Odysseus Journey To The Underworld

In my eyes a hero is a person who shows courage, is humble, does not give up, and is someone everybody can relate to. The protagonist in “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus is a hero because although he is emotional throughout the book and lets his emotions take over his actions, he displays immense courage and perseveres through his journey and hardships.

This book unites characters and events from the past, present, and future to help Odysseus see why he needs to get home quickly. Odysseus's mother is the most important character from the past with whom Odysseus reunites. Odysseus did not know his mother died while he was away and found out while he was looking for Teiresias. Odysseus states, "now came the soul of Antikleia, dead, my mother…seeing this ghost I grieved" (187). She asks him how he came to Hades, a place that is "no sight for living eyes" (190). Odysseus tells her he came to see Teiresias, then asks her about the rest of his family. She tells him Penelope is grieving for him and his son has taken over his kingdom. Odysseus then asks, "what was the bane that pinned you down in Death?" (190). She answers that she died of a broken heart, longing for her son to return. This conversation is a direct link to Odysseus's past.

When he is almost home, Poseidon sees him and sends a storm that destroys and sinks his raft. Ino helps Odysseus by giving him her veil, which protects him from the water. After two days of swimming, Odysseus reaches the Phaeacians and their kind king, Alcinous. The king’s daughter, Nausicaa, finds Odysseus and takes him to the king. Odysseus expalins how he and his crew first saw the Lotus-Eaters, then they docked in front of a cave to search for food. There was wine, food, and pens full of

Odysseus’s wife, Penelope lives back in their town, Ithaka, is being pressured by unwanted suitors. Their son, Telemachos, is visited by the goddess Athene. Athene was quite close with Odysseus, and she tells Telemachos to go looking for his missing father. He travels to Pylos to see the King, Nestor. Nestor takes him in, gives him dinner and then tells him to go see King Menelaos in Sparta. Telemachos does as he’s told and travels to Sparta to see King Menelaos. He tells him that his father Odysseus is alive and is being kept captive on Kalypso’s island. He also tells him that his brother, King Agamemnon, has been murdered by his own wife, Klytamestra, and her lover Aigisthos. But, Agamemnon’s son, Orestes has killed his father’s murderers

In Greek literature of mythology, we have examined Odysseus. Students and scholars alike have held debates about Odysseus. The discussion is whether Odysseus was a true hero, as read in The Odyssey. There is abundant supportive evidence to verify all sides of the debate and opinions held about Odysseus. Odysseus had encompassed many qualities that I believe make him a hero. The qualities he embodied were mental strength, physical strength, and spiritual strength. I would like to advocate for why Odysseus was a hero.

Spider-Man is your average modern day hero, he is a citizen who was bitten by an unusual and peculiar spider which gave him powers and abilities such as being able to shoot webs out of his hands and climb walls without the need of any equipment. And Odysseus is a Greek hero who was strong, heavily favored by the gods, and could take down any and all challenges he´d ever have to face. And if you ever compared the two you would see that both characters are extremely different. Why you would see this is because we know that Spider-Man is a modern day hero, but can we consider Odysseus as one. My answer to this would be NO. Society today would not consider Odysseus as a modern day hero because of many reasons. One would be that he doesn´t show

For generations, heroes have always fascinated people and people have strived to achieve certain qualities of their heroes. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is considered the hero of the story. While Odysseus does demonstrate some qualities that are not heroic, he is still defined as a hero because of his better, more heroic qualities in which he is far superior in than any other man. The qualities in which define Odysseus as a hero are courage, intelligence, and leadership.

Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus experiences many ups and downs throughout his journey home. He is throw into peril and there often seems to be no hope for his return home. While he remains victorious in the end, returning to his wife, son, and father, the poem itself is filled with many darker moments filled with doubt and sadness. Odysseus is the hero of the Odyssey, and in order to exist as a hero he must be relatable. His story cannot be one entirely of triumph, it must include a more human perspective. Triumph cannot come without strife, and heroism cannot come without tribulation. Athena and Odysseus’ experiences as divine and human, respectively, and define whether or not they are heroes. By comparing Odysseus to Athena, it is apparent that what makes Odysseus a hero before anything else is his humanity.

