Odysseus Journey Into The Underworld

I knew he was coming.I could feel it, he was almost here. He needed me to turn his sailors back to humans after I turned them to animals. He is finally here after twenty minutes of waiting. I must prepare myself for him, I put on my most extravagant outfit including jewelry as I walk I take the appearance of a beautiful young maiden. "Hello?" Odysseus calls, "go-go-go places women" I whisper pushing them into place , speed-walking to the doorway and draping myself against it sexily."Come all mighty Odysseus and join me," he follows me as I walk towards a table with many a food and my potionus drink. " I am Circe, you must be very hungry and thirsty after that long trek up here." I pause seeing his face flash an emotion I couldn't quite catch

Odysseus is a man to be acknowledged as a hero because he wisely resided with Circe, allowing him to learn of the dangers that lay ahead. After Odysseus returns from his visit with the dead prophet Tiresias, Circe informs him he must “Listen with care to this...in your ship’s path are Sirens, crying

Around the 1200 B.C., Odysseus was sailing the Mediterranean Sea for the purpose of reaching home. In his long narrative poem, The Odyssey, Homer conveys how Odysseus desperately wishes to go home to Ithaca. However, he faces brutal treatment and obstacles from several different antagonists, and more obstacles appear when he reaches home. Odysseus came across many external conflicts, which he dealt with intelligence, determination, and loyalty.

Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus is warned many times of the perils and difficulty of his journey. All through these times it seems that Odysseus will never get home, but he never loses hope. In Book 11, Odysseus ventures into hell to meet with the great prophet, Teiresias. Teiresias prophesizes, 'But anguish lies

Homer uses the character of Elpenor, one of his soldier, as a voice of the present. Elpenor tells Odysseus that he died while drunk on Kirke's roof. This is not only significant but also ironic: Odysseus is on a ship with his men and yet does not know that one of his own men is dead. This shows Odysseus may be a good warrior but not a good leader. The only thing that Elpenor asks for from Odysseus is to bury him because he is in "limbo" and needs to move on. Odysseus replies, saying, "Unhappy spirit, I promise you the barrow and the burial" (187).

At the island of the cyclops Odysseus and his men go to the cyclops, Polyphemus’, cave. One of his crew members suggests they take the goods and leave as soon as possible. “ How sound that was!” he thought, but he “ wished to see the caveman and what he had to offer…(Homer 688)” Odysseus thought that they were running into a cyclops civilization that worked like the Greeks, but Odysseus hadn’t thought about what would happen if it wasn’t friendly. But in the underworld, Elpenor, a crew member greeted Odysseus. Upon seeing him, he remembers how they “lay [him] unburied still on the wide Earth as [they] had left him- in Circe’s hall.(Homer 704)” Now when he sees him, he weeps of pity. “ O my lord, remember me, I pray. Do not abandon me unwept, unburied, to tempt the gods wrath.(Homer 705)” At this Odysseus does agree to bury him. But why hadn’t he and his crew bury him when they found him? They did not because Odysseus thought it wouldn’t matter. Now when the spirit has issued the command to Odysseus himself, Odysseus says he will go back and give him a proper send off. This shows that Odysseus may not entirely care about his crew as he just sees them as disposables. Their deaths don’t mean anything to

In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus endures an arduous voyage filled with countless dangers. Although he is praised by comrades and countrymen as a wise, heroic king, Odysseus does not actually live up to his name as he begins this trip back to Ithaka. Through his journey though, Odysseus corrects his reckless, undisciplined, and arrogant actions, learning responsibility, restraint, and humility in the process.

