Throughout history, authors have used symbolism in their writing to engage the audience and give a deeper meaning to their writing. In some cases, the symbols reveal certain aspects of a character’s personality or way of thinking. Homer’s the Odyssey, which tells the tale of Odysseus’ journey home from Troy, is an example of writing that uses symbolism in such a manner. Prominent aspects of Odysseus’ character that strengthen the audience’s understanding of him are revealed through the depiction of symbols such as Argos, Calypso, and the Cyclops, as well as the way Odysseus responds to them.
The suffering of Argos symbolizes the suffering of Odysseus and his household and brings light to the caring nature and resilience in Odysseus’ personality.
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When Odysseus returns to Ithaca from his years abroad, his family is severely mistreated, and “misery/ has [Argos] in leash…/ [and] the women slaves will take no care of him” (Homer 17 1503-05).
The treatment of Odysseus’ household runs parallel with the treatment of Argos in that both are blatantly disrespected and forced to despair, and Argos’ abuse as a whole runs parallel with the hardships Odysseus deals with on his journey home. Understanding Argos’ despair, in turn, helps the audience understand the pain of Odysseus and his household. By connecting the two, the magnitude of Odysseus and his family’s mistreatment is revealed: they are essentially abused. Being able to fully grasp how much Odysseus and his family suffer while Odysseus is away is crucial to understanding both the loving nature and the strength in Odysseus’ personality and why he and his family choose to go through such ordeals. The fact that Odysseus’ household is willing to go through the misery that they are forced through proves that Odysseus is caring: they have multiple opportunities to ease their miseries by joining the suitors, …show more content…
and yet they refuse. If Odysseus does not care about them, then they have no reason to keep suffering for him. Odysseus also goes through various hardships to reach his family; if he does not care, then he has no reason to suffer for them. Odysseus’ strength is unearthed by connecting his trials to Argo’s abuse. It takes a great deal of mettle to make it through abuse, and Odysseus makes it through his abuse, proving that he is indeed very resilient. Essentially, the grit and kindness in Odysseus’ character is revealed through connecting his and his family’s miseries with the miseries of Argos. Odysseus’ episode on Calypso’s island represents the powers of temptation and unearths the dedication and determination in his personality.
As Odysseus is about to leave Ogygia after several years with Calypso, she tries to convince him to stay by asking, “’Son of Laertes, versatile Odysseus, / after these years with me, you still desire / your old home? … you would stay here, and guard this house, and be / immortal…’ / To this the strategist Odysseus answer[s]: / ’… I long for home, long for the sight of home…’” (Homer 5 311-28). Even as he is leaving, Calypso is trying to lure him away from his dream of returning home. This persistent effort to tempt him away strongly associates her with temptation and its powers. Yet Odysseus is capable of resisting someone who essentially is temptation personified, showing that he has an extraordinary amount of commitment and willpower in his character. He is being offered immortality and marriage to a beautiful goddess, both of which are incredibly hard to resist, but he refuses both: he is so dedicated to Penelope and returning home that he will not let anything take him away from his goal. Through this resistance, Odysseus also demonstrates that temptation, although powerful, can be rendered useless through a combination of focus and resolve: he becomes immune to Calypso’s constant enticement by ignoring her bribery and being devoted to what he wants to do. However, his resistance also shows that temptation is persistent and will keep
trying until it has no choice: Calypso continues trying to seduce Odysseus right up to the moment he leaves, even though the Olympians order her to stop and Odysseus clearly indicates that he is not interested. It is ultimately the events with Calypso that Homer parallels with enticement and uses to reveal the extraordinary amount commitment and resolve in Odysseus’ character. The Cyclops represent cultural diversity and reveal a degree of narrow-mindedness and prejudice in Odysseus’ character. Although their culture is vastly different from the culture of the Achaeans, the Cyclops are actually quite civilized, with their own sets of rules and customs. Odysseus, however, refers to the Cyclops as “…lawless brutes…/[having] no meeting place for council, no laws either…” (Homer 120-25). The Cyclops’ unique culture clearly demonstrates that not all cultures are like one’s own — their customs are very different from those of Odysseus and his fellow Greeks despite them all living in the Mediterranean area — which is cultural diversity. However, Odysseus’ reaction to this diversity reveals a certain aspect of his character: a level of intolerance and bigotry. He shows an unwillingness to accept the Cyclops’ traditions and a level of disdain in his statement; the root of insults tends to be disrespect and disdain for the subject being slighted, and the subject of Odysseus’ insults is the Cyclops and their culture. Xenophobia, defined as an intense or irrational dislike of outsiders, is displayed in Odysseus’ disdain for the Cyclops, outsiders to Greece with different values and beliefs, with no reason other than that they are different from the Greeks. The xenophobic tend to judge