In the story The Odyssey, Odysseus had to go through so many obstacles on his way to Ithaca. It took him twenty years to return to his wife and son. He face many monsters and curses that took all of his men. During his journey, he made some wise choices, but he also made some mistakes.
Firstly, Odysseus and his men landed on an island full of Lotus-Eaters. He sent out two of his men to explore the area and, “They fell in love, soon enough, with Lotus-Eaters, who showed no will to do us harm, only offering the sweet Lotus to our friends—but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus, never cared to report, nor to return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland” (Homer 564). His two men ate the Lotus, and Odysseus had to force them to return back to their ship because he knew
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that both men wanted to go home. After they left the island full of Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus and his men reached the Cyclops. They bring“A wineskin full I brought, and victuals in a bag, for in my bones I knew some towering brute would be upon us soon” (Homer 565). With food on their hands, they can easily give it to the Cyclops if they are in trouble. Unfortunately, they are trapped there and the cyclops ate a few of Odysseus’s men. They finally had a chance to escape by made the cyclop drunk with wine, stabs his eye with an olive trunk and hides on the sheeps. After escaping the cyclops, Odysseus and his men enter the land of the dead, which is also the underworld.
Odysseus saw one of his men, Elpenor, and he asked him, “When you make sail and put these lodgings of dim Death behind, you will moor ship, I know, upon Aeae Island; there, O my lord, remember me, I pray, do not abandon me unwept, unburied, to tempt the gods’ wrath while you sail for home; but fire my corpse, and all the gear I had, and build a cairn for me above the breakers” (Homer 578). He did what Elpenor said and returns to Circe’s island. The goddess warns him about the monsters he will face and gives him advices on what he should not do when he face these monsters. They face the sirens and Odysseus said to his men, “Therefore you are to tie me up, tight as a splint, erect along the mast, lashed to the mast, and if I shout and beg to be untied, take more turns of the rope to muffle me” (Homer 581). Other than tie him up, he also puts beeswax into his men’s ears so that they could not hear the sirens. This plan shows him that Odysseus was being a wise leader and an epic hero. Sirens passed, Scylla and Charybdis are coming up their
way. Odysseus and his men faces Scylla and Charybdis, he makes sure that he remembers the warnings from the goddess. The scylla took six of Odysseus's men, “Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship” (Homer 585). His men uses weapons to fight scylla, but the goddess warns them to not to fight the Scylla. After losing 6 men, Odysseus continues his journey to the island of the cattle of the Sun God. There Odysseus’s men ignore his orders and ate the cattle, “Fierce the god is who cherishes and these sheep: Helios; and no man avoids his eye” (Homer 586). They ignore Odysseus’s orders and eats the cattle. Helios, the god of the sun, asks Zeus for a punishment. Zeus heard Helios’s prayers and kill all of Odysseus’s men and destroyed his ship. After all of the journey Odysseus has been through, he finally reached Ithaca twenty years later. He had revenge on the suitors that is aftering his kingdom. Penelope, his wife, gives him a test to make sure that Odysseus is really her husband. Odysseus reunites with his family and kingdom with the help of Athena.
Odysseus had many horrible experiences throughout his trip but one of the worst is the encounter with the Land of the Lotus Eaters. After him and his men ate the lotus flowers they forgot their mission to get home which made their trip even longer and he lost some of his men. After the Lotus Eaters they encountered the island of the Cyclopes and he lost even more men there fighting off the horrible creature. Once they started sailing the seas for longer periods of time things became worse for Odysseus and his men. He had to fight the urge to eat Helios’s cattle even though all he had was bread and rice. He had to be tied to the post on the boat to fight the urge to fall into Sirens trap, but not all his men were as strong as he was. He had
Odysseus was within arms reach of home but because of how naive he was he was forced to keep going on his journey. After all of Aeolus’ hospitality and such a powerful gift Odysseus is still mindless at what this meant and because of him not being cautious, he could not complete his adventure. It’s surprising knowing that after being on a powerful god’s bad side and being forced back to sea, that Odysseus can be even more of a fool.
