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Conclusion analysis of the odyssey
Poems
Critical analysis of the odyssey
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The Odyssey is an Epic Poem written by the ancient Greek Homer that focuses on the hero Odysseus and his strenuous journey home after the fall of Troy. During this hazardous expedition Odysseus faced challenges from defeating the Cyclops, to attempting to avoid the temptation of the Lotus Eaters, and even just the rough seas that Poseidon inflicted on them. Odysseus had to face all of these challenges to achieve his goal of returning back to his home in Ithaca. This can be compared to our lives as we move through our high school years. These are some of the most essential and memorable years of our lives and lead the way to our future. The Cyclops that Odysseus and his men face can represent school in my life. The Cyclops is a “a brute so …show more content…
We must stand strong for what we believe. We must stick to what we know is right and avoid these temptations. Some of Odysseus’ men fell into the trap but there still is a chance that we can escape before we are affected too much. Then there are the gods that participate in this story. All of these gods essentially act like our parents. “Praying the god of earthquake to befriend you his son I am, for he by his avowal fathered me” (432) Odysseus and Polyphemus have parents just as we do. They basically control what happens just as our parents play a big part in our lives and affect them also. Just as they punish us, they also help us get through difficult times just as Athena does in The Odyssey. “Athena urges Odysseus on to battle, yet holds back her fullest aid, waiting for Odysseus and Telemachus to prove themselves.”(The Odyssey) Athena is acting like a mother and giving Odysseus advice to help him finally get back home. Our parents are essential to helping us get through theses tough teenage years and we definitely couldn’t do it without them. This is when we really need them the most, although we might not think so at the time. Just like in our lives as in the poem, the story and our story would not be the same without the presence of adults and
The epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, is about the events that happen after The Iliad. It tells the story of Odysseus and his journey home from the Trojan War. Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, encounters forces that are external and internal. These forces prevent him from returning to his homeland and achieving nostos. Although many different forces impact Odysseus’ journey home, internal forces such as recklessness and temptations hinder Odysseus and his crew from their homecoming far more greatly than external forces.
Early on in both of their stories, Odysseus and Telemachus learn to practice strong will in initiating their own journeys. Even though Telemachus reaches the cusp of his childhood, the individuals around him plague him into believing he remains a boy. In the Odyssey, gods are considered to control vast things such as fate or choose to intrude in the lives of mortals. One of these goddesses, Athena, desires to aid both Odysseus and Telemachus in their journeys. In disguise, she gives Telemachus inspiration to initiate the steps to adulthood by saying, “you’ll never be fainthearted or a fool, /Telemachus, if you have your father’s spirit; /he finished what he cared to say,” (Homer 27). With this he commences the hardship of finding his father by immediately calling an assembly and defying the men around him who thought him incapable. Meanwhile, Odysseus has already faced trials testing his determination. He evades the many temptations of immortals su...
“Our life’s journey of self-discovery is not a straight-line rise from one level of consciousness to another. Instead, it is a series of steep climbs, and flat plateaus, then further climbs. Even though we all approach the journey from different directions, certain of the journey’s characteristics are common for all of us.” Author Stuart Wilde’s impression of journeys and their shared commonalities supports the claim that all journeys have a motive and an outcome. In the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus sets off to defeat Troy, leaving his wife and child behind. After accomplishing his goal, Odysseus faces many problems while trying to return him and his crew back home to Ithaca. Similar to Odysseus’s physical journey, the goal in
...imes, the gods provide necessary tools. And most importantly, the Gods support Odysseus by helping him when he is stuck in a difficult situation.
‘The Odyssey’ by Homer, follows the story of Odysseus, an epic Greek hero. It begins with telling of his venture to Troy, as he leads his army in the Trojan War, and of the separation he has experienced for twenty years from loved ones and his kingdom. However, the epic mainly focuses on the story of his homecoming and all he, and many others, had to endure while he was returning from abroad. His son, Telemakhos, was greatly impacted by Odysseus’s absence as he had no father figure, and grew up in the shadows of all the palace-dwellers. During the novel, Telemakhos finally realizes that Ithaca needs a strong
Author Ursula K. LeGuin once said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” The Odyssey is an epic poem told by Homer that is about a hero named Odysseus who faces many challenges on his journey home from the Trojan War. Even though Odysseus is a smart and strategic man, he still has many lessons to learn on his journey.
