Odysseus : Blind Consequences Of The Odyssey

Nobody is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, but if people do not learn from those mistakes, the consequences are grave. Homer’s The Odyssey tells the story of the Greek hero Odysseus and his journey home after the Trojan War. Odysseus is hindered from getting home to Ithaca due to his interactions with Poseidon,

Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and the main character in homer’s The Odyssey, was gone for twenty years before finally returning to his family and his homeland. He struggled through many hardships and lost many loyal companions. The King of Ithaca would not have made it home without the assistance of the Greek gods. Despite all of the help and advice that Odysseus receives from the gods, he is a very brave man because his courage and daring in the cave of the Cyclops, his inability to give up and abandon his men on Circe’s island, and his flawless following of the gods instructions are acts of bravery that is uncommon in most men.

Some civilizations perish into ashes, and others supersede the former and ascent to power. Ancient Greece is one such example, rising to the apex of its glory, and as history is depicted to repeat itself, the future was simultaneously on a quest to bring about its diminution. Although this cycle is inevitable, we are blessed by our biological programming to relay the chronicles of such civilizations through stories. Literature allows us to peek through the fabric of time and gain insight into the ideals a civilization was structured upon. Examining the Odyssey will allow us to view the values the Ancient Greeks were reliant on, and how those values and brought about the indomitable hero

Odysseus was an amazing man, whose exploits were made legend by Homer. While he was sailing, he endured many temptations. One temptation he could not overcome was when he was on his journey home, And Odysseus and his men took refuge on an island which held the livestock of the sun god; meanwhile, there was a large hurricane that stranded them on the island with little food (pg.170, paragraph 6). This gave a chance for Homer to realize the problems Odysseus was put through to get to a very simple goal of returning to his home. The disobedience of the crew was an opportunity for how the rest of his comrades died and he ended up at the island of Ogygian.

Odysseus’ role in the Odyssey is extremely significant both in Greek culture and in hero stories as a whole, he represents and protects Greek cultural ideals, and shows us an example of heroism that still resonates today. It is stated in the hero cycle that any great hero

The Odyssey is a story about a warrior named Odysseus and how he makes his journey back to Ithaca or as he would call it, his home. While on his journey he is perceived as a hero and is able to maintain the name. In the stories inception Odysseus is a very brave warrior whom crossed paths with Calypso a witch, radiant creature, and one of the great family gods who in which wanted Odysseus as a husband and imprisoned him on her island. After Odysseus’s long and dreadful seven year stay on the island it was time for him to return to Ithaca. On Odysseus’s way back from Calypso’s island the gods help lead him towards Scheria, island of the Phaeacians which he spots in eighteen days. But as Odysseus is heading towards Scheria, Poseidon, a God that does not like Odysseus, realizes the gods have helped Odysseus find land and sent a great wave towards him which turned Odysseus’s vessel round. Odysseus soon fell off the vessel and was underwater for a very long time and his mast snapped in the middle. Therefore, Odysseus had to find a raft while trying to stay above the water. He struggled to get the raft but after making a dash for it he caught hold of it and held on for dear life.

An epic is defined as a long narrative poem describing the noble and courageous deeds of a hero. Similarly, a hero is denoted as an individual who can be seen as a role model, maintaining qualities and characteristics worth looking up to and hoping to achieve. Odysseus, being the main character of Homer’s epic The Odyssey, is given the title of a hero by these definitions. He is the center of attention throughout the poem and the people of Ithaka speak of him as if he has god-like qualities. However, when his decisions and intents are examined deeper, it is clearly discernible that Odysseus is acting out of his own hubris and self-centered nature, taking unnecessary risks as he travels home due to his elite status among mortal men.

