greatest books of all time. The Odyssey is the second part of an epic poem, the first part of the poem is The Iliad, written by Homer, near the end of the 8th Century BCE. The Odyssey took place after the Trojan War, as the protagonist Odysseus, returns home from the Trojan war with his men, he and his men landed on the island of the Lotus Eaters, where his men ate the fruit and did not want to leave. They were forced to leave and sailed to the land of the Cyclops, where they discovered the cave of Polyphemus, a Cyclops. The Cyclops came home to Odysseus and his men stealing his belongings, as revenge he ate a few of the men, drank some liquor and fell asleep, as he was asleep, Odysseus and his men pierced the Cyclops’

In the beginning of The Odyssey, Odysseus and his men sailed to this mysterious island with this special plant, “They fell in, soon enough, with Lotus Eaters,who showed no will to do us harm, only offering the sweet Lotus to our friends—but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus, never cared to report, nor to return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland” (9.41-47). That special lotus plant that they ate caused them to never want to leave or have any thought of returning. The Lotus plant changed the mindset of the sailor making them have no thought of leaving. To get the men to leave the island, Odysseus had to tie them down to the ship and quickly fled the island. Even though this did not physically hurt or help them with their journey, it did affect his mentality since he waited a tedious amount of time to see his family and their journey home since it took time for Odysseus and his men to return home to Ithaca. Odysseus and his men landed on Aeaea, the home of the Goddess of Magic, Circe. On the island, Circe turns Odysseus’ men into animals and Odysseus come up to save them. Odysseus agreed to sleep with Circe to save his men and “ [so] day by day we lingered, feasting long on roasts and wine, until a year grew fat. But when the passing months and wheeling seasons

Hermes was one of the very few gods that helped Odysseus.When Odysseus visited Circe’s island, his men were turned into animals and he has to go save them. “On the way, he meets the god Hermes, who gives him a magical plants—called moly— to protect him from Circe’s power” (Homer 920). Hermes helped Odysseus by giving him a magical plant. That plant made Odysseus immune to any magic Circe curses upon him Hermes warned Odysseus about the capability of Circe’s Magic and what it could do. Although Hermes was not a big part of the plot, he could of changed the whole story if he did not gift Odysseus that moly plant. Without that plant, Odysseus would have been turned into an animal and would not have saved his men. On the island of Aeolia, Odysseus and his men meet the god of Wind, Aeolus and stayed with him for one month. As a gift from staying with him, “Aeolus gives Odysseus two parting gifts, a fair west wind blowing the ships toward Ithaca and a great bag holding all the unfavorable, stormy winds” (Homer 916). Aeolus was kind enough to present Odysseus with not one but two gifts as he was leaving; a fair wind that blows towards Ithaca and a bag of stormy winds. The fair west winds help advance and guide Odysseus’ ship back to Ithaca while the stormy winds were trapped inside that bag so that the other winds would