How can a story that was written over 2800 years teach people today important values and religious beliefs? The Odyssey was written over 2800 years ago by a poet named Homer. The Odyssey is a reflection of important values and religious beliefs. This story is about a man named Odysseus. Odysseus was sent to fight in the Trojan war. After the Trojan war, Odysseus sails home to his family but is delayed by the gods, witches, and monsters. It took him ten years to make it home. The Odyssey teaches many important values and religious beliefs. Some of the most important values and beliefs is cleverness, loyalty, and respect for the gods. An important value in the Odyssey is cleverness. Many of the characters use cleverness to get them out of trouble. Odysseus uses cleverness against the cyclops. Odysseus gets the cyclops drunk with a special wine. When the cyclops asks Odysseus his name Odysseus says that his name is Nobody. Odysseus blinds the cyclops once he falls asleep. The cyclops yells for help. When the other cyclops ask him what is wrong he says that Nobody has hurt him. Odysseus was clever enough to not tell Polyphemus his real name. Another character that uses …show more content…
Odysseus forgets that he is not in control and disrespects the gods. After sailing away from the cyclops, Polyphemus starts to boast about blinding the cyclops. Poseidon, the god of the sea, punishes him for blinding his son. When Odysseus finds out from Circe that he will lose six of his men to the beast, he refuses to accept the fact. “Must you have battle in your heart forever? / The bloody toil of combat? Old contender / Will you not yield to the immortal gods?” (12.76-79). Circe tells Odysseus he should let the gods take over. Odysseus’ men end up disrespecting the sun god Helios. Odysseus and his crew sail to the god's island. His men end up hunting the sun god’s cattle. Even after Circe warned them to not touch the
While sailing away from Cyclops' island, Odysseus calls out, "'Kyklops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laërtes' son, whose home's on Ithaka" (IX, 548-552). Cyclops calls on his father, Zeus, to wreak havoc upon the sea after receiving multiple insults from Odysseus. As a result, Odysseus and his shipmates are not able to return home as quickly as planned. Later in their journey, the sailors encounter the sun god, Helios', cows: "they have killed your kine.' And the Lord Helios burst into angry speech among the immortals: 'O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever, punish Odysseus' men! So overweening, now they have killed my peaceful kine...Restitution or penalty they shall pay-- and pay in full'" (XII, 481-490). Circe warns them to refrain from eating Helios' cows, however, Odysseus' men eat them anyway. They are punished by death, and Odysseus is the only one allowed to live. This disregard for a Greek value results in a fate similar to that of other characters in the
Odysseus shows how clever he is in The Odyssey more than once, but one accomplishment stands out above them all.
The sea served as an object that could stop Odysseus from getting where he needed to be. Modern day soldiers have many obstacles that they must overcome. These obstacles can be many things such as drug or alcohol use if they are offered some, and they must overcome the fear they face if they see someone in their unit be killed. The men being killed can also relate with Odysseus when his some of his men were eaten by the cyclops Polyphemus when they entered his home (a cave). Later Odysseus and what was left of his man took a wooden stake and drove it into the eye of Polyphemus to be able to escape from his cave. Little did they know that Poseidon (god of the sea) was the father of Polyphemus, he told his father of the terrible thing Odysseus had done and Poseidon caused Odysseus to have a rough journey
Throughout The Odyssey, written by Homer and translated by Robert Fagles, the reader is shown many examples of ancient Greek values. As Odysseus travels home from Troy, he is faced with many challenges. Some test his physical and mental strength, while others test his moral values and how he holds up against more psychological adversaries. The Ancient Greeks have very entrenched beliefs and their actions show it. Some of the most important Greek values include Hospitality, Loyalty, and intelligence.
In the article “Stories of the Trojan War,” it talks about how the gods are raged by the disobedience of the mortals which caused uproar during the time (Peabody). One of the gods that seemed to have a raging authority was Poseidon, god of the sea. He made the journey of Odysseus very hard. For instance, Poseidon would make the sea’s rage, blew Odysseus and his crew off track, and last he strikes them with thunder. That ultimately destroys the crew; except for Odysseus who is left stranded until found by Calypso (Puchner). The actual cause of Poseidon’s anger was due to the fact that Odysseus had killed Poseidon’s son, Polyphemus in a horrific manner. Also, because Odysseus was not appreciative of the fact that Poseidon helped keep his secret of his plot to invade with the
The ancient Greeks have brought upon numerous ideas, inventions, and stories to the world. Greek mythology influences modern day literature and life. The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, which tells the story of Odysseus's journey home after the Trojan War. Odysseus does not achieve his goal of reaching home so easily; monsters and gods come in his way and hinder him. The Odyssey expresses Greek values of hospitality from the customs of Ithaca, humility from Odysseus’s reform, and loyalty from Odysseus’s family.
Another example of Odysseus’ cleverness is when he met a giant, one-eyed monster named Polyphemus. Odysseus and his men went into this giants’ cave and stayed to meet him. What they saw when Polyphemus came home was a huge surprise. Polyphemus liked humans, yes he did. He liked them as dinner, lunch, and breakfast. Odysseus was losing his men rapidly while they were trapped in the cave. He had to do something. Suddenly an idea popped in his head. He and his men sharpened a stick, and shoved it into Polyphemus’ eye while he was sleeping. Plus, when Polyphemus called for help, nobody listened because Odysseus had told him that his name was ‘Nohbdy’. If that doesn’t take a clever mind then I don’t know what dose.
