Homer's The Odyssey

When Odysseus and his men come to their island Calypso, first, uses her beauty to captivate him and keep him with her. She wanted him to stay with him and be an immortal husband to her. She was ordered to release him and she eventually did. However, Circe wanted Odysseus for herself. She lured Odysseus and his men with her beauty, she then poisoned them and kept Odysseus for herself. He gave in to the temptation. “So she spoke to them, and the rest gave voice, and called her and at once she opened the shining doors, and came out, and invited them in, and all in their innocence entered; only Eurylochos waited outside, for he suspected treachery. She brought them inside and seated them on chairs and benches, and mixed them a potion, with barley and cheese and pale honey added to Pramneian wine, but put into the mixture malignant drugs, to make them forgetful of their own country. When she had given them this and they had drunk it down, next thing she struck them with her wand and drove them into her pig pens, and they took on the look of pigs, with the heads and voices and bristles of pigs, but the minds within them stayed as they had been before.” (Homer, 1994-2009)

The Odyssey is a fascinating epic poem consisting of twenty-four books all written by Homer. It is based on a Greek hero named Odysseus, who spends twenty years away from his family. Odysseus was in a battle against the Trojans in the Trojan War for the first ten years. Then, another ten years of painful obstacles was added due to his boastful attitude towards the gods and goddesses. When returning back to Ithaca, Odysseus encounters numerous of hardships with the help of the goddess, Athena. He bravely dealt with the wrath of Poseidon, the Cyclops, Aeolus’ winds, the Sirens, Lotus-Eaters, Cattle of Helios, Circe, Calypso, Scylla, Charybdis, the loss of his crew members, and also went to the underworld. The epic poem also includes the

Is a hero only characterized by their success? If a leader’s last actions carry them to victory, are their flaws unimportant? The Odyssey by Homer narrates the ancient myth of a leader coming home from war in Troy who faces many trials, and despite returning home alone without any of his crew, he is looked upon as a hero for having survived. His ultimately sole success continues to define him, although the bitter truth being that he was the leader of his men when they all perished. As flaws of the all-mighty Odysseus and his crew are presented through their responses to the challenges they experience on their journey, people of the modern world may begin to understand that there exist several flaws that plague all men, whether they live now or lived thousands of years ago, and whether they are leaders or followers. The Odyssey is important in its characters’ responses’ to their trials ability to evoke emotional reactions that cause the reader to ponder their own tendencies by revealing the human nature of pride to be the fuel of the impulsiveness that oscillates fate.

The goddess Athena then appears to Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, disguised as an old friend of his and tells him to travel to Pylos and Sparta in search of his father, meanwhile banishing the suitors from his father’s estate in Ithaca since Odysseus would return soon. In Pylos, Telemachus learns that the two brothers leading Odysseus’ expedition had a sort of disagreement leading to their separation. Later, in Sparta Telemachus learns that Odysseus is being held captive on an island by the goddess Calypso. However, the gods order Calypso to allow Odysseus to return to Ithaca.

They then land on the isle Aeaea, the remaining 45 that is after the massacre with the Laistrygonian cannibalistic giants, where they then divide into two groups to search the island. The first group, having run into Circe, the goddess of Sorcery, are turned into pigs, and are then saved by Odysseus, who then receives information from the goddess about how he may safely return home. After returning to Circe from the Hades, the land of the dead, Odysseus is warned by her about the trials ahead and how that he would suffer to pass through the land of the sirens. After passing through the land of the sirens, Odysseus’ ship sails through wild and untamed seas nearly sinking, though eventually sailing

Later the suitors plot to ambush and kill her son. Meanwhile in Sparta, Telemachos learns that Odysseus is alive and being held captive. As the story goes on Odysseus endures many trials and obstacles but eventually Athena’s plea releases Odysseus from Calypso. Later his raft is wrecked by Poseidon and he’s forced to swim to the island of the Phaeacians.

The Greeks define nobility as a person who would go and fight for their country, a person who has values of bravery, intelligence, strength and keen judgment. He must also be a person who the gods respect. In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus is portrayed as noble according to mythology legend. The American Heritage dictionary defines noble as a man often of divine ancestry, a man who is endowed with great courage and strength who is celebrated for his bold exploits and favored by the gods. (American Heritage dictionary) Odysseus was a noble man if he was being described by the Greeks, but in today’s society there probably would be some debate as to whether or not he was truly noble. Although, Odysseus did possess some of these

In the epic, The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus proves to be a very respected and admirable leader. Before he leaves for the Trojan War, Odysseus is king of Ithaca, an island home to his dear wife and son. He is respected by his people and known for being a very powerful and intelligent man. In Troy, Odysseus leads his men to victory with his cunning and power, destroying their city. It has now been ten years since he saw his family, and returning home safely alongside his crew is his highest priority. However, he and his men are faced with trials like they have never seen, and Odysseus must take charge and command them using the skills he is most known for: his bravery, his genius, and his unwavering resolve.