The Hero’s Journey is never an easy one. This particular journey, as detailed in Homer’s The Odyssey, is one of struggle, loss, heartache, pain, growth and triumph. It is comprised of many steps that Odysseus has to overcome and battle through in order to achieve his final goal of reaching his home and his loved ones. From the Call to Adventure to the Freedom or Gift of living, Odysseus conquered them all. The story begins in the middle of the story, as many of the oral Greek traditions did, with the Journey of Telemachus to find his father. Although Telemachus has not yet met his father, it is almost as if they are journeying together, where the end of both of their journeys results in being reunited. Telemachus journeys from being a boy to becoming a man, while out in the sea Odysseus is battling Poseidon to return to the home that wife that he loves and the home he has left behind.
There are numerous heroes throughout “The Odyssey,” but none of them are as significant as Odysseus. “The Odyssey” is a narrative poem written by Homer (around 800 and 600 BCE) to show the numerous adventures and experiences Odysseus goes through. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus a prominent Greek epic hero is on a quest to return back to his home in Ithaca; to his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. Just like real life, not all heroes are picture-perfect; they all have imperfections. In this case, Odysseus is sometimes insolent, and discourteous; but he is still considered an epic hero because of the many heroic qualities he endures. Odysseus proves himself to be an outstanding hero in various ways such as showing loyalty, intelligence, bravery, strength, and courage which are all some of the most momentous qualities found in a hero. If a true hero can prove they are a true hero, makes them a true hero.
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.
In the Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus had many strengths and weaknesses that he, and his crew, were aware of. He was too proud, and the Gods punished him for it by forcing him to spend many years at sea. He often let his temper get the best of him and he was a sore winner, as evidenced by his taunting of the Cyclops. However, despite all of this, he was a natural born leader, smart, brave, and strong, He never gave up on returning to Ithaca, even though he spent 20 long years at sea. He had many flaws, and he did struggle, but the many challenges he faced highlighted his strength as a leader and a warrior.
Odysseus uses his brain to sail past the Sirens without being entranced by their sweet song. A Siren is a bird-woman who bewitches everyone that approaches. The Siren women sing a seductive song. Their song has many powers. As Nugent says “as in the days of the musician Orpheus, music still has power to soothe the savage beast, to ally anxiety, and to connect with the divine through contemplation” (Nugent 45-54). Circe tells Odysseus, “There is no homecoming for the man who draws near them unawares and hears the Siren’s voices” (Homer XII, 40). . Odysseus follows the advice Circe gave him to put beeswax in his men’s ears so they will not be entranced. Odysseus then tells his men “but she instructed me alone to hear their voices…”(XII, 160), when, truthfully, Circe states, “But if you wish to listen yourself, make them bind you hand and foot on board and place you upright by the housing of the mast, with the rope’s ends lashed to the mast itself”(XII, 49). In this way, Odysseus is being selfish only wishes to know the Siren’s sing so he will...
Upon reaching the land of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus sends his men off to explore and report back to him. They hurry off and “[mingle] among the natives, Lotus-eaters” who have “no notion of killing [Odysseus’s] companions, not at all,/they simply [give] them the lotus to taste instead”, but “any crewman who [eats] the lotus, the honey-sweet fruit,/[loses] all desire to send a message back, much less return,/their only wish to linger there with the Lotus-Eaters,/grazing on lotus, all memory of the journey home/dissolved forever” (9.94-110). Once the Lotus-Eaters give Odysseus's men the lotus to eat, they lose all purpose and motivation to do anything but stay with the Lotus-Eaters and eat more lotus. The Lotus-Eaters, although they have “no notion of killing [Odysseus’s] companions”, hinder Odysseus’s progress by stopping his men from even wanting to proceed. All his men want to do is “linger there with the Lotus-Eaters”, without a care in the world.
