Analysis Of Homer 's ' The Odyssey '

“As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning. So one generation of men will grow while another dies” (6.146-50)

Despite the problems he faced during his journey, he doesn’t give up the dream to go be united with his family. After Penny, Everett’s wife, divorces Everett because she is ashamed of his arrest, she tell his girls that he was hit by a bus. He has this goal that everything will be normal again. The trio pretends to be a real band. Delmar and Pete think that his plan to dress up as a band for distraction while Everett attempts to speak to Penny again will fail. Everett, though is determined that his plan will work and that he will get to be with his wife and children again. This displays that Everett has this motivation that he can not give up on and needs the help of Pete and Delmar. As a result, Everett and his companions’ friendship is showing that Everett’s dependence on Pete and Delmar brings out his determination to be with his family again. Odysseus is also very determined to go home to his wife, Penelope and son, Telemachus. His journey with all these monsters after him shows his focus is to get home and to not give up. Odysseus motivates his men telling them, “Friends, have we never been in danger before this? More fearsome it is now, than when the Cyclops penned us in his cave? What power he had! Did I not keep my nerve, and use my wits to find a way out for us.”(XII.144-148) When the crew face the two terrifying monsters, Skylla and Charbydis, everyone is scared but Odysseus. He has this firing emotion within him,

Odysseus’ relationship with his crew is close, because of everything that they have been through together. They bond further and further through all the difficult obstacles that stand in their way and which they eventually surmount. On their seemingly impossible

In the poem “Ulysses” written by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Odysseus says “Though much is taken, much abides; and though We are not now that strength which in old days Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate but strong in will To strive, to see, to find and not to yield.” And in the poem “Odysseus” written by W.S. Merwin it says “The knowledge of all that he betrayed Grew till it was the same whether he stayed or went. Therefore he went. And what wonder If sometimes he could not remember Which was the one who wished on his departure Perils that he could never sail through, And which, improbable, remote, and true, Was the one he kept sailing home to?” As we can tell in the poem “Ulysses”, Odysseus

After about 20 years, Odysseus finally made it home back to Penelope, his wife. The fact that it took him so long shows that he values his home so much that he will take as long as it takes to get home. In book 22, he shows how much he values his home again by killing all of the suitors who were at his home. Odysseus also values his intelligence. He is known for his wisdom and continues to prove he is wise throughout the story, like when he outsmarted the Cyclops. His wisdom is important to him.

One literary technique that is widely and effectively used in Homer’s Odyssey is the digression. The digression is departure from the main storyline that does not alter the action of the story, but adds a layer of sentimental content to the plot which usually helps underscore themes central to the story. The digressions in the Odyssey are meticulously written with great attention to detail just like the rest of the epic, and they truly help readers grasp the important aspects of the story. The liberal use of digression in the Odyssey helps build a vivid image of the character Odysseus by highlighting his historical feats, providing context to his current situation, and giving allusions to his future and his destiny.

Homer’s The Odyssey is about Odysseus’s journey back home after war. Just like in every journey, Odysseus changes as the story progresses but the one the thing that does not change is the use of his mind and sharp-witted he is. There is an underlying theme of body versus mind in this epic. This theme is noticeable in book eight lines 174 to 194. In this passage Odysseus is responding to Làodamas’s challenge of joining in their games. In Odysseus’s response he focuses on “birth, brains, or speech” and brings up the question of which is more important body or mind. Through his choice of wording and a few metaphors, Odysseus makes it seem like the mind is more important to him all within twenty lines.

Joseph Campbell stated that “A hero is someone that has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” He also believed that on the journey to being a hero, one must physically or mentally leave home, decide on a quest, encounter “dragons”, experience an all out struggle, be wounded, and finally obtain wisdom. In The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus embarks on a journey to try to get back home to his kingdom of Ithaca after he i s away at the Trojan War for ten years. Along the way he encounters sirens, a Cyclops, enchanting sorceresses, a bag of winds, and a six headed monster, all of which hold him back ten years. When he finally reaches Ithaca, he learns that there is a group of suitors trying to woo his wife into marrying one of them. With the help of his son, he kills all the suitors and reunites with his wife and father. Though he endured many obstacles, Odysseus is not a hero because he lets his dishonesty, carelessness, and resilient nature stop him from completing the hero’s journey.

Homer’s The Odyssey is an epic poem which chronicles the tale of the Greek hero Odysseus’ journey to return to his homeland of Ithaca, and the struggles he endures on his quest. Throughout the poem, Odysseus faces many hardships and trials, and having been away from home for twenty years, his family often questions whether or not he is still alive. However, Odysseus repeatedly uses his cunning and arête of rhetoric in order overcome the trials and disasters he is plagued with on his journey to return home.

