Odysseus Fate Essay

In the odyssey the main character odysseus is constantly being controlled by a powerful god and fate, which is the first key part of cosmic Irony. A key scene of the book where it is shown that fate controls Odysseus’s life is when, the Cyclopes is praying to his father after Odysseus escapes the cave after blinding him. As Odysseus and the Cyclopes exchange words the Cyclopes says,“All this, he warned me, would come to pass someday” (9.569) The author just illustrated evidence that Odysseus has a fate. The cyclopes explains that his fate; “that I’d be blinded here at the hands of Odysseus” (9.569-570) The cyclopes knows all of this from information given to him by his father Poseidon a long time ago. The quotes show that Odysseus has always had a fate that controls his life. It shows that Odysseus’s decisions have never mattered because his life is already plotted out. So by definition this proves the first key component to cosmic irony. Even when Odysseus is specifically trying to please the gods he can’t, “But my sacrifices failed to move the god” (9.617). Odysseus wants the gods on his side he thinks he can change their view of him with sacrifices but the

The magnitude of his punishment could have been much more severe; however, the Lord was with Joseph and sheltered him from other endangerments, such as the Pharaoh’s temper. Whilst this was occurring, Joseph remains steadfast in his faith and loyalty to the Lord and discerns the importance of demonstrating his courage to individuals in a foreign land. Similarly, Odysseus embodies the heroic quality of courage as he embarks on his journey back to Ithaca, years after the Trojan War, destined to be long and perilous. With his newfound sense of confidence and nerve to rebuff Calypso’s offer of immortality, Odysseus longs “for home, long for the sight of home. If any god has marked me out again for shipwreck, my tough heart can undergo it. What hardship have I not long since endured at sea, in battle! Let the trial come” (Odyssey, 87). Predestined to return home following the Trojan War, Odysseus understands his fate and the ominous obstacles he will withstand. Nevertheless, he assumes the challenge and departs from the island of Calypso. Travelling in foreign waters, Odysseus heavily relies upon Athena to safeguard him from other greater beings, such as Poseidon. (need more evidence/support)

In Homer’s Odyssey, the idea of fate is more significant than the idea and sense of duty. Odysseus’s journey begins when Poseidon learns that Odysseus blinded his Cyclops son, Polyphemous while trying to escape from his capture. This enrages the already hot-tempered sea god, damning Odysseus, his men, and his voyage. Poseidon attempts to delay and keep Odysseus from his home, Ithaca. His anger towards Odysseus is so great that Zeus has to step in to save him from the sea-god. Zeus, after Poseidon complains to him about the Phaenecians aiding Odysseus, states “Since for Odysseus now I vowed that he his home should win through many a misery yet utterly bereft not his return; for such your purpose was and decree.” (Homer, Book 13, st. 45) Zeus, in the Odyssey, acts as the hand of fate by preventing Poseidon from further stalling Odysseus’s return home. This is unlike Jupiter in the Aeneid, who dispatches Mercury to remind Aeneus of

Though Odysseus is as great a man as ever lived, he is still only mortal and at the gods’ mercy. Odysseus does not control his own destiny, but instead the gods determine what shall befall him and whether he shall ever reach his home. Odysseus is only a man and "hard is a god for mortal man to master" (36) even if he is great amongst his brethren. Odysseus can not control the gods anymore then he can control his fate and so he is left at their mercy. Even Zeus, who gives Odysseus many signs, will sometimes deal Odysseus woe which he is powerless to stop. To avenge the Sun god upon Odysseus’ evil crew, "…Zeus with a gleaming bolt smote [Odysseus’] swift ship and wrecked it in the middle of the wine-dark sea" (47). Such acts illustrate the control that the gods exercise over Odysseus and his inability to deliver himself from woe.

Odysseus's pride also prevents him from showing respect towards his men, by not heeding their advice and by not properly mourning their untimely deaths. At Alcinous' court, Odysseus recounts his experience with the Cyclops. The whole trouble with this one eyed monster begins when Odysseus decides to linger in the Cyclops's cave after eating his food, to see "what gifts he would give" (9.258). Instead of welcoming the Achaeans, the monster decides to eat the men who had rudely eaten his food. In sudden shock and horror, Odysseus and his men "wept and cried aloud" (9.331). Eventually, through a clever plan by Odysseus, he and his men escape, but almost die again because of his pride. Taunting back to the Cyclops, Odysseus reveals who he is, which allows the monster to almost collapse their ships, and also to issue a complaint to Poseidon that he should not let Odysseus return home. Poseidon hears this, and as a result, Odysseus and his crew are from then on beset by problem after problem. Had Odysseus listened to his crew who begged him to leave the cave before the Cyclops returned and also to not brag his identity to the monster, the men would have made it safely home. Even after witnessing the cannibalism of some of his crew, Odysseus is only "glad to escape our death / yet sick at heart for the comrades we had lost" (9.630). He does not appear to be too devastated by everything that has just happened to him, curse and all. Perhaps it is because he is surrounded by

