Odysseus Short Story Summary

After parting advice from Circe, Odysseus and his men set sail, once again, to encounter the first of three trials: the woman as temptress. As revealed by Circe, the “female character [offering] danger to the hero” (Hamby 5) is the Sirens, the “creatures who spellbind any man alive” (Homer 197). Odysseus softens beeswax for the ears of his crew to protect them against the “high, thrilling song of the Sirens” (197). While the men guard themselves with the beeswax, Odysseus has himself tied to the mast of the ship, so that he may safely listen to the song of the Sirens. As he hears the songs, Odysseus begs his men to release him, but his crew lashes him even further to the mast until they are safely past the temptation of lust. The crew then approaches their next trial: the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. In Circe’s advice, she warns Odysseus not to battle the monsters, but to instead make haste and pass the dangers as quickly as possible. Prideful Odysseus, however, disregards her advice and faces the monsters. His pride, however, costs the lives of six of his strongest men. In failing this second test against his pride, the crew makes way for the island of the Sun where “Helios, lord Hyperion, keeps his fine cattle” (204). Odysseus warns his men to set aside their greed and not lay hand on the cattle of Helios, lest they meet their demise. The crew makes port at the island of Sun for a rest after swearing an oath to Odysseus to only eat the food provided by Circe.

During Odysseus’ journey back home to Ithaca, him and his crew encountered many evils and troubles. Almost every one of these took at least one of his men. Scylla is an example of this. This monster took six of Odysseus’ men while on the journey home. Nearly ever was it Odysseus’ fault. His men caused most of the problems that haunted them back to Ithaca.

Subsequently, Odysseus uses his courage because he undergoes many dangerous obstacles that could easily kill him and his crew. One of the islands Odysseus explores contains a cyclops who lives in a cave. Odysseus unknowingly travels into the cave of the cyclops. Everyone started panicking, but Odysseus knows that being calm will reduce the risk of getting eaten by the cyclops. Later in his adventure, Odysseus recalls the cyclops conflict so that his crew would feel like, “This is no greater evil now than it was when the cyclops had us cooped in his hollow cave by force and violence, but even there, by my courage and counsel and my intelligence, we escaped away” (XII, 208-213). The crew are in another dangerous situation and are nervous, but odysseus explains to them that the amount of courage used to escape the cave will allow them to complete the new challenge. By escaping the cyclops cave and telling the crew about how much they can accomplish, Odysseus becomes an even greater epic hero. Next, the Sirens are dangerous creatures that lure incoming sailors onto their shores, ultimately crashing their ships. The Sirens lure sailors buy singing and making voices. Odysseus being Odysseus, wants to hear the song, but without getting lured in. On the boat, the crew, “...tied me hand and foot onto the ship, so i stood upright hard against the mast. They lashed the rope ends to the mast as well, then sat and struck the gray sea with their oars” (XII,

A hero accepts who he is as an individual, but strives to change himself for the better. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, the main character Odysseus is a valiant king who embarks on a life-changing voyage. While traveling from Troy back to his home in Ithaka, King Odysseus overcomes daunting obstacles, and in doing so discovers his place in the world. Odysseus is truly a heroic figure because he demonstrates courage, improves his character, and wins the support of the gods.

Odysseus was warned of the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis. When he approaches the Sirens, he has his men tie him to the mass so he will not be lured to their tempting singing. When he reaches the location of the deadly whirlpool, Charybdis, and the concealed deadly trap across from Charybdis, Scylla: a six headed monster that catches men in her mouth and eats them; Odysseus sacrifices a few of his men for the majority of the other men. He sacrifices for the better good. Hiding his knowledge of these obstacles and sacrificing his men, takes a full amount of determination for his objective to get home; it shows his vast amount of unconditional willingness and sacrifice. Perseverance takes time and sacrifice. His time and knowledge lead him through another dangerous obstacle.

Six of Odysseus’ men are eaten because of his foolishness. Again, Odysseus’ arrogance came into play when Odysseus and his men escape from the cyclops, Polyphemus. He taunts the monster, despite the fact that his men tell him stop. He exclaims, “If ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home is Ithaca” (Fitzgerald 908). If Odysseus did not provoke Polyphemus, the curse laid up on his ship and crew would have never happened. If he did not mock the cyclops, his odyssey would have been non existent. Odysseus always wanted to be remembered as the grandest hero of Greece. This is object when his ship rolls past the Sirens and Odysseus demands that he listens to their song. His overly extensive hubris clouds his mind and wants the fame of being able to survived the Sirens’ song. He never once considers what might have happened if he had

