Circe's Island-Personal Narrative

Around the 1200 B.C., Odysseus was sailing the Mediterranean Sea for the purpose of reaching home. In his long narrative poem, The Odyssey, Homer conveys how Odysseus desperately wishes to go home to Ithaca. However, he faces brutal treatment and obstacles from several different antagonists, and more obstacles appear when he reaches home. Odysseus came across many external conflicts, which he dealt with intelligence, determination, and loyalty.

Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey translated by Robert Fagles completely illustrate Odysseus’s journey home after The Trojan War. Separated into twenty-four different books, the poem describes the hardships Odysseus faces and how he overcomes obstacles. Though this poem is composed for listeners and may seem incomprehensible, Homer includes a plethora of literary devices to help audiences better understand, follow, and enjoy the context of The Odyssey. Throughout this poem instances of epic simile, foreshadowing, epithet, and xenia are included to help the poem flow.

Odysseus' love for his crewmen is apparent; when his men are turned into swine, Odysseus courageously risks his life to rescue his men from Circe.  Delaying the return by opening the bag of winds, the crew causes Odysseus frustration as he debates whether to "jump overboard and drown or stay among the living and quietly endure" (Homer 10.51-53).  However, he tolerates his crew's "senseless stupidity", and they continue to achieve their common goal, returning to Ithaca. In return, the men respect and trust their "master".  As a leader, Odysseus is not overbearing, but sees himself equal to his men.  Similarly, Ulysses has a close fellowship with his crew.  With his confidant speech, he arouses excitement in his men.  "My mariners, Souls that have toiled and wrought, and thought with me" (Tennyson, Lines 45-46) indicates the crewmen and Ulysses have faced many adventures together.  Ulysses feels most alive when he is "exploring the world" with his crew.  He says, "Come, my friends,...the gulfs will wash us down; and see the great Achilles, whom we knew" (Tennyson, Lines 56, 63-64).  The consistent "we" and "us" shows that the journey will be a team activity in which all will contribute and gain.  The stories of Odysseus and Ulysses show the gratification of a close fellowship in which all work as team.

Heroes, as shown in literature, often undertake the most difficult tasks and place themselves in mortal danger in order to bring back, for themselves and their societies, both knowledge and treasure. Their stories follow “Hero Journey.” The Odyssey, as the epic story of the hero Odysseus, follows closely the complete cycle of a Hero Journey, both as a physical and as a psychological undertaking. The Hero Journey, used as a framework for both Odysseus’ physical and mental journeys, serves to bind the two together. Each of Odysseus’s physical difficulties can be viewed as a metaphor for a psychological hardship that he must overcome, and by overcoming these hardships, Odysseus matures—achieving a more complete understanding of himself and

One of Odysseus’s crew members reminds Odysseus, “‘Captain, shake off this trance, and think of home- if home indeed awaits us, if we shall ever see your own well timbered hall on Ithaca.”’ (925)

HW TUESDAY, 3/20: Read "Sailing from Troy," 647-648.  In 3-4 sentences, TYPE responses to questions: #1,3, 4. [Optional Extra quiz: Cornell notes.]

Both the ‘Odyssey’ and ‘1001 Nights’ feature male protagonists who traverse the seas, and the concepts and themes of men seafaring is common throughout most canonical texts. For example, the allusion of Odysseus’ difficult journey is made when a minor male character in Apuleius’ ‘The Golden Ass’ describes his seafaring adventures as being ‘positively Ulyssian’ (‘Ulyssian’ thus being a reference the Roman naming of Odysseus) (pg 29). Furthermore, both texts share themes, such as: seafaring, the supernatural, trials and tribulations, tradition, belief systems, and the geographical setting and pride in the protagonist’s home city play a key role to the overarching plots of the texts in the sense of the protagonist’s endurance and motivation to both leave and return home. Likewise, the supernatural is used to further the plot of both texts.

Odysseus tends to make rash decisions and does not take the full brunt of the aftermath. His men gave up their lives to protect each other and the captain. Odysseus has not used their sacrifices to preserve the rest alive. He only uses his crew for his own agenda. While Odysseus is good at fabricating solutions to get out of a pinch, he is too headstrong and that cost lives. He often confers with himself on plans and heeds no warning or advice. Since Odysseus has authority over his crew, it causes his men to be caught in the “crossfire”. At the island of Polyphemus, his search party came to him. He says, “My men came pressing round me pleading, ‘Why not take these cheeses, and make a run for it? We’ll drive the kids and lambs aboard. We say put out again on good saltwater’“ (Butler 9).

