Analysis Of Homer 's ' The Odyssey '

In the Epic, “The Odyssey", spoken by Homer, conveys a heroic tale of an epic hero named, Odysseus, who faces many challenges as he sails to get home. One of the tasks Odysseus faces is, "The Sirens", who challenge Odysseus 's will power. Another challenge Odysseus encounters is, “The Cyclops", who torments and slaughters some of Odysseus 's men due to his curiosity. One of the hardest threats he had to confront was, “The Land of Dead" which tested his self-restraint, and revealed his human weaknesses of sorrow. The Epic Hero, Odysseus, struggles with many challenges such as, the taunting Sirens, the brutish and cruel Cyclops, and one of the arduous territories Odysseus has ever crossed, The Land of the Dead.

When the other Cyclopes asks “What ails you, / Polyphemus? Why do you cry so sore / in the starry night?” (IX, 437 - 439). He answers ”'Nobody, Nobody's tricked me, Nobody's ruined me!' / [Which] to this rough shout they made a sage reply: / 'Ah well, if nobody has played you foul / there in your lonely bed, we are no use in pain / given by the great Zeus. / Let it be your father, Poseidon Lord, to whom you pray’ / [and] so saying / they trailed away. And [Odysseus] was filled with laughter / to see how like a charm the name deceived them” (IX, 444 - 452). Penelope expresses this wit when she tells the suitors “‘My lord is dead, / let me finish my weaving before I marry, / or else my thread will have been spun in vain’, / … [and] every day she wove on the great loom- / but every night by torchlight she unwove it; / and so for three years she deceived the Achaeans” (II, 104 - 106, 112 - 114). After Penelope sees Odysseus, she tests to see if it is really him by telling Eurycleia to “‘Make up his bed for him… / Place it outside the bedchamber my lord / built with his own hands. Pile the big bed / with fleeces, rugs, and sheets of purest linen,” to which Odysseus replies “‘Woman, by heaven you’ve stung me now! / Who dared to move my bed? / No builder had the skill for that-unless / a god came down to turn the

Penelope says she is weaving the shroud for the eventual funeral of Odysseus’s father, her father-in-law, Laertes. Penelope does a very good job of convincing the suitors to keep waiting for her. Antinous complains about it at an assembly in Book 2. He says “So she spoke, and the proud heart in us was persuaded thereafter in the daytime she would weave at her great loom, but in the night she would have torches set by, and undo it. So for three years she was secret in her design,” (2). Penelope spends all day weaving, but at night she undoes all of her work from the previous day, promising to choose a husband as soon as she finishes the shroud. Because the suitors see her working all day, they assume she is making progress. This buys Penelope nearly four years to wait for Odysseus, until a maid reveals her

In the “Odyssey”, Odysseus goes through obstacles throughout the book that a normal man couldn’t subside. One example is in book 9, his main obstacle that he is trying to face is to escape from being held hostage in a cave by a Cyclops better known as Polyphemus. Odysseus is a archetypal hero, he is also a role model, with an ambition to get to his homeland Ithaca. He goes through resisting temptation and using his intellect and physical strength to get him there, no matter the obstacle nor the negative flaws that he faces. Odysseus put himself and his men in that situation by being curious and wanting to know what kind of land his ship and the winds led him to. This was selfish of him because it cost him some of his men, but a leader and hero has to play that role and some lives will be dealt with on the way. Odysseus says, “The rest of you will stay here while I go with my ship and crew on reconnaissance. I want to find out what those men are like, Wild savages with no sense of right or wrong Or hospitable folk who fear the gods” (Homer 429). Saying this quote alone makes Odysseus a humble man due to the fact that not even a piece of land is going to slow him down on his journey back home.

