In Homer’s, Odyssey, we witness a strong, dominant character, Odysseus, dealing with a long journey to get back home to his kingdom, his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope. In Apuleius’, The Golden Ass, the protagonist, Lucius, struggles to restore his previous form, from a donkey back to a human. At the ends of both narratives, we see how our characters reach their individual goals. Odysseus’ journey to his goal of reestablishing himself as king and head of household is an internal journey because he himself suffers and he causes suffering to his family, which causes him to suffer even more. Lucius’ journey is more external because the whole purpose of his journey stemmed from greed and wanting more. While Odysseus’ suffering was more internal, it was due to the circumstance he was forced into while Lucius’ suffering was brought on by himself and was a consequence of his own actions and resulted in an external suffering. After reading both narratives, I believe Odysseus’ internal suffering is much worse because he had no choice and because he affected other people as well, whereas Lucius’ external suffering is not as great because it is simply a consequence of his own actions.
Odysseus’ suffering is so evident even with the first time we see him.
“But Hermes did not find great-hearted Odysseus indoors, but he was sitting out on the beach, crying, as before now he had done, breaking his heart in tears, lamentation, and sorrow, as weeping tears he looked out over the barren water” (5.81 - 5.84).
Our first introduction to Odysseus really shows that his suffering was internal; that the first time we meet him he is so clearly distraught and saddened. We know him as being this big hero but we see him in tears and fee...
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...cius are external and internal ones. Odysseus suffered an internal hardship throughout the narrative where he was forced to leave his family and his kingdom to fight in the war, causing Penelope to look for a new husband and a new king for the throne. Lucius’ external suffering was brought on by his feelings of want and need in regards to magic with the help of his mistress. The initial introductions of both protagonists differ: we see Odysseus in tears, clearly upset about his situation and Lucius on a walk with his horse. While both protagonists had to deal with their individual hardships, I believe that Odysseus’ internal suffering was much worse because he had no choice and because he affected other people as well, whereas Lucius’ external suffering was not as great because it was simply a consequence of his own actions.
Works Cited
Odyssey
The Golden Ass
Odysseus’s revenge towards the suitors, whose only crime was the crime of theft, was unnecessarily cruel, after all, a hero must be able to forgive. It has been twenty years since anyone on Ithaka have seen, or even heard news about Odysseus. Therfore, it would have been perfectly pliable to pronounce him dead. “ He has been gone for twenty years.” The people of Ithaka were all under the impression that Odysseus, has in fact, passed a...
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Through these voyages certain parallels are drawn concerning Odysseus and Telemachos: the physical journeys, the mental preparations they have produced, and the resulting change in emotional makeup. These play an immense role in the way the story is set up, due to the purpose of each character's journey, their personal challenges, and the difficulties that surround them.
In the Hero’s journey, The Odyssey, the main protagonist, Odysseus, changes in a way which helps him gain self-knowledge. Odysseus ' experiences transformed his personality from how he was in the beginning to the end, by leading him through a heroic journey, also known as a quest. The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason, and this is no different with Odysseus. As the story developed, many of Odysseus’ sides were exposed through the challenges he faced. Out of the countless dangers and obstacles every step back home, him and his crew have only acquired minimal character changes. Even though they are minimal, they are those which take many decades to achieve.
Odysseus is a hero because he acts courageously while facing the many challenges he encounters. Odysseus’s shows great bravery when he engages in physical challenges. Odysseus daringly fights against the suitors, while significantly outnumbered: “For I must tell you this is no affair / of ten or even twice ten men, but scores, throngs of them” (XVI, 291 – 293). Even though Odysseus is facing hundreds of men, his bravery keeps him confident that he can win the battle. Odysseus must use his physical strength when Poseidon punishes him with turbulent waves: “Odysseus’s knees grew slack, his heart / sickened, and he said within himself / Rag of man that I am, is this the end of me?” (V, 307 – 309). Odysseus is exhausted from the torrential sea, yet refuses to give up because of enormous courage and his unwillingness to surrender. Odysseus must also cope with emotional challenges throughout his journey. His emotions are tested when he ventures to the underworld, Hades, and must confront his greatest fear, death: “From every side they came and sought the pit / with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear. / But presently I gave command to my officers” (XI, 45 -47). Although Odysseus is deeply fearful when he comes face to face with the dead, his mental f...
I said that after going through much hardship and losing all his men he should come home again in the twentieth year and that no one would know him; and now all this is coming true” (14). This shows how the gods did interfere and would tell the people on earth with symbols. The gods knew from the beginning the fate of Odysseus because they predestined it. The gods are those who gave Odysseus misfortune, and they are also the ones who fated him the way he did. Through these examples of hospitality, pride and fate, one can learn many important Greek principles.