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

Scylla was a monster with six heads and charybdis was also a monster that created a whirlpool with its mouth to trap ships and eat them. Odysseus would have to go in a straight line between the two monsters. Odysseus was being heroic here because he didn't tells his men so they wouldn't panic, and he faced to to monsters, and even though he lost six men he didn't get his whole ship wrecked and was able to get the rest of this men out of there

     After two more stops Odysseus proves again that he is a real hero by out smarting the Cyclops and escaping the giant Laestrygonians. However, even hero's can't win all of the time and he losses many of his men to the Cyclops and the cannibal Laestrygonians. By the time he arrives at Circe's island his ship is the only ship left. Odysseus, being more cautious now, sends a group of men ahead to check out her house. The men called to Circe, and she came out of the house. She invited them in to share a meal. Unfortunately for them, Circe had mixed a magical drug into their food. This drug caused them to forget their native land, and turned

Odysseus and his men must navigate the straits between Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla is six-headed monster who, when ships pass, swallows one sailor for each head. As instructed by Circe, Odysseus holds his course tight against the cliffs of Scylla’s lair. As he and his men stare at Charybdis on the other side of the strait, the heads of Scylla Swoop down and gobble up six of the sailors. “Avoiding this we skirted the cliff where Scylla exacts her toll. Each of her six slavering maws grabbed a sailor and wolfed him down”.

Once the men are drawn to the Sirens, they are stuck and there is no way for them to escape. Additionally, Homer explains Odysseus’ encounter with the Sirens from Odysseus’ point of view. The Sirens try to attract Odysseus by singing compliments to “famous Odysseus,” so he will assume he is the object of their desire (14). The Sirens are intelligent, and therefore determine what Odysseus’ true weaknesses: flattery and the desire for recognition. His faults are similar to other men; however no other men share Odysseus’ unique wish. When Odysseus sails by, they attack his weaknesses, just as they do to the other ships, but Odysseus already is prepared. The Sirens sing to him and promise he will be able to “[sail] on a wiser man” if Odysseus listens to their song (18). His plan almost fails because the song captivates Odysseus and, thus, attempts to join the Sirens, risking his life to gain the knowledge that the Sirens guarantee. Odysseus navigates himself through the sea with hopes of becoming more intelligent. Homer describes the Sirens as beautiful yet cunning because of their ability to identify men’s weaknesses easily. Their beauty attracts men and thus draws them toward their death. Homer’s view of the relationship between Odysseus and the Sirens prove that the Sirens are extremely tempting and the men cannot help but fall for them.

In this section of the story the reader discovers Odysseus on the island of Calypso, a sweet nymph who has desired and detained Odysseus on her island for seven long years. However, Zeus believes it is time for Odysseus to head homeward and sends Hermes to release Odysseus from Calypso. Calypso agrees to let Odysseus escape after one last dinner where Calypso offers to make Odysseus immortal. Odysseus denies the temptation explaining he longs for his home and his wife, Penelope. Therefore, Odysseus constructs a raft which Hermes gave him and sails to the island Scheria; there he conceals himself under a pile of leaves and falls into a deep sleep.

With a voice “no louder than any suckling pup,” even Scylla exploits another of Odysseus’ human weaknesses: fear (Homer, Odyssey, p. 274, 12.94). To some sailors, the sound might draw them in if they are curious. She lurks in a cave, so the yelping might sound like an injured animal. By having this trait, Scylla is clearly trying

After the encounters with the Sirens, Odysseus had to face a terrifying creature that he feared of. Circe warned Odysseus about the dangers of Scylla. He is informed that she will snag six of his men and tells him that it is much better than loosing everyone. “Nobody would feel good seeing her, not even a god who crossed her path. She has a dozen feet all deformed, six enormously long necks, with a horrible head on each of them and three rows of teeth packed closed together, full of murky death” (Steele and Alwa, 489). Odysseus knew that in order for his survival and to be able to get to the island, he had to sacrifice his men and escape this monster. “Monsters such as the Sphinx are often represented as female, as if to imply that women are on the borderline between human and “other” than human”(Steele and Alwa, 41). Odysseus also had to deal with his love affair with the witch goddess, Circe. She lived with nymphs on a mythical island. She changed all of Odysseus’s men into animals when he showed up to see her. Hermes helped Odysseus remove the men from the spell. “Many men appear to have felt that they could truly not love women who were not educated well enough to read, write, or engage in informed dialogue with their husbands”(Steele and Alwa, 43). The love between Odysseus and Circe failed due to her lack of ability to engage with men, by

I,Elpenor, was one of Ella’s(odysseus) many companions, and now I am in the house of hades, so I will tell you my story. It all started at the end of the trojan war when Resourceful Ella and the companions began the journey back to sunny Ithaca. We decided to explore land around Troy, but somehow ended up on the other side of the continent. I don't exactly know how, because I was sleeping.