Many people blame God for their misfortunes. They see him as the reason for all of their problems. They would have a better life if God would stop getting in their way. This is not a new thought; however, even the Greeks before Christ felt this way. In Homer’s Odyssey, many of the characters express the troubles that the gods have caused them, and the gods argue the exact opposite. The gods claim, “Mortals! They are always blaming the gods for their troubles when their own witlessness causes them more than they were destined for.” The Odyssey demonstrates that humans and not the gods are responsible for their own strife.

Circe had just warned Odysseus about Scylla and Charybdis. The witch knew much, but she did not know about the wicked devil below seawaters. A seer who was banished from the underworld rests in the water, waiting for the day another sailor dares to pass her. Theama was well known to be able to tell your future when you remove the stitches along her mouth. Although, she was well known to play tricks, and only one sailor has ever lived to tell the story. Once Hades banished her, he took away her vision in her main eyes, leaving her seeing through her palms. He also took away her ability to speak. Odysseus knew of the myth, but did not have the slightest idea she was awaiting him. The waters were starting to turn into large waves

Homer’s, The Odyssey spins an exciting tale of war, fantasy, and magic spanning twenty years. However, the thrust of the story focuses on human relationships and Odysseus’s strong desire to reunite with his wife and soul mate, Penelope and their son Telemachus. However, to truly understand his desire return home, one must examine many facets of the epic. What is the significance of the turmoil experienced in the household during his absence? Is Penelope a cunning equal and meet spouse for Odysseus? What does the eventual reunion of Odysseus and Penelope reveal about love and marriage? To truly understand the answers to these questions, it is necessary to consider the following arguments.

As society has progressed, composers have adapted and appropriated the archetypal quest so as to reflect the values of the time’s culture appropriately. This has been a necessary course of action, to ensure their writing conveys the quest and its respective elements in a manner that will be understood by the responder in the relevant time period. The texts ‘The Odyssey (Homer 8th Century BC), In the Shadow of No Towers (Art Spiegelman 2004) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (Oscar Wilde 1890) have appropriated the archetypal quest in their respective time periods to reflect the values of their context.

The Odyssey by Homer and the Old Testaments: King James Version are two of the most read and most sophisticated pieces of literature that have transcended through generations. While they share similar qualities; both greatly differ as well, especially when it comes to the women characters. Classical historian and professor of classical studies at Wellesley College, Mary Lefkowitz, makes a significant contrast between these two famous writings. She believes that a major difference between the women of each story differ dramatically when it comes to their personality and actions. “[Although] the notion... that a man should be active and aggressive, a women passive and subjected to the control of the men in her family, are expressed in virtually every Greek myth, even the ones in which the women seek to gain control over their own live.…[so] that it is possible to show that the Greeks at least attributed to women a capacity for understanding that we do not alway find in the other great mythological tradition that has influenced Western thought, namely, the Old and New Testaments." (Women in Greek Myth, Mary Lefkowitz). I completely agree with Lefkowitz statement on these characters, it’s very clear that most of the women in the Old Testament are very flat while the Odyssey is full of well rounded characters especially when it comes to Jacob’s wife Rachel and Odysseus 's wife Penelope.

One of the greatest tales of a hero is one of a man returning home after war. King of Ithaca, Odysseus was a Greek champion in the Trojan War. However, he is known best not for his heroic acts during combat, but for his journey back to Ithaca, to his wife and son, in the ten years that follow. In Homer’s epic hero, The Odyssey, the Greek poet tells of Odysseus’s hardships and how he used his heroic traits to overcome them. The myth is told in twenty four books. Odysseus is a hero because of his cleverness, loyalty, leadership, and courage.

During the third quarter, my English class was assigned a two-part book project on the epic poem we were reading, The Odyssey by Homer. This poem is about the ten-year struggle of a cunning, strong man named Odysseus to return home after the Trojan War. Odysseus battles mythical creatures and faces the wrath of the Greek gods, all while his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus try to stir away the suitors who want to marry Penelope and gain Ithaca's throne.