In life one thing that is constant is change. People are always going through different stages in life and with these stages come change. Sometimes people need guidance, but sometimes not everyone has the someone to help them through the hard times and individuals must weather the events on their own. In life there will always be those people who you encounter who love to push your buttons and just piss you off. Life is about navigating changes and people. In the epic poem, “The Odyssey”, by Homer there are characters who go through changes from the beginning to the end. One character that really stood out was Telemachus. Telemachus is a boy who has a very complex personality. There are traits that are likable and traits that are not so likable. Throughout the poem Telemachus going through many different changes that make him the man he turns into; he is a young person full of determination and anger and these traits lead to his excessive pride.
One way that Telemachus demonstrates excessive pride is through his determination to find his dad. As when he asked for permission to get a boat to go and voyage to find his dad,he was determined because no one believed in that his dad was still alive. So he went on to voyage to prove that they are wrong. Secondly
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He expresses his anger by just being mad like a person would. One thing he did get really angry at is when the suitors pressured his mother into choosing a man to marry quickly. He took it as just rude and didn't really like how they were treating people in general. A second way he bursted out in rage is when his father had just got to ithaca and told him it was he the great odysseus, but did not believe him. He yelled out in rage saying to not say that because he really didn't believe it was him so he told him to stop making a fool of himself. Then a couple minutes go by and starts to believe it really is him and reunites with
This shows that Athena’s talk with him began to lead him in the direction of maturity. In his speech at the assembly, he says that what the suitors were doing was wrong. Even though he is beginning to act more mature, he reveals his lack of confidence when he says that, if he finds his father is dead, he will make his “mother marry again” (The Odyssey). At that point, he still did not have the courage to take up his father’s place as king of Ithaca. Also, before he said this, he had “dashed his staff to the ground and burst into tears” (The Odyssey). This clearly reveals his lingering immaturity, where “he acts like a child having a temper tantrum, throwing his toy to the ground and crying” (Bartleby). This act of immaturity makes the people gathered for the assembly look on him in pity like an adult would look with pity at a crying baby. Soon after the assembly, Telemachus leaves Ithaca to search for answers and for his missing father, all the while being guided by
In Odyssey, Homer creates a parallel between Odysseus and Telemachos, father and son. The two are compared in the poem from every aspect. One parallel was the quest of Telemachos, in correlation with the journey of his father. In this, Odysseus is developed from a childish, passive, and untested boy, to a young man preparing to stand by his father's side. This is directly connected to the voyage of Odysseus, in that they both lead to the same finale, and are both stepping-stones towards wisdom, manhood, and scholarship.
Throughout novel, The Odyssey by Homer, Telemachus, son of the main character, Odysseus, goes through significant phases that changes his life forever. Right from the beginning, Telemachus was in a situation that he couldn't rid himself out of. He was basically a depressed boy with a “heart obsessed with grief”(Homer 81) who couldn't man up because of having a missing father or any men to look up to, and also having to face the worst guests, men trying to take his mother, throw him away, make him feel weak, and take over the palace. “'He's left me tears and grief. Nor do I rack my heart and grieve for him alone. No Longer. Now the gods have invented other miseries to plague me'” (Homer 85).
Throughout The Odyssey Telemachus grows in character from an unprepared teen to a young man who could one day rule Ithaca. He has many experiences traveling to learn more about his father and many that occur on Ithaca once Odysseus returns. All of these events help to shape him into the assertive young man he becomes.
Odysseus’ has hubris and excessive pride in himself, the gods he believes in, and his accomplishments, which hold him back and do not allow him to reach hero potential. The pride that Odysseus has in his name is visible throughout his entire tale he is telling to the Phaiakians and King Alkinoos. Starting the story of his journey, Odysseus already begins to display his hubris when he explains to his hosts who he is and where he hails from. After stating that he is the son of King Laertes of Ithaka, Odysseus shares that, “Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky’s rim” (IX, 21-23). He believes that he is so well known that the Phaiakians should know him from t...
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.
Telemachus’ and his father Odysseus’ experiences/journeys parallel each other in many different ways. One way that they are both similar is that they are both very well liked by Athena, who accompanies both on their journeys around Greece. Athena acts as guardian to both father and son. A quote which proves this is I, 85 “In the meantime I will go to Ithaca, to put heart into Odysseus' son Telemachus; I will embolden him to call the Achaeans in assembly, and speak out to the suitors of his mother Penelope, who persist in eating up any number of his sheep and oxen; I will also condu...
