More handpicked essays just for you.
Character analysis of Odyssey
How and where is heroism portrayed in the odyssey
Character analysis of Odyssey
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Character analysis of Odyssey
As Odyssiana lifted the blade up from her table, she took a breath in and sliced off her hair. She had planned to go off into the Trojan war because she was feeling that she was not needed in her home, Ithaca. She wanted to prove that women could fight just as well as men. She dressed in her husbands clothes and went off into the night to find the camp ground where the men were staying. As she stumbled upon a dying fire, she decided to sleep behind a tree close to where the rest of the men were staying. She dreamt of her adventure and risky journey to come. Odyssiana awoke, the men welcomed her and they didn’t think that anything was suspicious. She had fooled them. She defeated many men and won many battles. She also lost many battles. During one of the battles, the men left her behind. She had tried to stay and …show more content…
“I see destruction for ship and crew. Though you survive alone, bereft of all companions, lost for years, under strange sail shall you come home,” Tiresias prophesied. In the morning when Odyssiana woke, she realized that they were sailing near an island that people had suspected that sirens lived. She knew the terrible danger they were and prepared her crew. She gave them beeswax to cover their ears with and then she covered hers as well. Though they were tempted to listen to the song of the sirens, they sailed past them without uncovering their ears. After they had passed the sirens, they came upon another danger. Scylla and Charybdis, who were monsters in the sea. They start to sail past Scylla, but she swallows one man for each of her six heads! There are still a few of Odyssiana’s crew left, but they are discouraged knowing that they must defeat Charybdis to live. The whirlpool was too strong. Charybdis swallowed the ship whole. Luckily, Odyssiana jumped out just in time and landed into the water. She then realized that all of her crew had been drowned in the
The story of Odysseus' encounter with the Sirens and their enchanting but deadly song appears in Greek epic poetry in Homer's Odyssey. The Sirens in the ‘Siren Song’ by Margaret Atwood are portrayed in a variety of ways. The Sirens are lethal,underprivileged and deluding. The Sirens are personated as lethal and menacing. In the Sirens’ song it says “..the song that forces men to leap overboard in squadrons.”
In this episode of "Xena: The Warrior princess," the story of Odysseus return to Ithaca after the Trojan War is told. The episode starts when Xena and Gabriel are walking down a beach and they see a man fighting alone against a small army, so they decide to help him out. After the battle was over, they found out that the man fighting was Odysseus. He told Xena his story and how he had been traveling for ten years to get home because Poseidon was angry with him. Xena and Gabriel decide to help him get to Ithaca, so they sail off. First they got cut up in a terrible storm that Poseidon sent them. Most Odysseus' men(of the ones he had left after ten years) died here, but still the ship survived. After this they had to sail close to the island of the sirens. Xena knowing the effect of their singing in men tied up every man left in the boat including Odysseus. The closed they got to the island the stronger the singing. The effect of the voices of the sirens was so strong that Odysseus almost broke away to go to them, but then Xena started singing really loud to contra rest the effect. Finally Xena wan they sail safely through the island. Finally they got to Ithaca, where Odysseus found out that Penelope's hand would be given in marriage to the winner of the contest taking place the next day. Odysseus, helped by Xena, also found out that Penelope had been faithful to him all those years by rejecting every suitor she had.
Throughout modern history the ancient Greeks and their stories have influenced our culture and way of life. Many of the ancient Greek myths are those of caution that teach us moral lessons. For example, the myth of Odysseus and the sirens, told by Homer in The Odyssey, teaches us to resist the urge to indulge in temptations. Odysseus and his crew are travelling near the island of the sirens when Odysseus plugs the ears of his crewmates with beeswax and has them tie him to the mast so that he can listen to the sirens’ song and not crash their ship onto the rocks as they pass the island. Odysseus and his crew safely pass the island of the sirens without any casualties and continue on their journey home. Author Margaret Atwood and artist John William Waterhouse both display their brilliant ideas about the myth of Odysseus and the sirens using poetry and painting. Both Ulysses and the Sirens by John William Waterhouse and “Siren Song” by Margaret Atwood use the myth of the sirens to show that during their lives, people often encounter bad temptations that can lead to their demise and should pay no attention to such temptations.
...o all guests saved Odysseus and helped him return home to his wife, son, and kingdom. Even though people from many different kingdoms and islands took Odysseus in their home and showed him great kindness on his return home, the individual who helped him most was the goddess Athena. In many occasions Athena assisted Odysseus. One such example is when Odysseus was fighting of the suitors and they threw spears at him. "Re-forming, the suitors threw again with all their strength, but Athena turned their shots, or all but two (p 566)." Another instance which Athena aided Odysseus was when she disguised him as a beggar on his arrival to his homeland. "Would even you have guessed that I am Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus, I that am always with you in times of trial, a shield to you in battle (p 444)." "Your goddess-guardian to the end in all your trials (p 539)."
The hero soon lands on Aeolus’ island. (Aeolus is the Keeper of the Winds.) He helps Odysseus on his way by giving him the right winds to take him home to Ithaca. The hero gets within site of his home but a hurricane blows him all the way back to Aeolus’ island. This time Aeolus turns Odysseus away, and he is forced to continue his journey. The hero and his men next end up in the Land of the Midnight Sun, where the Laestrygonians live. The Laesrtygonians attack the men and sink eleven of the twelve ships. Only Odysseus’ ship and forty-four men escape to safety. This is one of the most painful tribulations Odysseus faces on his journey.
Odysseus loose his ship and men at see. Next he must deal with the Charybdis and Scylla.
