Temptations of Odysseus Odysseus: a hero in every way. He is a real man, skilled in the sports, handy with a sword and spear, and a master of war strategy. Most of the challenges and adventures in his return voyage from Troy show us this even if we had no idea of his great heroic stature and accomplishments in the Trojan war. I found in my reading of the Odyssey that most of the trials the gods place upon him are readily faced with heroic means. These challenges are not necessarily welcomed by Odysseus but accepted as part of his role. He is the hero, its his lot to wield sword and shield and bravely face the next army or monster. Then we begin to see more of the challenges do not require our hero to fight his way out. These threats are the most difficult problems for Odysseus to overcome. The tests like the isle of the lotus eaters, Circe's island, and Calypso's island were the hardest challenges for Odysseus. His encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the Laestrygonians, Charybdis and Scyylla, and the kingdom of the dead: these dangers were on his level, heroic battles where he could fight valiantly and if it was his fate, die valiantly. The challenges where heroic means were not a solution to overcome the danger were the most formidable tasks that could easily destroy Odysseus. Odysseus and crew are finally on their way home after the war, after nine days on the rough sea, they arrive at the isle of the lotus eaters. The lotus eaters are a group of people who have a lot of fun, thanks to their consumption of the lotus flower. This confrontation provides Odysseus and his crew with the first of their challenges (Odyssey 9:1-103). This threat is definitely one that a heroic confrontation is unlikely. This danger is not any physical threat to him or his men. The lotus eaters create a situation where Odysseus and his crew are tempted by a gift. This gift of immediate gratification threatens to take away several their basic heroic element. By eating the lotus flower they would find immediate happiness, however they would never make it home. They would died old men on that island without their families, they would be broken in a sense. Without the memories of their homes, wives, and children they would be just a shell of who they were. Odysseus would sooner die than to never see Penelope again and be ... ... middle of paper ... ...n or ever see his son. If he couldn't ever get back then there would have been no reason to ever leave. All of his heroic deed would have been in vain and no one would have even remembered him. He could not have fought the suitors and proved himself . The act of returning was always the ultimate goal for Odysseus and the temptations of happiness, beauty, immortality, and eternal youth were much harder for him to pass up every time he had to put his life on the line and fight an army or evade a monster. He could have given in to any of the temptations at any time and never had to endure the pain and strife that came from his homeward journey. Without his heroic resources to help him escape the temptations by battling his way out or using his wit to escape he holds on and endures and finally returns. Dying on the battlefield would be a fantastic ending for a hero such as Odysseus. Dying alone without a fight or giving in and living without ever returning to his home or Penelope would be a fate no hero could accept. He would have been forgotten and others would claim what was his. Odysseus does endure and returns, escaping danger and great temptation to be the hero and claim his own.
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.
In Homer’s the Odyssey, Odysseus has many different qualities that classify him as a hero. He is brave and courageous as shown when he murdered all the suitors who were disrespecting his property even though he was outmanned by them. Despite this, he is by no means all brawn and no brain as he shows his intelligence and cunning numerous times during the epic. A few example of this would be when he was able to blind the one-eyed Cyclops while the rest of his crew didn’t know what to do. Odysseus in many ways is similar to a flowing river, because whenever there is a problem (dam in the river), he would first try to go through it, but if he can’t he would then find a way ar...
...s throne. Odysseus, even today, is considered a modern day hero; the adventures he experienced on his way to Ithaca were portrayed in unlike any other literature piece. However, like most heroes, Odysseus’ flaw was his hubristic attitude towards the gods, particularly in the beginning of Homer’s Odyssey. Some actions, especially against Poseidon, caused his trip to be delayed, but he eventually made it home, and will forever be with Penelope, like it was meant to be since the beginning, for the gods spared his life despite his acts of hubris.
In Homer's Odyssey Odysseus is a character who, sometimes behaves like a proper hero and also as a very self-centered character at other points. He earns the respect of his men during the Trojan War by making good sound decisions and caring about the welfare of his men. But, in his adventure home Odysseus is definitely not taking the responsibility of a hero among his men. On almost any page you turn to in the epic, you can find some act of greed or foolishness coming from Odysseus. He plays with the lives of his men with no regard for the well-being or their families. Odysseus is not a hero because, he is foolish, lacks faithfulness and is consumed by his Hubris and selfishness.
With the Odyssey, Odysseus learned a big lesson in humility. The greatest example of this is in the last five books or so within the story. He has to dress, act, and live like a beggar in order to regain everything he had lost. While he was a beggar, the suitors treated him horribly. Antinous, leader of the suitors, was the worst of them all. He was the first to mistreat Odysseus and planned to kill Telemachus. He was also the one that would abuse him physically and verbally for some time to come. Also, if that weren’t enough, he planned a boxing match for Odysseus to be in to watch him get beat up. All this was happening and the other suitors were most likely following their leader in whatever he was doing. Odysseus had to control himself the whole time this was happening. If he had lost his temper, the suitors would have killed him, his son, and most likely taken over the kingdom. That didn’t happen though. Odysseus learned self-control and humility. He may not be perfect at it, but going through all the humility made him a better man. Along the same topic, he was a king going through this humility. It would be one thing for a peasant to go through it, but a king? This made it even harder for Odysseus. He had rank above all the suitors and could rightly kick them out of his kingdom. Instead he waits for the right time and kills them all. The “pre-journey” Odysseus would of thought of himself invincible and probably would have died trying to get his kingdom back.