Travelling by boat on the sea through a cloudy, windy night is hard. When Odysseus and his men went back to sea, a supernatural storm hit them. Since the storm unexpectedly hit them, Odysseus and his men would be in shock and probably in terror on trying to save each other and the boat by trying to sail safely. However, the violence the of the wind ripped their sails into three and four pieces.

Throughout Odysseus’ journey he is able to persevere against the overwhelming odds he is faced with. The driving force behind Odysseus’ perseverance is his hunger to get home; his crew however does not share this passion and therefore lacks the strength of character to fight on. Odysseus looks back on his life or death struggle as his ship is lost in Poseidon’s storm, " out of the ship my comrades fell and then like sea-fowl were borne by the side of the black ship along the waves; god cut them off from coming home. I myself paced the ship until the surge tore her ribs off the keel, which the waves then carried along dismantled. The mast broke at the keel; but to it clung the backstay, made of oxhide. With this I bound the two together keel and mast and getting a seat on these, I drifted before the deadly

Dawn spread out her finger tips of rose. I had a peaceful sleep that night. Odysseus pulled his tunic and cloak on while I dressed in a silvery gown with the finest material and drew a golden belt about my waist. I then led the great- hearted hero on a place in my island where the finest olive wood was grown. A brazen axehead was the first thing I gave to him. Odysseus was starting to build his raft quickly. He seemed eager to leave. I began to feel this new emotion. Is it jealousy? Barely any words were mentioned that evening. This was the first day.

So when the Cicones gather an army from inland to ward off the Greek invaders, Odysseus loses many men and rather than acknowledge his error in judgment, he shifts the blame of the defeat to his crew. Convincing himself that he is not at fault for having been defeated, but rather his selfish crew who refused to leave, he justifies his actions, “Then I urged them to cut and run, set sail, but would they listen? Not those mutinous; there was too much wine to swill, too many sheep to slaughter”(9.50-52). Odysseus knows that if he stays on the island, the Cicones will rally an army and come to kill Odysseus and his men. Despite this, he stays and reassures himself that the major defeat was by Zeus’ hand, “Zeus presented us with disaster us, me and my comrades doomed to suffer”(9.61-62). Homer teaches us that no matter how many great accolades one holds, they are destined to fail if they cannot own up to their mistakes and actions.

Odysseus left Calypso’s Island and began his journey back home. His odyssey might be described as one’s own life struggles. There are ups and downs to every situation, and through reading The Odyssey, readers can connect parallels between Odysseus’ experiences and lessons learned in their own life. Human weaknesses can still prevail through even the strongest men you may think of; examples of this are shown in this epic. Even though there is a large gap in space between Odysseus’ travels and the present, human nature and weakness still share the same obstacles.

Odysseus is warned by Circe that the sweet voices of the Sirens’ bewitch anybody who comes near to them and that “there is no homecoming for the man who draws near them unawares and hears the Sirens’ voices” (Pauline Nugent). As curious as Odysseus is she knows he can’t pass up the opportunity of getting to hear the sweet seductive voices of the Sirens’. Circe knowing very much how Odysseus so helps him devise a plan so that he can hear the Sirens, and his fellow shipmen cannot. She tells Odysseus to have his men melt beeswax and plug there ear and if he wants to listen “...make them bind you hand and foot on board and place you upright by the housing of the mast, with the ropes ends lashed to the mast its self”(12;48-51). Odysseus

The ship reaches the shore. The jaunty men, after their long journey, gather their weapons and await the dismissal sign from their captain. Odysseus finally sets foot on Ithaca after two decades. He reconciles with his wife, Penelope and his son, Telemachus. With the help of Athena, he regains his reputation and returns as the chief of Ithaca. Odysseus knows that one more journey still awaits ahead of him. After all the years he has spent away from his home, he decides to leave once more. Penelope must express all of her thoughts, obviously, she knows this may be the last time she sees him.