Comparing Odysseus 'Love And Peleas' Quest For Love

The Odyssey is an epic compiled by Homer, believed to be a blind minstrel, in which Odysseus journeys home after the Trojan War, a ten-year war that took place in front of the gates of Troy. The Odyssey most manifestly and evidently defines love as a dedication to one’s paramour and being unwilling of romantic love from other admirers. In The Odyssey, Odysseus slept with Circe and Calypso, but this was not true love because both women were not his spouse and he was told he must sleep with them in order to set his faithful followers free. To begin, Odysseus first languished with Circe, where he was unfaithful to Penelope so he could receive aid in reversing the spell cast on his men that turned them into swine. (ADD EVIDENCE AND CITATION). Moreover, his commitment of adultery was not considered true love because he was forced to sleep with Circe, rather than falling in love with her on his

      Since the beginning of time epic tales have been passed on from generation to generation as a form of entertainment.  Even though each epic is different in its plot, every epic has certain features in common.  The prime example of their similarities is their main character, the hero of the epic.   The hero's behavior changes from the beginning to the end of the tale.  Since the plot revolves around the epic hero, in most cases, they are made to seem God-like, or larger then life, in their capabilities and strengths.  The hero constantly has to conquer major obstacles to achieve their initial and final goal.  Usually the hero is tremendously suspicious of other characters intensions.

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 is men are killed and his boats destroyed. He plays with the lives of his men and he is punished for it. Odysseus is not a hero because, he is foolish, lacks faithfulness and is consumed by his Hubris and selfishness.

One of the major themes of Homer’s Odyssey is the importance of cunning over strength. This also happens to be the case with Odysseus and his long ten year journey home from fighting in Troy. Odysseus uses his intelligence over strength to ‘fight’ through tough times and bring himself home to Ithaca. Odysseus uses his intelligence when he has his men tie him down while passing the Sirens, so he himself will be able to hear their beautiful song, but not be entranced by their singing. He also uses cunning to escape from the Cyclops’ cave without being harmed. He then uses his cunning by storing away all of the armory, shields, and knives from the suitors so he is able to kill them easily.

There are many legendary epic stories have been passed on from generation to generation in the Greek culture. Even though each story has different outcomes, every epic character has certain features in common. Odysseus in The Odyssesy and Oedipus in Oedipus the King are great examples of epic heroes with a variety of similarities. Odysseus and Oedipus are similar in which they both god-like men who are considered heroes because of their cautious ways and relentless tenacity. On the other hand, Odysseus and Oedipus also demonstrate their crude habits with their hubris behavior throughout their own prophecy. In addition to the similarities, the powerful gods play a significant role which drastically affects

“Oedipus” written by Sophocles and “Odysseus” written by Homer both are Greek poets. Both stories share the same themes in ways where both of the epic heroes endure a conflict. The characters in these plays are attributed certain characteristics by the author. The characteristics suggested by the authors are intrinsic to the audience. They both have a complete and subjective understanding of work. Their characteristics are displayed through the characters actions, what the writer says about them, and what they portray on themselves. This will be the focus of the essay. Both Oedipus and Odysseus, spoken by others, they describe character traits.

The stories found in Greek mythology are often the subjects of both visual and literary works. The myth of Penelope and Odysseus and their eventful marriage is one such story. Penelope is the daughter of Icarius and Periboea and the wife of Odysseus. Odysseus was sent to fight in the Trojan War the day his son was born. After the war, he angered the gods by not thanking them, so he was lost at sea for ten years after the war while trying to get back to Ithaca. Their son, Telemachus, helps her protect their house from the suitors who are trying to take Odysseus’s throne. In the painting Penelope and the Suitors, John Williams Waterhouse uses the scene where Penelope is being harassed by the suitors to show that she is irritated with the

Jocasta and Emilia, important minor characters in their plays, both showcase the power of love as well as how destructive it can be. Emilia and Jocasta both unknowingly end their own lives, as well as others, and spread tragedy throughout the towns in which they lived. It is believed that in 425 B.C., Sophocles first produced Oedipus the King (Theater of Sophocles). In the play, Oedipus the King, Jocasta is the main character, Oedipus’, mother and wife. Jocasta’s love for Oedipus ultimately destroys him and results in her death. Sophocles helped shape the heroic ideal that is later embodied in medieval romance, which Shakespeare traditionally uses in Othello (Zerba). William Shakespeare wrote Othello in about 1604 (The