Loyalty Lives in Royalty Odysseus’ beautiful wife, Penelope, explains, “Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until, I can finish this web” (Homer 96). Homer, the author of The Odyssey, displays Penelope’s intelligence by revealing her sagacious plan about the shroud. Secretly, she unweaves the shroud every night to prevent herself from getting married to one of the suitors, whilst waiting upon the return of Odysseus. The event proves Penelope’s loyalty to her husband, even while the protagonist remains lost at sea. In addition to Penelope’s loyalty, Telemachus fights beside his father against the suitors and Athena guides Odysseus home.

Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus is driven to many wanderings during which he sees many wonders and endures many sufferings. Part of Homer’s theme in The Odyssey is the vicissitudes that have promoted Odysseus’s various character traits.

Odysseus angirly exclaims at the cyclops,” Zeus will avenge the unoffending guest”( The Cyclops 260-261). Odysseus gets full of courage and pride when calling out that he could have Zeus come after him not even thinking of the destruction that could come from saying that to the wrong person. Odysseus second detriment from anger is shown when he attacks the Cyclops when he did not have to stop and get stuck in the Cyclops cave. In the story leading up to The Cyclops episode people know that Odysseus and Poseidon do not get along so his anger was taken out on the Cyclops. Odysseus tells the Cyclops,” Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth atremble, broke it up on the rocks at your land’s end.”(273-274). If Poseidon did in fact crash his ship then there has to be a dislike between the to leading the readers to believe he is going to harm the Cyclops out of anger. Odysseus third and final detriment through evil thoughts in the episode “The Cyclops” is shown through his boastful attitude when he puts his crew at risk. Odysseus tries to exclaim again across the ocean,“Now when i cupped my hands I heard the crew in low voices protesting.”(492-493). Odysseus is being very boastful wanting the Cyclops to know who he was and how he was better not even considering the fact that he could get his whole crew

The first point to support this is that he is reckless and never thinks of the consequences his actions can have. After winning the battle of Troy he yells out that he does not need them. This is reckless especially when knowing how the gods react to minor indiscretions. Odysseus is also shown to be reckless in book nine when they reach the cyclops and when they are escaping the cyclops. When finding the land that the cyclops reside on his crew wants to leave but he wants to try and gain the hospitality of the people of the island. When escaping after blinding Polyphemus and getting to the safety of his ship Odysseus decides to taunt the blinded cyclops. He ends up saying who he is which makes the cyclops angry. He decides to pray to Poseidon thus making the journey home even worse for Odysseus. The last example of Odysseus being reckless is when they leave Circe in book 12 and go through the Sirens. He had everyone in his crew put beeswax in their ears and the only precaution he does for himself is being tied to a mast. One tiny slip up when his crew was tying him to the mast and

Odysseus was very smart and chose to listen to exactly what the gods had told him. His crew however, did not. As Odysseus rested the crew slaughtered all the cattle that they were told not to touch. This, of course, makes Odysseus furious with his crew and he was very scared for what was to come. Zeus was already not pleased with Odysseus, as Polyphemus is his son and prayed for a curse upon them. Given that Odysseus had specific instructions not to do this, he also knew what the consequences were. As the crew got onto the ship Zeus stuck down a Earth-shaking bolt of lightning that cracked the ship and killed all of Odysseus’s men. Odysseus wept and was now alone. In this section he starts to sympathise more. He feels horrible for his crew, and for the fact that he is alone. He listened to the gods and it is here where he realises he must pay attention to wisdom and recognize its importance in the

Most of these actions are avoidable, unlike his dilemma between Scylla and Charybdis. “Half of the harm that is done to the world is due in part by people who want to feel important,” (Eliot). In fact, a vast majority of the misfortunes upon him and his crew are caused by Odysseus himself. If Odysseus could control his greed and leave the cyclopes’ island untouched, none of his men would have been eaten by Polyphemus. If Odysseus hadn’t been so arrogant as to announce his name to Polyphemus after escaping, Poseidon would have been unbothered by his journey home. Lastly, if Odysseus had told his crew the contents of the wind bag, he would’ve reached the beaches of Ithaca sooner. However, just as any human, god, nymph, or goddess, Odysseus gets carried away by his actions which demonstrate his lack of character. This misbehavior not only affected himself, but also hurt those around him. These disappointments are unforgivable to those who struggled relentlessly or died at the cost of Odysseus’ triumphs. In summary, although Odysseus performs heroic actions, such as finally returning home and defeating the suitors, he is inarguably a