In The Odyssey, Homer, or more so, the characters, often referred to Odysseus as the ‘Great Odysseus’. In the text, it is obvious to see that Odysseus demonstrates arrogance, charisma, over-confidence, and pride. Odysseus and his m...
Odysseus is a peculiar mix of both heroic and intelligent qualities that make him seem both human and supernatural. The Odysseus portrayed in the Iliad somewhat contrasts the Odysseus we see in the Odyssey. For the p...
Homer compares the crying Odysseus to a woman who weeps for her husband who died in battle. The weeping woman is described in a very dramatic scene in order to reflect the intensity of the sorrow that Odysseus is experiencing. The “woman weeps, flinging herself across the fallen body of her dear husband.” As she is “clinging to him, [she] wails,” and then “the enemies behind her strike her back and shoulders, then they carry her away to slavery and trials and misery.” The woman goes through a great deal of hardship, which explains why “her cheeks are wasted with pain.” Not only does her husband die, but the enemies strike her with their spears and take her away to suffer more. By comparing Odysseus’s crying to the woman weeping in this intense scene of misery, Homer is able to show the reader the degree of sorrow that Odysseus is feeling.
Odysseus’ and Telemachus’ journeys or nostos were both very similar and different. They parallel each other in some ways but they are also completely different at other times. Telemachus starts as a younger, less mature boy, and without the presence of his father during his childhood, he becomes a timid, shy and spineless boy who is greatly pampered by his mother. He has even more to achieve, being the son of a world-famous father, and this is a very difficult reputation to live up to. His journey, and after that the killing of the suitors who took advantage of him really show how his journeys and problems throughout the book mature him from being a shy, timid boy into a mature man. Odysseus’ journey also taught him about many things which he had never really experienced before, including suffering, poverty, and other things of that nature. Telemachus and Odysseus have parallel, but different journeys, which drastically change them throughout the epic and they are influenced by many different forces, both human and supernatural. Telemachus matures into a man while Odysseus becomes more wise, and both journey through Greece in search of one another.
Odysseus is unique among epic heroes in that his strength comes not from inhuman powers or exceptional physical ability, but mainly from his mind. Odysseus, regularly uses cunning, guile, and superiority of intellect to overcome obstacles. In this paper I will compare Odysseus to other epic heroes, both in terms of character and in terms of responses to crises, comparing his reactions with those of other heroes placed in similar situations.
The tone in the story is very different in the 2 parts. In part 1, it could be said that the tone is one of excitement and danger, because it is following Odysseus on his endeavors against the ocean and the gods. In part 2, the tone could be one of sadness because Odysseus must disguise himself as a beggar, and he cannot reveal his identity to his family and they cannot be reunited. They tone was also kind of mysterious, because the readers wonder what will happen when he converses with his family in disguise, because the reader knows about the disguise but his family has no idea who it is.
The challenges that Homer give the protagonist is all a test of character. Odysseus continues to pass the obstacles with flying colors, but his arrogance is the one flaw that is in dire need of correction. Some of the many challenges Odysseus overcomes on his voyage home is defeating the Cicones, surviving the Island of the Lotus Eaters, outsmarting the Giant Cyclops, saving his men from Circe, Traveling to Hades, passing between Scylla and Charybdis, escaping Calypsos’ Island and many more. Odysseus survives these obstacles and uses his smarts to escape near disaster. Often times he was the only one to survive these things and his crew often lost their lives due to their own stupidity. “‘We left the island and resumed our journey in a state of gloom; and the heart was taken out of my men by the wearisome rowing. But was our own stupidity that had deprived us of the wind.’”(P127 L75-79) Odysseus shows how he is an extraordinary man by being much smarter than his crew and the men that follow him. As a part of this stripping of Odysseus, Homer shows that Odysseus is a collective symbol of Everyman. On the one hand Odysseus is a great warrior, who is extremely intelligent, noble, and a great man. Although he has many god- like qualities he is still human. He shows that he is human and like every man, because of the fact that he still has major flaws. The
From the analysis above, although he never fully matches Odysseus either in wisdom or courage, we cannot deny their highly resemblance in initiative, sensitivity and socialization. Influenced by his father not only by hearing the great deeds spread by people but also fight with him for vengeance, he follows his father’s step and comes to his manhood.
Odysseus’ journey is one that features much emotional pain. Pain for being away from his home, wife and son, but in Aeneas’ journey he is a warrior, and he goes through physical pain. Unlike Odysseus, Aeneas begins his journey after the Greeks have burned his home to the ground. He does not have the pleasure of long comfortable “holdups” Odysseus has and he also has to deal with his father dying—the ultimate blow.