Going to his journey home, he no longer needed to reach the olive fields with stones that warm in the sun as his child plays, and his wife helps with the harvest. His journey has changed to get his vengeance and in the end die so he can reunite with his family. I bring this up because dieing is a change as is the change Odysseus goes through by essentially becoming no one, a regular Joe so to say. This is what I believe...
In the return the hero must return to everyday life and often becomes a better person. Odysseus’ return is filled with murder but he does become a better person afterwards. He now thinks things through more and he plans how to deal with the death of all the suitors,”Then sponge down all of the beautiful tables and chairs,”(22;350;464-465). This quote shows that he knows that he must get rid of the evidence and break the news of the suitors death himself. In the Return the hero is often has gifts in Odysseus’ case it is his family,”This brought tears from deep within him, and as he wept he clung to his beloved wife,”(23;360;238-239). Odysseus weeps when he is finally with his wife. The main point of The Odyssey is Odysseus getting home to the family he loves. This quote shows just how much Odysseus cares and loves his family. Odysseus has received many gifts throughout the Odysseus and has lost all of them one way or another, except for the greatest gift of all his family. The Return is the last part of The Hero’s Journey and is where the a person becomes a hero, Odysseus finally achieves that title at the end of the
He and his men found a way to escape by blinding the Cyclops and exiting by holding on to the sheep’s bellies. They all started to celebrate, but Odysseus started to mock the Cyclops instead. His crew started advising him stop and one of them said, “God Sake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!” (page 383, 408). Later on, the Cyclops prayed to Poseidon and cursed him to “lose all his companions” along the way. If Odysseus had followed hs men’s advice, then he wouldn’t have been cursed to reach Ithaca by
The Odyssey is a classic example of the hero’s journey. Odyseus, a king, sets out to fight in the Trojan war for ten years, only to travel home for ten more. Along the way he is forced to fight monsters, witches, and encounter gods. During this endless journey his only goal being to see his wife and son once more, and return his men home safely. Modern literary scholars have begun to argue that Odysseus is not a hero. However, upon further examination it is clear that Odysseus is in fact a hero for the following reasons. He blinded the cyclops, he travelled to the underworld, and he saved his men from being turned into animals forever.
Odysseus, at the beginning, is very determines to get home and would do whatever it took to get there. In the story of “Calypso, the Sweet Nymph,” Odysseus does everything in his power to get home. Calypso asks him to stay with her, but Odysseus refuses. He kindly puts her down and says “it is true, each day I long to be home,” after being offered immortality (Homer 117-118). This event shows his determination to get back
Odysseus is not a hero based on the standards of merciful, selfless, and gentle. His actions against Polyphemus, the Suitors, and his men truly show that he is in fact the opposite of a hero. The actions he takes to return home safely and to get back his throne are very cruel and show signs that he lacks the nobility of being called a hero, or a king, or a warrior. He has shown that he powerful, destructive, and ruthless and these are qualities that a hero must not have. Odysseus, the mighty King of Ithaca is not a hero because he is not selfless, gentle, or merciful.
Odysseus was a very courageous man. In Book 10, of the Odyssey, Odysseus runs to save his men from Circe’s spell. To protect himself from the spell, Hermes gives him a magical plant called Moly. In the text, it states, “Odysseus rushes to save his men from the enchantress” (Homer 387). This shows how courageous Odysseus was. He cared so much about his men, he was willing to die along the way to save them. He didn’t care how powerful Circe was. He had no fear, nor regret of going back for his men. Based on his actions, no
...-evaluation and corrected himself by turning his life around so that he could be fully aware of what it means to be a hero. Even though he has different traits from different heroic people he still succeeded in proving himself, like all heroes do. Now he truly understands his place in the world, his purpose, and what he must do in the future as the main hero of his household. Journeys like Odysseus’s would influence people to think about a hero in a complete opposite way than stories about pure-hearted knights in shining armor because it shows a person’s mistakes and how he handles or copes with them while maturing overtime. Even though different traits can describe who is or who is not a hero Odysseus is beyond doubt a well-developed hero.
Odysseus is often times considered a hero for triumphing, for living through the many challenges that he has to face over the course of The Odyssey. He defeats the mighty cyclops, he braves years away from home fighting one battle after the other and makes it home alive. Many times he has the chance to give in to death, to end his suffering, however he doesn’t take his chance and he continues fighting. He survives. However Homer doesn’t put it in that light, he doesn’t centralize the idea of life in The Odyssey but rather the idea of death, and all that it brings, or fails to bring.
From escaping the cyclops to getting lost at sea and coming home to seeing the non-expected, he still managed to survive his hell on earth. One of his most powerful moment that shows how really brave odyssey is, is when his men were turned into pigs by the goddess Circe. Eurylochus who managed to escape goes and tells Odysseus what Circe had done. Odysseus then tells Eurylochus that he will go and save them, but Eurylochus warned him that no one returns alive. Eurylochus also,“.... Begs him [Odysseus] to sail away from Circe’s island.” ( 10.46-48) Odysseus being the courageous man he is went “ Against this advice” and “... Rushes to save this men from the enchantress” ( 10.46-48). Within these line odysseus shows how honorable he is to his men. Knowing the risk, Odysseus still chooses to risk his life to save his men rather than just leaving them for dead. His bravery is why his men honor him. Through all the danger they went through, his men never left Odysseus’s side and Odysseus never left theirs, which is a very good example of what being honorable is. Odysseus reveals that bravery is a powerful characteristic of a hero, because people will honor you for your bravery. [Zehaa