“As calves in stalls when cows come home, droves of them herded back from the field to farmyard one they’ve grazed their fill-as all their young calves come frisking out to meet them, bucking out of their pens, lowing non stop, jostling, rushing round their mothers-so my shipmates there at the sight of my return came pressing round me now, streaming tears. So deeply moved in their hearts they felt as if they’d made it back to their own land, their city, Ithaca's rocky soil where they were bred and reared.” (book 10, 452-461)

Though the Greek hero overcomes many hardships in his twenty-year journey back, he shows no mercy to the young women who slept with the suitors. Heroes, who are expected to be the gleaming, godlike examples for humanity to aspire to, should not penalize miscreants with death. Instead, like Apollo required Hercules to perform twelve labors, Odysseus might punish the maids with difficult intellectual or physical tasks or actually forgive them of their ‘sins’. The ‘hero’ also spares no thought to the fact that the maids are forced into sexual relations with the suitors, rather than being willing participants in them. Time and again, Homer establishes the unruly behavior of the suitors, who “after [putting] aside desire for food and drink…set their minds on other pleasures,” making a sly reference to their harassment of the maids who carouse with them (82). Yet, Odysseus still refuses to acknowledge the result of coercion that clearly merits forgiveness. Furthermore, the maids are unmarried, but Odysseus sees their relationships as a breach of his own relationship with the maids, though he was not reluctant to have adulterous sex with Circe. Odysseus “[mounts] Circe’s gorgeous bed,” quickly, and without any visible qualms (241). While readers might argue that Odysseus needed to sleep with Circe in order to return home to Ithaca, his maids, and ever-faithful Penelope, Odysseus exhibits tells that show he in fact, wanted to stay in Aeaea amid his comrades, “feasting on sides of meat and drafts of heady wine” until a year “had run its course”

In The Suitors Odysseus comes back from his journey to find an abundance of suitors in his home trying to take his wife who has been continuously loyal through the 10 years he was away. Shortly after Odysseus returns, Penelope retrieves his bow out of the storeroom and reports that she will wed the suitor who can string it and afterward shoot an arrow through a line of twelve axes. All of the suitors fail to do and then Odysseus with ease, strings the bow and sends an arrow and completes the task , shooting the arrow through all twelve axes. Odysseus then grabs another arrow and proceeds to shoot a second arrow through the throat of Antinous, and the killing of the suitors commenced. Odysseus actions were justified because all of the suitors got what they deserved trying to take his women and all else that belonged to him, the severity of the punishment was rather high but was what seemed fit to an man seeing others trying to take what is his.

According to the Greeks, the suitors plot to kill Telemachus is not an acceptable part of the Greek culture. The Odyssey, written by Homer, tells the story of Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, who leaves for war and is constantly fighting with the gods in order to return home. Meanwhile, while he is gone, over 100 suitors fill his house, who all believe he is dead and wish to take his wife, Penelope, for themselves. After 20 years, Odysseus is finally able to return home, to find his country split between those loyal to him and those loyal to the suitors, and he must reorder his home and his kingdom. Throughout the story, a common theme of the importance of Xenia, or hospitality, to the Greeks appears many times, where it is either upheld or

It’s no secret the ancient Greeks were fans of sex. From large scale orgy parties to everyday polygamy, ancient Greek culture heavily revolved around sex and the pleasures of the body. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer recounts the famed journey home of the Greek hero Odysseus, from the Fall of Troy to his home on the Isle of Ithaca to be reunited with his wife Penelope. Along the way, however, Odysseus finds trouble everywhere he looks, especially when it comes to sex. Throughout his ten year journey home, sex acts as an instrument of power, self-preservation and intimacy.

The view Ovid takes on women is not always clear. In some passages he has a violent perspective on women. Ovid writes about how he easily could have taken advantage of women, displaying a negative viewpoint of ownership towards females. Similarly he says “never a virgin there was free from the lust of a hand”, which shows that men desire women, and a virgin is held as a high prize, one that is worth committing the act of adultery for (Art 1. 89-126).

Love, in classical Greek literature, is commonly considered as a prominent theme. Love, in present days, always appears in the categories of books, movies or music, etc. Interpreted differently by different people, Love turns into a multi-faceted being.