Odysseus and many people today think of the consequences of an action before deciding whether or not to go forward with it to insure that they make the best decision. Odysseus demonstrates that he carefully considers the consequences of an action when he approaches the sleeping cyclops. After he draws his sword to kill the sleeping cyclopes, “sudden fear stayed [him]” (903). He realizes “if [he] kills) him [they] perished there as well, for [they] could never move his ponderous doorway slab aside” (903). Odysseus shows he's thinking of the possible consequences of killing the cyclops or not and makes the better of the two decisions. Later on Odysseus’ journey he shows that he is thinking of the result of his actions when he must choose between

People have wondered what it’d be like to become a grand hero. Take, for example, the hero Odysseus and his adventures in The Odyssey, written by the blind poet Homer. Odysseus is a Trojan War hero that must fight and survive to venture back to his kingdom in Ithaca. There has been good argument on the issue of whether Odysseus is a flawed hero or not. Without a doubt, this issue is extremely important to look upon so that readers will understand who Odysseus really is. Put simply, Odysseus is a hero with flaws that endanger him and his men, and ultimately slow him down from getting home.

Numerous times in the Odyssey, Odysseus involves himself in many life threatening situations that only develop from his own ignorance and ruthlessness. From the start, his arrogance and inability to communicate with his men delays his journey home. When Aeolus, Ruler of Winds takes pity on Odysseus and grants him a bag of winds along with precise emphasis on why he should never open them, Odysseus decides to keep his men in oblivion (Adventures in Reading, p. 510). Ultimately, Odysseus’ men open the bag of winds upon curiosity and their ship is blown back to Aeolia. As most people have uncontrollable urges to acquire knowledge they do possess, the men desperately try to uncover the “secret” that they were hidden from.

“ The power that the gods have in Homer’s Odyssey is the reflective of Greeks respect to the immortals. It took 10 years of hardships and struggle for Odysseus to return to his family while the gods could really just pick him up from Troy and return him safely. Sometimes the gods works against the Ithacans when they had somehow earned the god’s anger, and sometimes the gods worked to help them. The gods can choose either to make Odysseus’ journey home easy or difficult, and they did it

The problematic return of Odysseus’ to his homeland was described by The Odyssey. About ten years have elapsed since the end of the Trojan War, and it is observed that Odysseus who is seen to be the most cursed of all the present living things has been missing and many individuals supposed that he was dead. In the narrative, it can be seen that gods play a crucial role in the destiny of Odysseus as well as many other characters.

In the beginning of the story, our hero is presented as leaving the island of Calypso. He stayed there for seven years and, after he sailed back home. “Now Zeus the lord of cloud roused in the north a storm against the ships,and driving veils of squall moved down like night and sea”(Homer 70). Zeus and the other gods were mad at Odysseus and his men for killing the people of Trojan. The gods cause Odysseus and his men a ten year long trip home. Which causes a very dangerous trip that left many men dead. The sea was unbearable “Upon the tenth we came to the coastline of the Lotus-Eaters,who live upon that flower (Homer 86). When they arrived Odysseus send two men to check out the land. Those two same men were trying to stay on, but Odyssey tied them to the boat to take them home. This shows Odysseus leadership and kindness toward the men.

After our encounter with Polyphemus on Cyclops Island, we landed on an isle not too far away. From afar, it seemed as if there were no inhabitants, but as some of my crew and I ventured further into the forests, something seemed amiss. I had begun the exploration with nearly fifty of my crew surrounding me, but once we had walked no more than a hundred meters, only twenty of my crew remained by my side. I ordered for my men to halt and search the nearby woodland for the missing crew. About an hour later, they returned with no information on the missing men.

An Epic hero, also known as a character in an epic poem admired for their great achievements, are very common in Greek mythology. Ranging from the invulnerable Achilles to the brave and powerful Hercules. In this case, it is Odysseus, the epic hero of the epic poem The Odyssey written by Homer. There are many opposing perspectives on the increasingly popular epic poem questioning whether Odysseus is truely a hero, or if he just caused more harm than help. This is a greatly debated topic in the eyes of historians and the public alike and is quite contentious through each ranging opinion. Our epic hero has faced countless trials, leading him to be a prominent subject of survival of the fittest, idolism, and devotion.