Odysseus displays many examples of fatal flaws throughout The Odyssey, however, his most prominent is his hubris. Odysseus is favored by the gods, and he appears to have a strength and intelligence that are larger than life. As one may guess, he can be a bit proud. But Odysseus’ confidence can lead to trouble at times, especially when he gets trapped in Polyphemus’ cave. During this trial of his 20 year journey, Odysseus gets trapped with some of his men in a Cyclopes’ cave. Crafty as he is, Odysseus manages to escape at the cost of a few nights and some of his crew. By escaping on the Cyclopes’ sheep, Odysseus and his men make a hasty retreat to their ship; but Odysseus, proud of defeating the Cyclopes by blinding him and claiming that his name is Nohbody, shouts back at the Cyclopes instead of making a silent escape. In his ranting, Odysseus shouts at the Cyclopes, “if ever a mortal man

During Odysseus’ journey in ‘The Odyssey’, Odysseus runs into a couple problems. He leaves home ready to fight in the Trojan War. Although he had plans on coming home, he never made it home. His wife Penelope and his son Telemachus assumed that Odysseus was dead. It was not until Athena came to Telemachus and gave him everything he needed to make it to his dad. What Telemachus did not know was that Odysseus wanted to come home, but he could not because he was being held prisoner on an island named Ogygia. Odysseus wants nothing more to return home and see his lovely wife Penelope.

Odysseus must journey from Troy to his homeland of Ithaca. Throughout this journey Odysseus experiences a lot of inconsistent emotions. A lot of this is attributed to the physical and mental hell he goes through on this remarkable

Having survived his journey and arriving in Ithica is not the end of his ordeal, Odysseus still has to reach within himself to summon self control.  He must resist the temptation of reclaiming what is justly his

Another trait that Odysseus demonstrates repeatedly throughout the story is his loyalty. In various situations he never gives up on his crew, even when he has reason to. During an episode in the epic, Odysseus travels to the underworld to receive a prophecy. He meets his great friend Elpenor, who has died earlier in Circe’s hall. Because he is unburied and unmourned he asks Odysseus to build a cairn in his honor. Odysseus replies, “Unhappy spirit, / I promise you the barrow and the burial.” (Homer, lines 609-610). Although Odysseus is preoccupied with finding Tiresias, he shows loyalty to his crew mate by spending time with his spirit, and carrying out the spirit’s request. It could have been easy for Odysseus to ignore the spirit of Elpenor, but Odysseus shows a real emotional reply to this meeting. Not only does he show loyalty to his crew but his homeland as well. Although he could have given up during the ten year span Odysseus wandered from home, he persisted even though giving up would have been easier. At one point Odysseus is detained by the enchantress, Circe, but remains determined to reach home:

In book five Odysseus is presented with a very great and tempting barrier. Calypso confronts him with this statement, “But if you only knew, down deep, what pains are fated to fill your cup before you reach that shore, you’d stay right here, preside in our house with me and be immortal.” She promised him that he would possess a trait that no other human in the odyssey has, immortality. Even though her offers are very tempting and would be self fulfilling, he promptly rejects because all he wants is to go home and the love of his life, Penelope. This act alone shows that he was willing to give himself and up for a greater cause. He showed great discipline and faithfulness to reject Calypso’s offer and to continue on his journey home. At the beginning of the epic, Odysseus did have one flaw that could have been detrimental to his homecoming journey and that was self-glorification. By the end of the Odyssey, Odysseus overcame his pride and tempered it with patience because at the end of the day he didn’t really know that Penelope would be waiting on him, but he was willing to put in the effort to find out what was at the end of the road.

This edict of Zeus summarizes the journey Odysseus makes in order to return home. He endures dire hardships to make the journey home, yet he still chooses to continue forward. Although Odysseus accepts this hardship as a mere speed bump, many people today would not prevail through such adversity. A knack for finding the easy way out has seemed to blossom as the one uniform skill possessed by most young people today. With today’s technology, a person rarely spends an afternoon by himself, and if so, would not like it. With this in mind, choosing to continue on with the journey in present times would be much harder of a decision to make than in ancient times.

Odysseus’s strong desire to return to his family inspires foreign rulers to assist Odysseus in returning home. Odysseus states, “Nevertheless I long—I pine, all my days— / to travel home and see the dawn of my return” to Calypso (5.242-234). Odysseus stayed with the goddess Calypso as her “unwilling lover” until he leaves on a raft (5.172; 179-187). Calypso grants Odysseus leave from her island because he is in grieving over being separated from his family. Odysseus lands in Phaeacia after leaving Calypso’s island. While begging for passage home, Odysseus says, “How far away I’ve been / from all my loved ones—how long I have suffered” (7.180-181). King Alcinous