As he is sailing he is greeted by a goddess, Athena, and she becomes his guardian. He then sails to an island and is trapped by the goddess Calypso for seven years until Hermes comes to the island and tells her to let him go. He ends up going to another island and is trapped in a Cyclop’s cave. He pokes the Cyclop’s eye out and escapes the island. He ends up sailing away with his men and ends up on the island of Circe, a powerful witch, she turns all of his men into animals. Odysseus is given a flower so that he cannot be turned into an animal. He is told that he must go to the land of the dead and offer many things. He does what he is told then he is left to set sail again. They get back into the open sea and are attacked by Sirens, and murdered by the Scylla and Charybdis. He finally makes it home to Ithaca and he sees his son, his son helps him get into the castle. They suitors for Penelope are given a task to shoot an arrow through 12 ax holes. He then reveals himself as Odysseus and eliminates all of the suitors. He then goes to Penelope and reveals himself to her.As we go through life we are determined and always want to go back home to people we love. No matter how long it takes you, you will always want to go back to your loved

During that time, they dock on the island of Aeaea and Odysseus sends three of his men to investigate their surroundings. It is in an unfortunate event that they consumed some toxic lotus plants, and they failed to return as they were expected. One seeing their delayed return, Odysseus gets worried and decides to get his men himself. However, Eurylochus warns him of the potential danger of his plan of going to retrieve his men. He felt that there was a plan to trap Odysseus and so, he would be wise not oblige the enemy. Eurylochus insists and warns, “You will never return yourself, I swear, you’ll never bring back a single man alive. Quick, cut and run with the rest of us here- we can still escape the fatal day!” (10. 252-255). He goes against the warning given by Eurylochus and disembarks to retrieve his soldiers. However, on his way, he confirms Eurylochus’ fears as they encounter real danger and certain death. He is highly motivated to safely secure and save the livelihood of his soldiers. As a hero, Odysseus is courageous by facing eminent danger in the light of a warning. If he was not a hero, he would have cowardly held back and avoided the risk. He demonstrates that he is a good leader as he does not condone leaving any of his men behind in an area of potential

After a series of challenges the hero must then enter the abyss, this is where his greatest challenges lie. Odysseus finally gets back to Ithaca

Heroes are everywhere, no matter how small their heroic actions may be. However, what is a hero? A hero is someone who helps others without regard to themselves. A person like Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, who put Tom Robinson in front of his own reputation, and was called a “black lover” in the racist community for doing the right thing. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus has done this more than once on his journey home, however he also has been selfish. Odysseus is a man who has been both heroic, like when he rescued his men from Circe, but he has also done unheroic actions, like when he didn’t tell his men about the dangerous bag of wind.

During his ventures to the underworld, he had encountered Tiresias, a Theban prophet. Tiresias foretold that he would eventually do so, however, he warned him that “the god would make it hard for him…But even so, he still might come back, after much suffering, if he could contain his own desire.” (171) After being gone for 20 years and facing much misfortune, Odysseus successfully returns to Ithaka. The perseverance that he had throughout his journey allowed him to face obstacles and keep going until he reached his goal. However, now that he has reached it, instead of being satisfied with returning, he continues this persistence, pushing on to reach his final goal. Taking Tiresias’ advice, he does whatever it takes in order to demolish the suitors. He enters the palace disguised as a beggar, the lowest form of human life. As angry as he is with them, he maintains the strength to keep his composure and disguise himself until the time is right. He must do what it takes to outsmart them, even if this means losing his dignity. Upon entering the palace and encountering the suitors, one of them becomes angry and “kicks Odysseus on the hip..Odysseus and his men successfully do so as they engage in battle, ridding the palace of all suitors because they “were destroyed by the doom of the gods and their own hard actions…So by their own recklessness they have found a shameful death.” (332) Bringing this recklessness upon themselves, they went against the will of the gods. Odysseus felt it necessary to kill all of them in order to bring justice to show that this is not an acceptable action while taking

There is yet one more difference between Odysseus and the other two heroes which may help to find the reason why his tale does not end

            Odysseus is no god.  He is man, and with that comes the mistakes and errors in all of us.  In many situations Odysseus' mortal side is seen.  An example of the power of Odysseus coinciding with his human flaws is his battle with Polyphemous the Cyclops (son of Poseidon).  After escaping the lure of the lotus-eaters and their island, Odysseus and his men find themselves on another island, rich with food and shelter.  After feasting, the men grab a large container of potent wine and go off exploring the new island.  Later in their search they stumble across a large cave filled with food.  Curious where the owner's whereabouts are the men encourage Odysseus to steal the food.  Odysseus (showing his hospitable and genuine character) decides to instead wait for the