before they have the right to judge — in other words, they are prejudiced. His unwillingness to tolerate the Cyclops’ customs because they differ from his own shows his narrow-mindedness (defined as refusing to or being reluctant to tolerate others’ views or habits). It is, in essence, the differences between Cyclops and Greek cultures that connect them to diversity, and Odysseus’ attitude toward these differences that bring light to the prejudiced and conservative aspects of his person. Significant parts of Odysseus’ personality are revealed through the portrayal of symbols such as Argos, the Cyclops, and Calypso, and the way he responds to these symbols. Argos’ representation corresponds with Odysseus and his household’s suffering and reveals the caring nature and resilience in his character when he overcomes his hardships for his family, while his resistance to Calypso, who is symbolic of enticement, unearths the dedication and determination in his character. However, while Argos and Calypso’s representations reveal positive aspects of Odysseus’ character, his disdain of the differences between the Cyclops and the Greeks brings light to the narrow-minded and prejudiced parts of his person. The traits revealed through these symbols help Odysseus become a solid, multi-faceted character that Homer’s audience can understand and grasp, rather than a mere name in a song or a book. Creating round, realistic characters through the use of symbolism is a technique that authors still use today — after all, just as in Homer’s time, a story without a “real” character is not much of a story at all.
Odysseus shows that he has PTSD through re-experiencing and hyper arousal of emotions. During Odysseus’ travel home he experiences hyper arousal of emotions when he slaughters the suitors for merely nothing, as well as not being able to control his emotions or actions. “ How could he? In that revelry amid his throng of friends who would imagine a single foe---though a strong foe indeed---could dare to bring deaths pain on him and darkness on his eyes?”(955.240). “ Odysseus’ arrow hit him under the chin and punched up to the feathers through his throat.” (955.245). There was no struggle that had ensued beforehand and even though Odysseus had killed the suitor he had prominently thought against it the arrow had released suddenly and the thought
While with Calypso Odysseus relies upon the gods to decide whether he shall return home or if he is fated to stay with the nymph goddess. Though Odysseus is powerful amongst mortal men his attempts to free himself from Calypso’s island prove to be in vain. Instead, Odysseus must wait, for "…in the gods’ lap it lies to say if he shall come and wreak revenge in his halls…" (6). Odysseus must bow to the gods’ wishes and it is Athena, rather then Odysseus himself, who convinces mighty Zeus to free Odysseus and set him upon his journey home. Athena pleads Odysseus’ cause to the gods upon Olympus and beseeches her father begging that "…if it now please the blessed gods that wise Odysseus shall return to his own home…" (2) then she will aid him in this journey. Were it not for Athena’s intervention, Odysseus might never have returned to his native land and seen his dear Ithica once more.
Foreshadowing is literary device by which an author hints what is to come. People cannot predict their future, however the choices they make foreshadow what the future will hold for them. In the epic, The Odyssey by Homer is about Odysseus’s journey back home and at the end of Book Nine, Homer used foreshadowing through prophecy’s curse and naming an approaching event. Homer use foreshadowing through Polyphemus’s prayer and when Odysseus was cursed by Zeus. After Odysseus escape from the Polyphemus and anger him, Polyphemus prayed to his father that Odysseus “never reaches home” and if he does, “let him come home late and come a broken man- all shipmates lost” (153). Homer also added, “so he prayed and the god of the sea blue mane Poseidon
One of Odysseus's biggest challenges was to resist temptation. The first temptation Odysseus and his men encountered was the sweet lotos plant, "They fell in, soon enough, with Lotos Eaters, who showed no will to do us harm, only offering the sweet Lotos to out friends..." (IX. 98-100). Eating the plant did not seem like a bad idea, but resisting was a much wiser option, ."..but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotos, never cared to report, nor return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland" (IX. 101-104). If they had eaten the plant, they never would have gotten home. Another great temptation they had to withstand was the Seirênês. The Seirênês would tempt the men to them with their beauty and music, "Square in your ship's path are Seirênês, crying beauty to bewitch men coasting by..." (XII. 101-104). If men did not resist, they would fall into the Seirênês' clutches and die, "Woe to the innocent who hears that sound! He will not see his lady nor his children in joy, crowding about him, home from sea; the Seirênês will sing his mind away on their sweet meadow lolling..." (XII. 50-54). The biggest temptation that Odysseus had to defy was from the sea nymph, Kalypso, "I fed him, loved, him, sang that he should not die or grow old ever, in all the days to come" (V. 1420143). Kalypso wanted to have Odysseus as her husband, but all he could think of was home, "Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon that island in thralldom to the nymph; he cannot stir, cannot fare homeward..." (V. 15-17). Odysseus resisted, and was not completely unfaithful to his wife. If he had not resisted temptation, he would have been on the island of the Lotos Eaters, dead, or without a wife.
