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The Odyssey: Notes Towards an Analysis of Homer’s Poem
Odysseus learn from journey
Odysseus learn from journey
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In The Odyssey, Odysseus faced many adversities that caused him to have to stand up and take charge of the men who were sent on this epic adventure after the Trojan War. The Trojan War was a ten years war that was caused because of the abduction of Helen by Paris. Helen was a very beautiful woman whom every man desired to have. Thus, Paris kidnapped her and took her away to Troy. In order to win this forever lasting war Odysseus came up with the idea of building the Trojan Horse.
In one of the oldest pieces of literature, The Odyssey written by Homer, Odysseus is a heroic and admirable commander that goes beyond his own duties to protect his men and return home to his beloved Ithaca. Although some readers think Odysseus is ignorant and a braggart, I believe he is a strong leader and an admirable wartime hero. Even though he is not flawless, Odysseus preservers through many obstacles and remains determined throughout the book. Odysseus has clearly shown both leadership and tactical thinking for instance when he devised a plan to escape the Cyclopes’ cave, respecting Elpenor’s dying wish, and slaying a stag to feed his men. Heroism and leadership can be defined in many different ways.
After Odysseus leaves from the underworld he goes back to Aeaea. On the island of Aeaea he gives Elpenor a proper burial and spends a night with Circe. One their last night with Circe, Circe tells Odysseus and his men all of the obstacles they will face on their way back to Ithaca. As Odysseus sets sail he faces his obstacle early in his journey home. Odysseus and his men come to the Sirens, the Sirens have a song that they sing or play that makes men go under their spell.
“On the highway to hell” “If you're going to go through hell... I suggest you come back learning something” – Drew Barrymore”. Our brave hero Odysseus has been through many trials and tribulations but his hardships are not over. He has been through years of captivity with Kalypso, problems with Poseidon, conflicts with a cyclops, and clashed with witches on Circe island; but brave Odysseus faces his biggest challenge when he travels to the underworld. Courageous Odysseus starts his journey on Circe island.
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).
Rough times are something that everyone goes through but Homer’s Odysseus went through a bit too many. Odysseus is a hero who fought in the Trojan war and has been away from home for many decades. He gets his men killed, people hate him, the gods hate him. These circumstances are very stressful because all Odysseus wants is to go home. In Homer’s
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.
This problematic display of curiosity from the epic hero leads him to taunt and insult the imposing one eyed giant saying “‘So, Cyclops, no weak coward it was whose crew you bent to devour there in your vaulted cave…you shameless cannibal…”(9, 531-34) “That made the rage of the monster boil over” (9,537) With Odysseus’s arrogance, would be his fall. This significant detail foreshadows the karma later delivered. Odysseus blinds the cyclops, and in a fit of pride and adrenaline, reveals who he is saying, “‘Cyclops– if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so–say Odysseus…”(9,558-60) With this outburst of information, the giant called out to poseidon fortelling he will “never reaches home. Or if he’s fated to see his people once again and reach his well-built house…let him come home late and a broken man-all shipmates lost”(9,589-94) Odysseus has now been cursed foreshadowing his future.
In this essay I will be talking about how temptation affects Odysseus and the rest of the characters in the story. I will be talking about how Odysseus is personally affected by the temptation. I will be talking about what Odysseus does to keep himself from falling for his desires. I will also be talking about how Odysseus helps himself in the end. Odysseus is a moral man.
The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer, follows the journey of Odysseus as he faces nonstop trials that risk his life on his way home to Ithaca. Homer characterizes Odysseus’s extreme loyalty to portray the specific trait of a Greek epic hero. One day, Calypso is told by Zeus that she has to release Odysseus from her island, which she had been keeping him captive on. So, Calypso, mad at the gods' hypocrisy, tries one last attempt to get him to stay: “After all these years with me, you still desire your old home? Even so, I wish you well.
The cave is dark and musty. The beast is gruesome: nasty, brutish and gross. He gobbles down men and sheep for breakfast, lunch and dinner. With only one eye, decaying, rotted teeth, and the stench of his rancid breath filling the confined cave, the journey Odysseus had embarked on, did not look like it had a bright future. But, this was part of the journey that he had agreed to.
I have heard many stories of the great Odysseus. His actions presumably heroic in the Trojan War as others call it. Though, my encounter with Odysseus changed my assumption of him from the day the mortal stepped into my land. He is no hero, but rather a coward full of greed and pure hubris.
Nazar Abbas Lit 2110 Prof. Sebacher Essay on Odysseus An individual's characteristics are the key to their conduct and this is very true in Homer's the Odyssey, which takes place in 700 BC in the Mediterranean, near Greece. The epic story is about a Greek hero, named Odysseus, who has left his home country to fight in the Trojan War twenty years earlier. The focus of the epic and his mission now is to make his way back home to Ithaca.
When I was young my parents' got a divorce and this was a major conflict in my life. To me it was very challenging. As shown in The Odyssey, Odysseus faces many challenges through his long journey. For instance, he faced a major challenge against Scylla and Charybdis which is like my life challenge which is whether I agree or disagree if my parents choice was a good idea. Odyssey had to decide between a six headed monster and a whirlpool in the sea, which in both cases he would lose his crew.
There are many lessons Odysseus and is men learn on their journey home in the Odyssey. Unfortunately, only Odysseus makes it home and the rest of men are dead because of their foolish actions. In the Thrinacia and The Cattle of the Sun episode of the Odyssey Odysseus’s men once again disobey him and cost them their lives. The men and Odysseus learn valuable lessons throughout their epic journey, but in the episode the most important lessons they learn are; temptation can lead to death, being obedient can save your life, and trust your instincts. If Odysseus’s men would have been more obedient to their leader Odysseus perhaps all of them would have made it back home alive.