After Odysseus becomes exhausted from the never-ending torment of life, he searches for a place to rest and comes across an island with the Cicones. The Cicones destroy people by tearing them apart in order to settle their own conflicts and delays. In other words, the Cicones are cannibals that eat odysseus’ men. This reveals that when when people are in a state of exhaustion, they seek shelter. Oftentimes the shelter they seek is not safe and will tear them apart. The Cicones are deceiving because they look human on the surface; in reality, they will destroy people because they only care about
Odysseus orders his men to tie him up to the mast of the ship, so he can be the only one getting tortured by the Sirens’ song. Circe foretells that Odysseus and his men will die, in an effort to sacrifice himself for the crew, he tells his crew to tie him up. This daring moves is another reason why he is parted from the other characters, as a hero.
Many spoke positively about Odysseus, highlighting only his admirable traits. Although most victories of Odysseus did have a positive outcome, Odysseus acted by whatever means necessary to achieve his successes. In book twelve, Odysseus encountered the challenge of the sirens. No man had ever heard the song of the sirens and lived to speak of it. Odysseus was determined to be the first, and only man to ever make it through alive, “.. Yet she urges that I alone should listen to their song (XII.193-194)”. Odysseus ordered his men to plug their ears with beeswax and to tie him to the mast as tight as they possibly could. Odysseus and his crew did manage to successfully pass the sirens, making Odysseus the only man to ever hear the wondrous call of the sirens. By refusing to plug his own ears, Odysseus unnecessarily put himself above all of his
...s, a prophet, and Circe, a Nymph, that he would be the only one to survive the voyage home. First, Scylla takes and eats six of Odysseus’ men and after they stop on Helios’ Island, the men eat Helios’ cattle. He tries in every way he knows to keep his men alive, but they did not abstain themselves from eating the cattle, so they perish.
Polyphemus ate four men of Odysseus' crew and in return, Odysseus and his remaining crew administered justice: 'Seizing the olive pole, they drove its sharpened end into the Cyclops' eye'; (pg. 135). In doing this, they were able to escape and they set sail. Odysseus, carried away in his pride, announced his identity to Polyphemus. When he had heard Odysseus' name, Polyphemus called upon his father, Poseidon, to adminis... ... middle of paper ... ...
They are very curios and go to explore but they end up trapped in the cave by a giant boulder that only the Cyclops can move. The Cyclops began to eat the men and Odysseus’ instinct was to, “stab him were the midriff holds the liver”(378), but Odysseus decides against this. He realized, “if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous doorway slab aside”(378). Odysseus rather than acting on impulse is thinking through his actions and being careful. One wrong move in this situation could cause him and his men their lives. It takes great strength and patience to be cautious and Odysseus finds this strength because of the challenges he is facing. Odysseus and the rest of his men later venture to The Land of the Dead. There they meet Tiresias, an old prophet, who tells Odysseus of his future and his fate. Odysseus is told, “I see destruction for your ship and crew. Though you survive alone...Then a seaborne death soft as this hand of mist will come upon you,”(Homer page#390-391). Odysseus is told that he is to be the only survivor of his crew. Despite this, he does not tell his crew that they are going to die. He doesn’t want to worry them and says, “I told them nothing as they could do nothing,”(396)As their leader he wants to be strong and encouraging. He wants his men to fight until their last minute and die honorably if they must die. Odysseus learns about his
In Homer's epic The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus attempts to complete his journey home from Troy. On his way home, however, he angers the sea god, Posiedon, who curses him to travel for ten years on the sea, to loose all his men, and to return on a stranger's ship. During the ten years, Odysseus overcomes many hardships, and visits unique destinations in the world along the way. Each place has several symbolic meanings and themes that are found even in today's society. During his journey, Odysseus will attempt to find his place in the world and make a name for himself, make difficult leadership decisions pertaining to his men, and tries to overcome the natural curiosity and greed that is in man's mental makeup.