One of the most notable epic poems, The Odyssey is a story about a hero and his return home from the war in Troy. On his way, many challenges are presented into his path and as a result, the tone throughout the story will make drastic shifts. Despite the many contrasting trials, certain tones are recurring and will emerge in various scenes, regardless of how diverse the threat is. One of the prevailing tones in part one is desperation. When Odysseus and his men were trapped by the cyclopes, the crew was desperate to get out alive and to not be devoured. Later in the expedition the ship is nearing Ithaca, with the land in sight, and some of the crew members open Odysseus bag of winds, thus blowing the ship back out to sea. Everyone is desperately
“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
Homer’s The Odyssey, a magnificent story of lust, deceit, greed, and heroism, still fascinates scholars and casual readers alike today in the same way it fascinated its audience at the time it was written. The Odyssey, a journey of determination, patience, and virtue, tells the tail of Odysseus, the main character, on his voyage home to Ithaka after the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus goes through many unforeseen trials and tribulations, which exemplify his character. During these different happenings, Odysseus makes decisions that do not correspond to his character.
The Odyssey is a tale that has changed literature and storytelling. In this tale Odysseus is a Soldier from the battle of Troy trying to get home to his island of Ithaca, where he is king. His wife and son must wait ten years while he is trying to make his way home. In Odysseus’s absence wooer’s, or better known as suitors, learn of his absence and travel to Ithaca to win his wife’s hand in marriage. These men come every day feasting on Odysseus’s food and wine, and give his servant’s orders. His son Telemachus, does his best to keep the suitors from ruining his fathers house but he is only a boy, and doesn’t receive the respect of an adult. Telemachus then has a visit from the god Athena, whom Odysseus is friends with, who advises him to travel to find out about his father. In his travels he hears that Odysseus may still be alive. Meanwhile Odysseus goes through a series of adventures and hardships that prove his wisdom. It is interesting in contrast of the Iliad, even though Achilles was much stronger and a better warrior, Odysseus was portrayed as a greater hero due to his wisdom. He uses this wisdom to escape from the Cyclops.
Homer’s The Odyssey is not just a tale of a man’s struggle on his journey home from the Trojan War, but of his struggle from the consequences of revenge. The Odyssey weaves in different characters’ tales of revenge from the gods and what impact revenge actually had on those characters. Revenge is an important underlying theme in The Odyssey because, in essence, it explains why Odysseus’ journey was so prolonged and treacherous. A few examples of revenge in the poem include Orestes’ revenge on Aegisthus, Zeus’ revenge on Odysseus and his men, and Poseidon’s revenge on Odysseus. These different examples of revenge in The Odyssey show the importance of the gods’ revenge in the epic journey of Odysseus.
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.
There are three signs in the Odyssey which are quite significant to the epic and are symbolic of different things. The first sign is the scar, the second sign is the bow and the third sign is the bed.
The Odyssey is an example of Greek history portrayed in literature. As in all Greek literature, the epic hero Odysseus answers a call to action, suffers through great confrontation, and returns with a better understanding of life. Greek stories such as, The Odyssey set the stage for today's modern action movies with epic heroes such as Indiana Jones, Frodo from the Lord of the Rings, and Western cowboys like Roy Rogers and The Lone Ranger.
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.
Homer’s The Odyssey is a Greek story that follows the journey of its primary character, Odysseus, back to his home in Ithaca after the Trojan War. Odysseus encounters many challenges in his journey home, from encounters with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the witch Circe and even the ghosts of dead Greeks. Meanwhile, his household in Ithaca is being threatened by suitors of his wife, Penelope, all wanting to inherit Odysseus’ possessions in the belief that he was already dead. Like many epic heroes, Odysseus possesses many admirable qualities. Three good characteristics of Odysseus are—cleverness, bravery and strength—here are some supporting instances from the epic that demonstrates Odysseus possession of such characteristics.
“The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.