In Homer’s The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, is stranded at sea after the Trojan War. He must overcome many obstacles in order to reach his home, Ithaca. Throughout the book, we see the many admirable qualities that Odysseus possesses that makes him such an influential literary character: among them being cleverness and loyalty. However, every hero also has his weaknesses, and Odysseus’s main weakness is his pride. We can learn how to live our life from a hero’s good traits and bad traits
To start, within the course of The Odyssey, Odysseus displays hubris through many of his actions. The most prominent instance in which Odysseus shows hubris is while he and his men are trying to escape from the Cyclops Polyphemus. They drug the monster until it passes out, and then stab him with a timber in his single eye. Polyphemus, now blinded, removes the gigantic boulder blocking Odysseus’ escape, and waits for the men to move, so he can kill them. The men escape from the cave to their boat by tying themselves under flocks of rams, so they can easily slip by. Odysseus, now proud after beating the giant, starts to yell at Polyphemus, instead of making a silent escape. Odysseus’ men ask him to stop before Polyphemus would “get the range and lob a boulder” (436). But Odysseus shows hubris by saying that if they were to meet again, Odysseus would “take your life” and “hurl you down to hell!” (462; 463). Polyphemus, now extremely angry with Odysseus, prays to his father, Poseidon, to make Odysseus “never see his home” again, and after which, throws a mountain towards the sound of Odysseus’ voice. (470). Because of Odysseus’ hubris after blinding Polyphemus, Poseidon grants the prayer, and it takes Odysseus 20 years to return home, at the cost of the lives of all his men.
Throughout the Odyssey, there are many relationships that represent love between two people. These relationships show loyalty, compassion, and the wanting to be near one another. Two of these kinds of relationships are between Odysseus and Telemakhos, and Odysseus and Penelope.
When people think of Odysseus, they think of a great, cunning, warrior. Who wouldn’t see him that way, he fought his way through Troy and embarked on a journey back home to see his son and wife again. On the surface Odysseus seems like a genius but in Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus shows many instances where he outwits his foes but his foolishness heavily outweighs his smarts; he becomes boastful after a victory which leads to more hardships, he leaves precious cargo in the open for his brutish crew to mess with, and refuses help from the gods which nearly leads to his demise.
In The Odyssey, book nine and ten written by Homer, Odysseus constantly embodies the principal characteristics of a hero which are : cleverness, leadership, and selflessness. Thus, this character is regarded as an idol among the other characters and greatly captures the reader’s sympathy for his choices and the fruit to his actions in life. First, Odysseus displays cleverness in Book Nine when he tricks the Cyclops Poluphemus that his name is “nobody” in order to escape the horrors of the cyclop’s cave. He states: “Nobody--so my mother and father call me, all my friends” (Homer, 18). Second, Odysseus is a brave leader of his army especially in book ten when he displays leadership by motivating his comrades in keep trying to sail despite the
Within the Penelopiad, Atwood’s responds to the cultural values of Homer’s Odyssey through the characterisation of Penelope. Penelope’s narrative perspective exposes aspects of gender and class relationships that the Homeric original ignores. Atwood couples this with multiple genres and an emphasis on the process of myth formation. This serves to challenge the construction of the Odyssey as a tool to encode social norms. However, this focus on subjectivity also emphasises the unreliable female narration of the Penelopiad. Conflict between these female characters reinforces values imposed within the Odyssey. Penelope’s interaction with other women demonstrates her compliance with Homeric ideas about class and gender. To a major extent, the
Homer’s literature served as a moral messenger to the people of ancient Greece. The Odyssey by Homer demonstrates the character development of Odysseus, the epic hero, and his journey of self-discovery. Odysseus was a great, wise, noble, and well respected war hero to his people. Odysseus had one tragic flaw that was demonstrated by his actions throughout the book. The author Homer continued to strip Odysseus of his arrogance throughout the story, by throwing challenges his way, making him pay for his mistakes, and allowing him to continue to overcome obstacles. The main purpose of Odysseus journey also to reach his home a more humble man. Reading Odysseus’ journey also served as a way to look at morals. The
The first heroic characteristic of Odysseus is his cleverness. In The Odyssey, one of the instances where Odysseus displays cleverness is in his encounter with the Cyclops, Polyphemus. Polyphemus captures Odysseus and his men in the island Cyclopes, which was filled with other giants. Although it is expected among the Greeks to display hospitality to strangers, Polyphemus ends up eating some of Odysseus men. In order to escape the giant, Odysseus comes up with a clever plan. He offers Polyphemus wine in order to get the giant drunk. When the giant falls asleep, Odysseus stabs Polyphemus’ singular eye, blinding the giant. The giant naturally wakes up, and starts to try and recapture Odysseus and his men. Knowing that the giant’s shouting would most likely attract the attention of the other giants in the island, Odysseus replies to Polyphemus when the giant asks him his name that his name was “Noman.” But when Polyphemus shouts for help, none of the other giants come to his aid, since he is shouting “My friends, N...