As you know, many suitors came to her and asked her to marry them but she said no. One of the clever ways she got out of marriage was when she told the a suitor that after she finished weaving she would marry him, but the suitor did not know that after she wove, she would just keep starting over so that the weaving would never end. Penelope was also very clever when she asked the maid to move her bed outside into the hall. This was clever because Penelope knew that if it were really Odysseus he would know that that would not be possible because Odysseus made the bed himself, and would know that it's built into the house. In book 23, the author exclaims, “Their secret! as she heard it told, her knees grew tremulous and weak, her heart failed her. With eyes brimming tears she ran to him, throwing her arms around his neck, and kissed him,...” (Homer 1164). This quote shows that Penelope's trick worked because Odysseus knew that she couldn’t move it, so Penelope knew that it was really Odysseus. Penelope was very happy that Odysseus was home and begged for his forgiveness for her not believing that it was really

“Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns ... start from where you will—sing for our time too” (I, 1, 12). From the very beginning, Homer shows his intention for themes of The Odyssey to be applicable in the modern age and essentially “sing for our time” (I, 12). Homer’s epic provides the ideal reflection upon the very definition of heroism because it details the strenuous journey of Odysseus, a crafty hero whose key priority is to return home to his family. As one of the most prominent themes, The Odyssey carries forth the idea of heroism through the portrayal of Odysseus, and establishes a connection with the real world through the expression of life lessons. Consequently, Odysseus is characterized to serve as a role model for the successful hero because, after all, the poem is essentially centered on his very name. However, The Odyssey simultaneously conveys that an entirely perfect hero may be impossible, but a means for improvement is always present. The attributes for success that are revealed in The Odyssey can be examined under interconnected ideas of passion, perseverance, and prowess. Thus, heroism is the most compelling theme of The Odyssey because it exemplifies the attributes for success while also demonstrating that heroes are not without mortal flaws.

Penelope is Odysseus's wife. Penelope raises her and Odysseus’s son, Telemachus, for 20 years by herself. She had to raise Telemachus alone since he was a newborn when Odysseus had gone to fight in Battle of Troy. Penelope stayed loyal to Odysseus by staying unmarried for 20 years. Near the end of the years, in order to save her kingdom, she decides to marry another. However, she played many tricks and challenges to stall time, hoping her husband would come back. Penelope played two clever tricks. The first of which is known as “Special Ones.” Which is a trick where she is “sending promises to each man privately” (Homer 2, 95). She promised every man that he is the one in order to buy herself time. Penelope using hope that Odysseus might come home one day as motivation for her tricks. The second trick is called “Am I really done?” “Am I really done?” ,in which she asked, “Young Men, my suitors, now my lord is dead, let me finish my weaving before I marry” (2, 100 - 101) and the suitors agreed because they didn't want the thread to be “spun in vain” (2, 102). The mischievous part is “every night by torchlight she unwove it.” (2, 109) Penelope stayed loyal toward

Penelope serves a significant role in The Odyssey by serving as a source of motivation for Odysseus and portraying the ideal woman in Greek society. Penelope throughout the story is displayed as a woman who is not swayed by the suitors, and Odysseus repeatedly draws from her person to motivate himself. Penelope first displays a great sense of loyalty to Odysseus by attempting to delay the suitors through tricks. Penelope employs tricks such as weaving a shroud for Laertes, Odysseus’s father, but “...every night by torchlight she unwove it;/ and so for three years she deceived the Achaeans” (92). This act showcases Penelope’s loyalty to Odysseus, and shows her role displaying the ideal woman in Greek society by providing a practical and understandable example of loyalty to the audience.

For such a long period of time her husband was gone, she remained humbly loyal. Even in spite of the couple's uncertain future together. While Odysseus is gone Penelope becomes constantly pressured by several suitors or woorers into marriage. While Athena has a conversation with Telemachus on the topic of suitors, Telemachus states, “she will neither rejec this situation odious marriage nor can she make herself carry it through (1,259-250). The quote above explains that Penelope recognizes the dangers of denying marriage from one of her suitors because she's chose to stay faithful to her Odysseus and optimistic in the sense that he will

