The Consequences Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

735 Words2 Pages

An impudent man will eventually face the consequences for his actions; this is the way Odysseus must live in The Odyssey. In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer tells the story of Odysseus as he journeys home from the Trojan War. The poem begins with Hermes forcing Calypso to free Odysseus from his seven years in captivity; the nymph Calypso seduces Odysseus to stay on the island. After Odysseus journeys out to sea, his ship is wrecked due to Poseidon, the god of the sea, being angered at Odysseus for his actions. Odysseus washes up on the shore of the Phaeacians, who treat Odysseus with great respect; Odysseus tells the story of how he ended up on the unknown island and the story flashes back. Odysseus is one of the greatest warriors man has …show more content…

Odysseus and his men came upon an island, where they chose to find shelter from the impending storm. In the cave, Odysseus’ men knew there was a barbaric creature lurking within the vicinities of the cave. Frightened, his men insisted on leaving; yet Odysseus, full of impudence, decided to tease the Cyclops for the sake of pride. “...makes him insist on waiting for the barbaric giant” (prologue for The Cyclops). If it were not for Odysseus’ impudence, the men would have convinced Odysseus to leave the cave and all would have been well. Instead, Odysseus was forced to pay the price of the lives of over half his men. Odysseus wished to be clever instead of witful. Not only did he lose his men, but Odysseus also angered Poseidon, father of Polyphemus, the cyclops. While journeying home, Poseidon caused a storm that ravished across the earth, made for none of Odysseus’ men to survive. Not only did Odysseus anger Polyphemus, but the goddess Circe as well. “...persuades Odysseus to stay with her”(epilogue of The Enchantress Circe). Although Odysseus could have freed his men easily from the powers of Circe, his impudence and cause to be right forced him and his men to be trapped in the home of Circe. Odysseus is forced to pay the consequence of venturing to the land of the dead. Had he simply slain Circe, they would have encountered no problems; Odysseus especially.

Show More
Related

  • Odysseus: A Flawed Leader in Homer's Odyssey

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although some could possibly call Odysseus, the protagonist of Homer’s The Odyssey, a great leader, the fact that he fails to earn his men’s respect, endangers his men’s lives repeatedly and allows them to die due to his own selfishness states otherwise.

    Read More

  • The Consequence In Odysseus Of Homer's Odyssey

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    The introduction to this tale reveals a great deal of the importance of eloquence in speech, in this culture. Within moments of speaking Odysseus makes clear how important it is to speak well by comparing his ability to speak to the same abilities possessed by gods. Throughout this tale gods are used as a benchmark of the greatness of an individual, therefore for Odysseus to claim that his eloquence is the same as that of the gods is a bold claim and one he is certain he can back up. In the same introduction, Odysseus declares he is known for “all manner of wiles” (303). Therefore if Odysseus does have the a voice that is similar to what the others imagine the gods to have, and there is no mention of anyone refuting this claim, then a further

    Read More

  • Odysseus the Pverconfident Madman

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Odysseus’s meandering and consequent homecoming in Ithaca, Homer depicts many different aspects of Odysseus’s personality in his epic poem “The Odyssey”. Although Odysseus is smart, brave, and is a great fighter, in reality, he is an overconfident madman. Throughout Homer’s classic epic, Odysseus uses his skill to overcome many obstacles. However, in each story, overconfidence is always a major theme, and Odysseus’s hubris always causes him to do crazy things. At the end, Odysseus’s arrogance is his fatal flaw, and leads him into trouble.

    Read More

  • Odysseus Foolishness

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the incident with the bag of winds it is reasonable for Odysseus to have trust issues, but when it is a matter of life and death, Odysseus is witless. After being punished by Zeus because some of his crew ate Helios’ cattle Odysseus drifts in the ocean until he lands on Calypso’s island. 7 years pass and Odysseus can finally leave after he crafts a ship, after he leaves and sails for a bit, Poseidon sees it as a time to get revenge for his son Polyphemus. Poseidon completely wrecks Odysseus’ ship when he is close to the land of the Phaeacians. A goddess named Ino sees this and offers Odysseus help.

    Read More

  • Change In Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Over a lifetime, people grow into smart people with different personalities and different interests. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus does something just like that. Faced with many hardships and rough decisions to make, Odysseus has to either become different for the better or stay the same forever. The definition of change is to make or become different. Over time in the epic, Odysseus changes for the better of his future. Before Odysseus returned home, he didn’t care and simply nothing mattered. When he returned home, he was a completely different person. His change to himself got him home to his wife and son as a more mature person.

    Read More

  • Odysseus Mistakes In Homer's The Odyssey

    439 Words  | 1 Pages

    Men are not perfect all the time and can make mistakes that they regret later on. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his men make mistakes that have effects on them. To begin, one mistake Odysseus makes is when he was so proud of himself for defeating the cyclops. After he got his ship ready and thought that he won he kept on taunting Polyphemus, who was the son of the Poseidon. Odysseus was so amused about how they just defeated cyclops that he didn't know what he was saying which is the mistake he was doing. He reveals to Polyphemus that he was the Odysseus, raider of the cities, Laertes’ son, and the man from Ithaka. Polyphemus then tells his father, Poseidon, to cast a curse upon Odysseus and his journey back home. Since Odysseus was on a ship in the sea, Poseidon had a great way to make sure his journey wasn't as great since he was the god of the sea.