When we look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story.
In Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, gods play a very important role to the plot of the story. They are the one deciding if someone can survive or not according to the sacrifice that the person made for them. In the book 1, Athena said to Zeus her father, “Didn’t Odysseus please you with sacrifices beside the Greek ships at Troy?” (Homer 65, book1). In this part Athena was trying to plead with her father Zeus in favor of Odysseus because she wants to help him to go home, while others are trying to provoke his death. This love that Athena has for Odysseus and his family is revealed throughout Homer’s epic. Although Athena supported Odysseus throughout his voyage, other gods including Poseidon, Calypso, and Circe made it difficult for Odysseus to return home, such in our real life, some people will make your life hard, but you have a good faith as Odysseus, you should always find your way out. Our God is omnipr...
A modern religious parallel of The Odyssey is that it mirrors how Odysseus relays on specific Gods and Goddesses for direction throughout the epic with modern human behavior for the search of answers through religion. Likewise, In the modern world it is common in human behavior to worship certain deities in hopes for prosperity in all aspects of life. Although, Odysseus’s major mistake was not recognizing and appreciating Poseidon for his assistance early on he still calls upon Athena and other deities for guidance throughout his
The gods act as guides for Odysseus so that he may successfully pass these tests. As his aid, Athene becom...
The gods are first responsible for establishing the conditions under which the story begins. While the Greek soldiers had returned home from Troy, Odysseus remained trapped as “the brightest goddess, Calypso, held him her hollow grottoes” because “she wanted him as a husband” (Homer, Odyssey 1.5, Translation by Allen Mandelbaum). Calypso traps Odysseus on her island of Ogygia and “keeps the sad Odysseus there—although he weeps. Her words are fond and fragrant, sweet and soft—so she would honey him to cast far off his Ithaca” (1.7). He remains on Ogygia for years, leaving the care of his home to his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus. Because Calypso keeps him away for years, Odysseus is presumed dead and his absence invites suitors to his home. These suitors look to win the hand of Penelope, Odysseus’ wife. This state of affairs is the overall cause of Telemachus’ d...
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.
The concepts of the gods and fate were created to explain things. In Ancient Greece there was a lot that was not understood; science was in its infancy and everything that happened could be explained by the will of the gods or fate. The gods were the height of power; they supposedly existed since the beginning of time. They were immortal, omnipresent and omnipotent. However, the different gods had different personalities. In this sense they were anthropomorphic. Having such mastery of the world would enable them to control man's behavior, as is shown in King Oedipus.
Disregarding the warnings from Penelope, Telemachus, and Athena– three individuals with divine authority and relation, the suitors of Odysseus’s estate are punished by Odysseus and by extension, the Gods, “These men the doom of the gods and…indecent acts” (Fagles 2006: 478). It’s important to note the doings of typically pious characters when placed under the duress of a God or Gods: While being endangered by the cyclops Polyphemus, a working of the Gods, Odysseus reminds his men to “respect the gods…We’re suppliants” (Fagles 2006: 550). This reminder speaks to the larger influence Gods play in each mortals life– that a misfortune can be attributed to the irritation of at least a single God. In this case, the misgivings following the escape of the cyclops-inhabited island were the wrath of Poseidon. And while enduring the punishment of one god, Odysseus admits to a lack of free will, “hardly landlocked of…free will,” then reasons, “I…have angered one of the… gods,” and interrogates a nearby immortal, “which one of you blocks my way” (Fagles 2006: 148).
There is a copious amount of major characters in the story. Some of them include Odysseus, the main character, who is a soldier and returns home after a twenty-year absence. Some of his family includes Laertes, his father, Penelope, his wife, and Telemachus, his son. There are many gods that Odysseus must battle on his journey home, including Zeus, who is said to be father of all gods, and Poseidon, the god of the ocean who punishes Odysseus and his crew by giving them a very difficult trip home after they blind his son, Polyphemus, or the Cyclops by blinding him after stabbing him in the eye. Another major character is Calypso, a sea goddess who is in love with Odysseus.