Hermes soon soared to Ogygia; there, he commanded Calypso to send her captive back to Ithaca. By means of Zeus’s authority, Odysseus was set free and soon was gliding through the seas with the nymph’s aid. However, the waters upon which he navigated were the ocean god’s domain; and on his seventeenth day sailing, when Poseidon returned to Greece, Odysseus’s fate went sour. The “Earth Shaker’s” omnipotent wrath punished Odysseus with a sinister storm, and soon, his raft was rendered unusable. If not for the whims of Leusothoe “the White Goddess,” Odysseus’s return would have ended there. With the help of her, and also Athene, Odysseus was able to survive and reach the shores of Phaeacia (where he would continue to receive “help from

After escaping the giant, Odysseus, overcome with pride, boastfully reveals his true identity and deals with its repercussions. After escaping the grasps of the Polyphemus, Odysseus ridicules the cyclops with “stinging taunts” (9.530). While his crew urges Odysseus to stop, they began “trying to check me, calm me” (9.550) and so they question him, “so headstrong-why? Why rile the beast again? (9. 551). Even while trying to “escape grim death” (9. 545), Odysseus’ prideful nature shines, as he yells to Polyphemus that he, the “raider of cities...Laertes’ son... makes his home” (9. 561-562). Odysseus, who cannot simply be contained, “bellowed out to lord Poseidon” (9. 584) and continues his journey. And so with a burning passion, Poseidon per request of Polyphemus, waits to seek his revenge and at Ogygia, “launched a colossal wave, terrible, murderous” (5. 403-404) and the “planks of his boat were scattered far and wide” (5. 406). Odysseus, under near death circumstances, chooses to embrace his proudful behavior, resulting in the destruction of his ship and the ever-lurking presence of Poseidon’s wrath. Learning from his previous prideful experiences, Odysseus humbles himself as he cries out to gods in Calypso’s island. After the death of his crew and his feud with Poseidon, he cries out to the gods, “hear me, lord… I’ve come to you, rescue me from the sea” (5. 490-

When Odysseus is in trouble he always shows that he is depending on the gods by praying to them. The fact that the gods usually listen to him shows that he is well liked by the gods. In order to be a Greek hero you had to be liked by the gods since religion was such a big part in their lives. Odysseus, with the help of the gods, can survive adventures that kill most other men. Odysseus travels to the island of the Cyclopians. The Cyclopians are giants that have one eye, they don't fear the gods because they believe that they are better than the gods and they eat people. They represent the opposite of what Greek men should be. Odysseus and his men meet Polyphemus the Cyclops. Polyphemus being a Cyclops eats some of Odysseus' men. Odysseus with the help of the gods figures out a plan to escape and he does. Scylla is a ferocious monster with six heads that kills most men that pass by her island. She kills six of Odysseus' men. Odysseus prevents her from killing himself and more men. There is another ferocious monster named Charybdis. Charybdis sucks in water from the sea and creates a whirlpool that kills any ship that passes by. Odysseus passes by her. His crew is killed and his ship is destroyed in the whirlpool but Odysseus alone survives. There is an island that Odysseus passes by with monsters called Sirens on it. The Sirens sing beautiful songs that lure ships toward them. The ships then crash into the island and the people are killed.

When Odysseus arrives at the island of the Cyclops, his first mistake occurs when he decides that he and men should stay in the cave and meet Polyphemus, even when his men advised him to take the goods and leave (IX.215-217). At this instance, Odysseus’s decision is influenced by his ego. He sees all the goods in the cave and the reason he stays is because he hopes that the Cyclops would give him a gift of hospitality. This is interesting because Odysseus does not know whether the Cyclops is civilized or a brute; however, Odysseus goes forward with his plan because he believes the Cyclops will listen to him since the gods are on his side. In this instance, Odysseus is calling himself powerful because he has the support of the gods especially Zeus, when he threatens the Cyclops that “Zeus avenges strangers and suppliants” (IX. 262). If his ego was not already high, Odysseus boosts it even more when he believes that he has outsmarted the Cyclops by not falling into the trap of telling the location of his ships (IX.273-277). At this point, Odysseus