Odyssey and Odysseus Return Home

In contrast to Odysseus, Everett's view on faith is remarkably different from Odysseus' view. In "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?", Tommy tells the " Chain Gang" that for him to learn how to play the guitar, he sold his soul to the devil. Furthermore, Everett lets Tommy know that Delmar and Pete had just been baptized but he is the only one who is apart from any religious group or figure. This shows that no God, religion, or miracles are believed by Everett. Now in contrast to Everett, Odysseus believes in many Gods and relies on them to help him stay alive throughout his journey and reach home in one piece.

Odysseus overcomes many obstacles in order to return to his kingdom of Ithaca, his wife Penelope, and his son Telemachus. This desire influences many of Odysseus' decisions throughout his twenty-year period away from home. Odysseus witnesses his own men being eaten alive

Odysseus’ arrival in Ithaca is quite anti-climatic: although he is “overjoyed” and kisses the earth, Homer does not linger on the moment but relates how Athene and Odysseus proceed to make a plan. The killing of the

Some question whether Odysseus was recognized by Penelope and if this helped to build up

Throughout the epic Homeric poem, The Odyssey of Homer, Odysseus is a hero known for his cunningness, vigilance, and overall attainment of homecoming. Odysseus’ journey home is one of many mental and physical tests that which involve numerous encounters with others whose characters are in opposition with his. It is important to understand that through his encounters with certain opposing characters, Odysseus’ qualities of possessing heroism and cleverness are vividly portrayed. In this instance, the characterization of Odysseus will be discussed in terms of how Agamemnon’s, Odysseus’ companions’, and the suitors’ characters reinforce Odysseus’ cleverness, prudence and heroism, as well as his avoidance of self-destruction and attainment of homecoming.

Intro: There are a wide variety of themes present throughout the Odyssey, written by Homer. Be it hospitality, perseverance, vengeance or power of the Gods, loyalty is truly the theme that brings the whole book together. Being 10 years after the Trojan War, many have forgotten about Odysseus and his men as they constantly brave what the gods throw their way. This essay will be talking about Odysseus and Penelope’s mutual loyalty to one another, the loyal relationships between Gods and men and finally, the loyalty Odysseus’ men show for him until death. This essay with prove to us that without loyalty, Odysseus’ legendary journey would have been put to an end near where they started. The general theme of loyalty is what kept Odysseus

After assisting Telemachus, Athena ventures to the Island where Calypso lives to free Odysseus. Odysseus is then given a boat by Calypso to return to home. On the way home, he lands on a strange place which is unknown to him. Athena, cognizant of Odysseus' arrival, travels to the palace of Alcinous disguised as one of Nausicaa's friends. Athena enters the palace and gives Nausicaa advice to venture to river so she would clean herself up to make her presentable to men. In doing this, Athena has sent Nausicaa to meet up with Odysseus at the river. It was then Odysseus' turn to be disguised.

While Odyesseus was gone his son Telemachus has grown into a man and his wife Penelope is overwhelmed by suitors who think Odysseus is dead. These suitors have been living in Odysseus’ home eating his food trying to overrun his palace. While Poseidon is away from Olympus, Penelope convinces the other gods to help Odysseus return home. In disguise in Ithaca, she convinces Telemachus to look for his father. Telemachus goes to Pylos and finds out that Odysseus is being held prisoner by Calypso. Zeus orders that Odysseus be allowed to go home so he leaves on a raft.

B. After the escape from Scylla and Charybdis, the remainder of Odysseus’s men go hungry on the island of Helios. They remember Odysseus’s warning about not eating Helios’s cattle but proceed anyway because of their need for food. Even though they give offerings to the cattle they still eat them and Zeus punishes them with a lightning bolt destroying all the men besides Odysseus. Instead of listening to Odysseus’s orders and obeying Helios’s command, his men act in a selfish manner and consume the food.

Odysseus's wife, Penelope plays a crucial role in Homer's ‘The Odyssey’, with not only providing the motivation for Odysseus's return to Ithaca, but she is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemakos and Ithaca itself.  Therefore the objective of this essay is to analyze the importance of Penelope’s role in ‘The Odyssey’.

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.

After Odysseus becomes enraged when Penelope asks the maid to make his bed outside, she realizes that he knows the secret that only Odysseus and her share. She embraces him and praises his homecoming. Once again, Penelope is wise and patient in her decision-making. The suitors pursued her, overtook her home and aggressively pushed her to remarry as she was supposed to. If Penelope would have given in, The Odyssey would not have ended with Odysseus returning to a loyal home. Through cunning, independence and loyalty, Penelope is able to create a positive image as a woman. Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has similar independence and cunning, but she makes her name as a domineering lady that chooses who she wants, and when she wants them.

Furthermore, Penelope is an important character as her identity “functions as a stable and unchanging reference point for the adventures of Odysseus” (Katz, 6). As Katz explains, Odysseus’ travels are interwoven with his lust for home and his desire to be with his wife again. As well, her identity becomes a parallel to Odysseus’ identity through her use of polutropus (tricks and turns). She proves, by the end of the poem, that she is the perfect match for Odysseus as both of them share the same skills with rhetoric and language to get what they want. Their like-mindedness is evident during the recognition scene between the two. Penelope tests Odysseus’ knowledge of their marital bed - before blindly trusting his claim of identity - by asking the slaves to move their immovable bed: “[putting] her husband to the proof-but Odysseus/ blazed in fury, lashed out at his loyal wife” (Homer, 23.203-204). In his angry response to Penelope’s test, Odysseus proves his identity to his wife as he explains why the bed cannot move. When she hears their familiar story of the creation of their bed, - which only the two and a slave know about - Penelope submits to her long-lost husband in an emotional reunion. Her caution, before accepting Odysseus’ claim, shows the wary protectionism stance that she had to adopt while her husband was gone so she could protect the kingdom from the suitors.

Throughout book 10 and other parts of the Odyssey, it is clear that Odysseus does not want to go home. One would think that after being away from ones family, friends, and WIFE that they

As a result, Athena is there to advise and prepare Telemachus for her greater plan of the homecoming of Odysseus. Athena’s first goal is pointed out by her statement, “Tomorrow, summon the Achaian warriors into assembly / and publish your word to all...Tell suitors to scatter and go back to their own holdings” (1.272-274) which commands Telemachus to call an assembly for suitors and tell them to leave his household. Further, Athena suggests Telemachus visit Nestor and Menelaus, who was his father’s friend in the Trojan war by the statement “First go to Pylos, and there question the great Nestor, / and from there go over to Sparta to see fair-haired Menelaos, / since he came from home last of all the bronze-armored Achains.” (1.284-286). Finally, the words of Athena “after you have made an end of these matters, and done them, / next you must consider well in your heart and spirit some means by which you can kill the suitors who are in your household, / by treachery or open attack.” (1.293-296) reveals her final plan for Telemachus that he must find a way to kill the suitors after his return.