    Read More

  • Selfishness In The Odyssey

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before letting him leave the island, Circe tells Odysseus that he must face Scylla, a sea monster, and Charybdis, a whirlpool. Circe says, “Better by far to lose six men and keep you ship” (274). Odysseus is told beforehand that no ship could pass unscathed, but he chooses to not to tell his crew. He knowingly sacrifices his crewmembers’ lives and has no qualms about it, which shows his inner selfishness. He makes sure to protect his own life, but he sees his crew as disposable. Homer characterizes Odysseus this way in order to convey his views about humanity: humans are instinctively selfish. Odysseus also carelessley kills his remaining crew when he taunts the Cyclops. After hearing Odysseus’s name, Polyphemus prays to Poseidon and asks that Odysseus “never reaches home” but if he is destined to return, make sure he returns “a broken man—all shipmates lost, alone in a strangers ship” (228). If Odysseus had never told Polyphemus his name, he and his crew might have made it home more quickly and safely. Instead, his hubris causes an inescapable curse. Odysseus cannot bear the thought of forfeiting his fame, which leads to even more hardship on his quest to return home. Homer uses Odysseus to demonstrate the danger of egotistical

    Read More

  • Odysseus

    867 Words  | 2 Pages

    Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey, the main character Odysseus is a person who only tries to help himself. Although he earns the trust of his men while in Troy, he loses it on his perilous journey home. Many times in the epic he manipulates others, commits foolish acts and is full of hubris. He tries to take shortcuts and as a result of this, his men are killed and his boats destroyed.

    Read More

  • Odysseus Journey In Homer's The Odyssey

    1358 Words  | 3 Pages

    “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

    Read More

  • Is Odysseus Justified Essay

    854 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the story of The Odyssey, Odysseus is both punished for his pride and rewarded for his ingenuity. When he lingers in the cave of Polyphemus, Odysseus ends up losing six of his men to the cyclops even though he boastfully attests that “He (Polyphemus) thought to tempt me, but he could not cheat a knowing man like me” (85). As a result, when Odysseus reveals his identity as they are sailing away from the island, Polyphemus pleads with his father Poseidon to punish the crew and to “vouchsafe no coming home to this Odysseus, spoiler of cities,…let him come, in evil plight, with loss of all his crew, on vessel of a stranger, and may he at his home find trouble” (89). This curse comes true, as Odysseus is the lone survivor of Poseidon’s storm and meets trouble with the suitors as soon as he returns to Ithaca. However, while Odysseus is punished for his pride, he is able to learn from his mistakes, and is accordingly rewarded for his ingenuity and cunning. By stating that his name is “Noman” and by getting Polyphemus drunk, he and his men are able to escape the cave, and when he disguises himself in Ithaca, he is able to successfully defeat all of the suitors and take back his home and city as

    Read More

  • The Character Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Character Odysseus in Odyssey "Odyssey" is an epic story that has been a significant piece of literature since it was first composed and will remain so for ages to come. One of the reasons it has been so is because of the hero, Odysseus. Odysseus was one of the first Greek mythic heroes renowned for his brain as well as his muscles. Indeed he is a man with an inquiring mind, and he is also a man with outstanding prowess and bravery" (123helpme.com/assets/3603.html). "We also must not forget that he is a top-notch athlete which only adds more to this seemingly insuperable character.

    Read More

  • Odysseus's Heroic Attributes

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    The epic poem The Odyssey, written by Homer, centers around the main protagonist Odysseus and his long journey back home. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, returns home after defeating the Trojans in a ten year war. On his way back, he angers Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops. Due to Odysseus’ actions, Poseidon refuses to let Odysseus reach home, and Odysseus and his crew are forced to go through a series of obstacles throughout the epic. Through this adversity, Odysseus must show his heroic attributions in order to survive. Homer portrays Odysseus as a hero by giving him characteristics such as: craftiness, loyalty, and bravery.

    Read More

  • Odysseus In The Illiad And The Odyssey

    923 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Role of the Gods in the Odyssey

    1194 Words  | 3 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... In Homer’s Odyssey, both Odysseus and his son Telemachus embark on long, difficult journeys; Odysseus trying to return from Troy to his home in Ithaca, escaping Calypso and the island of Ogygia, and Telemachus from Ithaca to Pylos and Sparta in search of his lost father. While The Odyssey tells of the courage both men demonstrate during their respective travels, their quests are the results of the intentions and desires of gods. Odysseus is trapped in exile on Ogygia by the will of Poseidon, whose anger Odysseus attracts when he blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, and by the love of Calypso, who wishes to make Odysseus her husband.

    Read More

  • Voyage and Psychological Development in Homer's Odyssey

    3286 Words  | 7 Pages

    In anointing Odysseus in similar fashion throughout the tale of his arduous journey homeward, the ancient as well as modern reader cannot help but look to Odysseus as a role model. Implicit in this behavioral model is one of Homer's many subtexts, namely that having one or more of the gods on one's side is not enough to guarantee even a partial success in one's endeavors. The god Poseidon stands in direct opposition to Odysseus' goal of reaching Ithaca, yet his attacks upon the hero always fall just short of actually killing him. Instead, with each calamity that befalls Odysseus at Poseidon's hand, the hero is faced with a parallel inward struggle. Surviving the physical realm at first seems to be the test when actually it ...

    Read More

More about The Consequences Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

Open Document