Telemachia frames the character of Penelope, wife of protagonist Odysseus, through her loyalty her husband. Telemachia presents Penelope as the epitome of faithfulness by giving her a storyline that consistently tests it. In the books, Penelope’s home has been flooded by suitors seeking her hand in marriage for years after Odysseus’ disappearance, as her son, Telemakhos tells Athena they “are here courting my mother… Spurn them she dare not, though she hates that marriage, nor can she bring herself to choose among them.” (1.293, 1.295-296.) Through the initial exposition of Penelope’s resistance to the suitors, her unfailing loyalty to Odysseus is established early in the poem. Penelope’s other important character traits are also revealed through

Throughout the Odyssey, the hero, Odysseus is portrayed in two different and contradicting lights: the wise hero and the capricious leader blinded by his own pride. The epic writer, Homer, embodies the theme of hubris throughout Odysseus’ journey home. The idea of hubris, a trait of excessive pride, significantly develops personalities of characters within The Odyssey, and Homer ultimately creates a statement about excessive pride. The dual portrayal of Odysseus leads the reader to ultimately perceive him as a flawed hero who is responsible for his fate.

Loyalty to family, society and the gods is an important aspect of ancient Greek culture. This quality is often seen between characters throughout The Odyssey as especially loyalty between husband and wife. Loyalty could be defined based on The Odyssey to be devoted to someone, hoping their homecoming and victory. Again and again, loyalty is seen in a complete fidelity in the time of uncertainty. Penelope waits ten long years for her husband to return from war and on the other hand, Odysseus showing loyalty to Penelope refuses immortality to Kalypso and also refuses to marry Circe. When Suitors forces Penelope to marry, Penelope being clever executes a plan telling suitors, ''Young man, my suitors now that the great Odysseus has perished, wait, though you are eager to marry me until I finish this web so that my weaving will not be useless and

Two souls bound together across time and space. The love between the protagonist, Odysseus, and his beloved wife Penelope in enduring and everlasting in the Odyssey. The hardships they both endure make each of them stronger individuals and stronger together despite the distance between them. This strength they share becomes especially apparent as she laments of her sufferings to a strange man when all hope is lost. Penelope sharing her story about weaving and unweaving the shroud for her husband’s father illustrates how deep her sorrow is for her lost Odysseus, and how she has retained her honor while being faithful to her lost husband despite all her troubles and anguish.

Throughout our lives, no doubt we have seen countless heroes. They may be a doctor, a war veteran, or a comic book superhero from a fond childhood. A hero has a thousand faces as mythologist and author, John Campbell, puts it; the only requisite for being one under his definition is completing what he calls The Hero’s Journey. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the violent Odysseus was seen by the Ancient Greeks as a cunning and brave hero, but is he according to John Campbell’s definition? The Hero’s Journey is broken down into six steps one must complete, leaving home, embarking upon a quest, facing dragons, meeting the final dragon in all-out combat, incurring a wound, and gaining new wisdom. Five of these Odysseus flawlessly completes. He leaves his “home” as he departs from the battlefields of Troy, his quest in search of Ithaca. As he sails through the seas in search of his beloved hearth and home, he combats “dragons,” from the radiant enchantress Circe to the infernal six-headed behemoth Scylla, his final dragon and all out struggle fought on his homecoming, slaying the suitors that defiled his wife and name. Crawling out from the battle, his wounds lay deep; his kingdom in shambles, his crew deceased, and twenty years of a lifetime forever stolen. However, this is only as far as he goes, for no wisdom does he acquire, barred by a disassociation from empathy. Odysseus’ name embellished by

In Homer 's The Odyssey, a growing adolescent, Telémakhos, resolves to search for his war-lost father after realizing that his home is teeming with rude, power-hungry suitors that wish to marry his mother, Penelope. With inspiration from Athena, Telémakhos travels to former comrades of his father, Odysseus, in a journey that is eerily similar to that of his father. Telémakhos and Odysseus 's journeys to bring the latter home are distinguishable in very few ways, most notably in how they are guided by men and women, respectively. The similarities in their experiences, due to conditions that affect their journeys, have differing results than the distinctions, which are a product of their emotional accustomations. Together, these situations lead to the collecting of information achieved by both parties, Telémakhos and Odysseus, as well as allowing both to further develop in maturity and social-emotional knowledge.