The reader first finds the character of Telemachus sitting among the suitors in his father’s palace. This seemingly unimportant detail yields information regarding his temperament. The suitors, whom Homer portrays as malicious usurpers, continue to take advantage of Telemachus’ hospitality. Instead of defending his home, his mother, and his belongings from these men, Telemachus numbers among them. This lack of assertiveness displays his frailty and his helplessness given the overwhelming circumstances. At this point, Athena, disguised as Odysseus’ old friend Mentes, visits Telemachus in order to “inspire his heart with courage” (I.105). The two share a meal and engage in a lengthy conversation. The goddess discusses how Telemachus should handle the troublesome suitors and suggests a journey to try to ascertain the whereabouts of Odysseus. The conversation appears to immediately galvanize the young man’s resolve. In fact, immediately after her departure, he summons the courage to confront the suitors, demanding that they are to leave his house at once. The assertiveness that Telemachus displays in this instance is a dramatic departure from ...
Of the many proofs of Telemachus' maturation three are sufficient to render an accurate account of what virtues he gained. The gained virtues shown are courage, wisdom, and prudence. Courage is shown when Telemachus decides to go around Nestor's house rather than passing through it, for Telemachus goes out to sea knowing that an ambush awaits him. This wisdom is manifested in his knowledge that if he stops Nestor's hospitality will delay him even more. And prudence is shown in Telemachus' ability to control his desires for comfort in Nestor's house and his decision to endure hardship at sea. Next Telemachus' confidence and hospitality are shown when he takes in Theochlamenos the seer. In the beginning of the poem Telemachus is not confident enough in his ability to provide hospitality to Athena disguised as Mentor, but now Telemachus is happy to provide the seer with refuge. Another proof of Telemachus' virtues is his confidence in ordering his mother and her maids to comply with his will; their obedience shows us that he is worthy of respect. Thus Telemachus possesses the virtues necessary to be a ruler: courage, wisdom, prudence, confidence, and hospitality.
Telemachus becomes much more self-confident and assertive as the poem progresses. At the beginning of the poem, Telemachus allows the suitors to abuse xenia, an important tradition in ancient
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...
As we begin to read the Odyssey, one of the surprising facts is that we do not meet the famed hero until we are well into Book V, on Calypso's island of Ogygia. However, during these introductory four books, we learn of the situation in Ithaca, Odysseus' plight, some of the most important themes of the story and of course Odysseus' son Telemachus. Homer keeps us in suspense, building the reputation of Odysseus by the stories of Menelaus, Helen, Nestor and all Odysseus' friends in Ithaca. Also, by building up the character and heroism of Telemachus, we are impressed by him, and as Athene says "your father's manly vigour has descended upon you". We would expect Odysseus to actually be better than Telemachus, due to his kleos ('undying fame on the lips of men') and experience ("Few sons, indeed, are like their fathers. Generally they are worse" Athene). So we learn of our main hero through words and inference, but this section of the book is key for our understanding as to the rules and practices of the Greek world in this story, and how the rest of the Odyssey will be carried out. Homer does this by bringing in all the themes that we will encounter time and again as we read on.
In the Odyssey, Telemachus, son of great hero Odysseus, who grows up in the world of greed and disrespect where the suitors take over his palace and court his mother, is one of the most significant character throughout the whole epic. His father, Odysseus, leaving the land Ithaca for 20 years, is the only warrior alive in Trojan war who hasn’t make his return home. During Telemachus’ expedition to search for the news of his father, he is under a process of maturation from the beginning in which he is mere a shadow of his father to the end in which he becomes more and more like him in terms of initiative, sensitivity and socialization.
Homer's Odyssey depicts the life of a middle-aged, while Tennyson's "Ulysses" describes Ulysses as an old man. The character's role in his son's life shifts. With maturity, Telemachus does not require as much guidance from his father. However, time does not alter the caring fellowship the man has with his crew, nor the willpower that he possesses in achieving his goals.
Telemachus is not mature and acts very much like a child until he and Athena talk to each other. He was not holding up the title of being the man in the house and he did not have the courage or confidence to stand up to the suitors in the house. Anyhow, once Athena gets to him he starts to clean up his act and realize that he needs to grow up. Athena explained to him the proper ways of doing things and she teaches him how to keep up with the responsibilities of being a young adult. The first thing she does to help Telemachus is tells him that he should get a crew together and a good ship. He then starts to plan out his journey to find his dad, Odysseus. He needs to find out if his dad is still alive and where he is so that he can bring him back home to avoid one of the worthless suitors. Realizing that one of the suitors could marry his mother, something clicks in Telemachus’ head that he needs to do something. This helps him grow up and mature a significant amount because he is starting to realize that is not how he should