In The Odyssey, Athena has an extensive and caring relationship with Odysseus. At the beginning of the poem, Athena pleads with her father Zeus to allow her to help Odysseus so he can go home to his family, saying, "But my own heart is broken for Odysseus." Later in the poem she again implores her father for help regarding Odysseus. When he is on the island of Kalypso, Athena tells Zeus that Odysseus "cannot stir, cannot fare homeward, for no ship is left him, fitted with oars-no crewmen or companions." Athena also aids Odysseus as he is sailing away from the islands, checking "the course of all the winds but one, commanding them, `Be quiet and go to sleep'." As Odysseus departs she protects him because it is her desire that he will return home safely after a long absence from his family. At the end of his voyage from the island of Kalypso, Odysseus is again blessed by the guidance of Athena. As he reaches the land he spots a "leaf-bed" and Athena "showered sleep that his distress should end, and soon, soon." It should also be noted that Homer often c...
Upon the isle of Circe, the crew had been tasked under Eurylochos to discover the circumstances of the witch at the center of the island. But only Eurylochos returned to tell the tale of their capture, how Circe, “asked them to come in; they all followed her, in their innocence … but she put deadly drugs in the mess, to make them wholly forget their native land” (117). The rest of the crew gave into the temptation of the beautiful Circe, drawn into her house despite warned caution in their scouting. It also stands as a bit of irony that the man who would lead the crew into their eventual demise was the only one to stand strong and suspect that not everything was as they appeared with Circe. Among the lotus eaters, the crew was tasked with learning more about the island’s native people. But upon finding them the men, “tasted that honey-sweet fruit, they thought no more of coming back to us with news, but chose rather to stay … and chew their lotus, and [say] good-bye to home” (102). The lack of caution among Odysseus’s sailors leads to their loss of individualism as they attain a death of a sorts, unable to live as men and incapable of attaining kleos. These reckless and unwise actions taken by each of the sailors was done in their greed for an immortality through remembrance but ultimately provided nothing but their
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...
The power and influence of women is symbolized in Odysseus’ encounter with the dead in Hades. In the Underworld, Odysseus meets more women than men. He meets his mother and then a “grand array of women” (334). They all were “wives and daughters once of princes” (334). All of them are the legendary women who were the mothers of the greatest Greek lineages. This symbolizes how Greek civilization was founded by women; they were the ones who gave birth to the heroes. Similarly, The Odyssey is a story created by women. The plot revolves around the actions of women. Athena orchestrates all the events. The seductresses, such as Circe, the sirens, and Calypso, attempt to stop Odysseus from reaching home. The helpmeets, such as Nausicaa, Arete, and Athena, aid Odysseus in his homecoming. The wise and virtuous Penelope is the object of Odysseus’ quest. Unlike Helen who forsakes her husband, Penelope remains faithful. Unlike Clytemnestra who assassinates her husband, Penelope patiently waits for Odysseus. She becomes a model of female patience and of female intelligence. Her craftiness is the only one which can match up to Odysseus’. The Odyssey presents a wide array of women and demonstrates the influence that women have in the life of a
One important characteristic that Penelope and Odysseus share is their loyalty to each other. Odysseus failed to return home seven years after the Trojan war. Because he is assumed dead, 108 wealthy noblemen and princes invade his palace and refuse to leave until Penelope has married one of them. By marrying her, the suitors hope to gain control over Odysseus’s wealth and power. However, Penelope remains faithful to Odysseus. But, as a woman, she is powerless to remove the suitors from the palace. And without a man in the household, she is subject to her father’s decisions. However, despite his wish for her to remarry, Penelope clings to the hope of Odysseus’s return and remains faithful to him. She waits and gathers information by asking strangers who arrive in Ithaca about Odysseus. She goes through the stories of their encounter point by point, and asks about every detail while tears stream down her eyes. Although the suitors promise her a secure future, Penelope continues to wait for Odysseus. Without Odysseus, she does not believe that she will ever be happy again.
Picture this: a hero of great legends who travels to the underworld and back to get directions to his home from a blind prophet. It sounds like quite an impossible journey, but that is exactly what makes Odysseus all the more fascinating. The Odyssey, an epic poem orally transmitted by Homer, a Greek poet who wrote The Iliad, had to contain some variety of attributes that Greeks valued in a person. That one embodiment of what the Greeks found intriguing in a character is Odysseus. Odysseus is known as what is called an epic hero. An epic hero is a protagonist of a story that represents the most important attributes of a civilization. Odysseus, being based in ancient Greece, is the embodiment of intelligence, loyalty, and strength.
Odysseus is one of the very many prominent characters in Homer’s Epic poems, The Illiad, and The Odyssey. Odysseus has been famed one of the more relatable characters from Homer’s writing, as well as one of the Greatest Greek Mythology Heroes. Homer’s Epic poems highlight many periods of shame and honor for Odysseus. The character analysis of Odysseus through the poem’s timeline shows vast developments and heroic features appear to take form in him. The Illiad portrayed Odysseus as more of a secondary figure behind Agamemnon and Achilles. In contrast, The Odyssey portrayed Odysseus as a hero in the form of an average human.
...y sirens represent half-women, half-bird creatures who lived on an island. They used to sing in beautiful voices to lure sailors off their course. When Odysseus was sailing by the siren's island, he made the rest of his men plug up their ears and ties him to the mainmast. This way, he got to hear the beautiful sound of their voice without being driven to suicide. In this story the women weeping over Lautaro were compared to the sirens, and some sailors going to tie themselves to the mainmast in an attempt to mimic Odysseus. There is a contrast of these stories with the quotes from the villagers.
Once Odysseus and his men have passed Sirens’ island, they have to navigate their ship through the path of the sea monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. Odysseus must use his strength and knowledge to overcome his fear, and lead his men back home.