Penelope is identified by relatively few epithets within the last six books of the Odyssey, and indeed, throughout the poem. Her most common epithet is ‘circumspect,’ although she is also referred to as the ‘respected wife of Odysseus’ and the ‘daughter of Ikarios’ with relative frequency as well. It is not until the end of the poem, specifically Book Twenty-Four, that Penelope gains a broader spectrum of identifying epithets, including ‘blameless’ and ‘prudent’ (Homer, Odyssey 24.194, 198). Her identification as ‘circumspect’ is important to the overall theme of νόστος (homecoming) in the Odyssey. In addition, the manner in which she is described within the poem stays relatively stable until the last two books, wherein Penelope gains greater depth as a female character when she is reunited with her husband.

Tamar has a very distinctive story that makes her the best representation of a hero in Genesis. Heroism in Genesis can be best defined as obeying God’s commands, as all characters that obey God live, and any who disobey God are immediately killed or plagued with barrenness. Consequently, if a character does not receive punishment from God, their actions must be deemed righteous in the eyes of God. This lays the foundation for describing Tamar as a hero. Because of her relentlessness Genesis 38, she has followed His orders to the letter more so than any other character. It is her act of obeying God’s command to his people to procreate that makes Tamar one of the greatest heroes in Genesis.

Throughout the existence of man, individuals spend majority of their life trying to find themselves. This journey is the journey in which they hope they will be able to discover who they truly are and in turn find their identity. One cannot say that they created their own identity because an identity is not simply how we define ourselves but also how others view us. Identity is defined as distinguishing characteristics of an individual, this being said we do not distinguish ourselves from others that is the jobs of outside entities at times. If we really simply on our own definition of self we create an illusion of the individual we want to be but not whom we truly encompass. This is where recognition plays a role. Recognition of oneself by others helps solidify the identity that we have built in our own mind for ourselves. We discover who we are through interactions and how we respond to different stimuli, what are likes are, what are dislikes are, whom we identify ourselves as being similar to. This is exemplified marvelously in Homer’s epic The Odyssey; Homer effectively uses Telemachus the son of the central character to Odysseus as a means to show the journey in which one embarks on to discover who they truly are. This voyage is a pivotal point in the transition from adolescent to an adult.

There are many ways an individual may view The Odyssey with a myriad of variations of the same view. One of these many variations can be the aspect of love and its effects on the characters within Homer’s epic. Love, in Odysseus’ case, governs his will to get back home to his wife, son, and kingdom from his long and tiring journey. During his journey Odysseus undergoes a series of strenuous trials that puts his mental aptitude as well as his physical fortitude to the most extreme test. There are times that Odysseus comes close to being swayed by those around him and those of which he encounters but in the end he fights through it all, as painful as it may be, to get back home to his beloved. Love is a powerful idea that transcends the virtual world of abstraction once it’s being expressed to its fullest extent; that love once exceeding human bounds almost permeates in an awe-inspiring way. One’s devotion to a significant other or interest in another causes them to act in particular ways that if love wasn’t involved they would not have behaved in that way. Due to the strength of love’s effects on people, it can cause a rather sour side effect in the stead of positive outcomes. In the case of Odysseus, as much as he did have love for his kingdom he did not want to go to war. Despite that he had to leave for ten years but this ultimately led him to

Odysseus ' plan worked; however, he later discovers a prophecy indicating that Troy 's walls would never fall without the help of Philoctetes 's magical bow – a weapon that once belonged to Hercules. As the play opens, Odysseus has therefore returned to the island – along with Neoptolemus – in order to retrieve the bow. This plan would allow Odysseus to leave Philoctetes in his exile while still getting what he wanted. However, Neoptolemus views Odysseus ' plan as simple treachery and reveals all to Philoctetes. Upon discovering his old enemy 's new need for his bow and his plans to wrest it from him, Philoctetes flies into a rage, swearing never to help Odysseus even though a cure for his foot also awaits him at Troy.

Homer’s poems, play a key role in Ancient Greek culture and many important moments or scenes from Homer’s The Iliad and The Odysseys are depicted on the vases. Each vase has a story and the painters depict the moments or events in the poem in the exact way Homer describes. However, some depictions on the vases could be dramatized by the painters because the painter brought their imagination from the story of Homer. Through the Ancient Greek vases, we can get new information or background information about the Homer’s poem and we can understand the scenes better in the Iliad and the odysseys even though some vases are depicted a little differently from the lines of the pomes.