Poseidon Quotes From Odysseus

In The Odyssey, Odysseus goes on a long journey in which he takes part in dangerous adventures. Odysseus is an example of Homer’s greek hero. He is a leader of his people and they depend and follow him. Odysseus is brave; he believes in himself and trusts that he is doing the right thing. Odysseus values his honor and is confident in himself.

In Book Five of The Odyssey, although Odysseus is royal, he is even more poor.

According to Rick Riogan, “A hero is someone who can keep going even when they have every reason to quit.” This quote correlates with Odysseus because he never gave up on finding his way home after experiencing decade-long tragedies. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is the king of Ithaca trying to make his way back home to his family after going to war. Along the way, he experiences many trials and tribulations. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus shows he is a hero because he is both physically and intellectually stronger than other men.

“Hard times don’t create heroes”. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed.” by Bob Riley The story is about the protagonist's journey and challenges as he faces various obstacles on his way. In The Odyssey, Odysseus tries to return home to Ithaca, but he faces numerous obstacles and setbacks along the way, showcasing his resilience and cunning nature.

Through this story the reader is revealed to the true despair Odysseus feels towards getting home to Ithaca. Odysseus comes up with a brilliant plan to be able to hear the call of the sirens and live to tell the tale, which no man has done. He orders the men to tie him to the mast and not to untie him, under any circumstances. After he hears the call he explains the encounter,

Odysseus is described as a god-like man. He is cunning, sly, suave, strong, confident and self-possessed. He accomplishes many great events like that of defeating the Trojans, slaying the suitors and travelling to and back from Hades. When on the beach in Phaeacia he confidently “stalked as a mountain lion exultant in his power strides through wind and rain and his eyes blaze and he charges sheep or oxen or chases wild deer” , and when he sees Nausicaa “He launched in at once, endearing, sly and suave” . Athena found him to be “so winning, so worldly wise, so self possessed!” . Neither does he lack in ingenuity, King Nestor said that “No one...could hope to rival Odysseus, not for sheer cunning–at every twist of strategy he excelled us all” . Odysseus has a large and gallant reputation to fulfil, but when he first makes an appearance in the book he is crying on Calypso’s island. Crying is often seen as a weakness in a man, but this makes Odysseus more endearing as it reveals the labour of his love.

When he is almost home, Poseidon sees him and sends a storm that destroys and sinks his raft. Ino helps Odysseus by giving him her veil, which protects him from the water. After two days of swimming, Odysseus reaches the Phaeacians and their kind king, Alcinous. The king’s daughter, Nausicaa, finds Odysseus and takes him to the king. Odysseus expalins how he and his crew first saw the Lotus-Eaters, then they docked in front of a cave to search for food. There was wine, food, and pens full of

The next morning, Alcinous rose Odysseus and led him to the Parliament Square. Athena, in the shape of the king's herald, went around the city telling the people to come to the parliament to hear about the stranger that showed up at the palace the previous day. Soon the whole square was full of people. Alcinous introduced Odysseus to the crowd and said Odysseus had asked him to help Odysseus to get back to Ithaca. Alcinous asked the crowd for 52 oarsmen and for them to prepare a boat and when they had finished that, to come back to the palace.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18) is a universal message followed by many. In The Odyssey, Homer personifies this quote in the character Odysseus, the protagonist of the novel. A man beset with a hamartia of hubris, Odysseus’ flaw leads to his tragedy and hardships during his years-long journey to return home. With the utilization of motif of a lion, as well as direct and indirect characterization, Homer warns that pride, when controlled, leads to marvelous fame and recognition; however, if unbridled, leads to one’s misfortune and suffering.

Odysseus and his men land on the shore of cyclops island. They get trapped in a cave by Polyphemus, the cyclops son of Poseidon. Odysseus tells the cyclops

In the case of the Sirens, the theme is revisited simply for its own interest. With their ears plugged, the crew members sail safely by the Sirens’ island, while Odysseus, longing to hear the Sirens’ sweet song, is saved from folly only by his foresighted command to his crew to keep him bound to the ship’s mast. Homer is fascinated with depicting his protagonist tormented by temptation: in general, Odysseus and his men want very desperately to complete their nostos, or homecoming, but this desire is constantly at odds with the other pleasures that the world offers

Once they have successfully blinded the Cyclops, they ride out on the goats bellies to safety. It is here that Odysseus truly angers the Cyclops, by taunting him from safety on the deck of his ship; this causes the Cyclops to fire rocks at the ship, missing every time. When the Cyclops reaches his breaking point, he raises his arms up to the sky and prays to his father “Hear me Poseidon … if I really am your son and you claim to be my father grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, Laertes son who makes his home in Ithaca, never reaches home.” (Homer 228). Charles Segal states, “The spoken word of the prayer, the invisible and distant fulfillment, proves, after all, the more effective instrument of revenge.”(504). This highlights the fact that, with the wrath of the Poseidon placed upon him, Odysseus will have much more to overcome than just plain brute force of the Cyclops himself. Stavros Frangoulidis infers that it is this prayer that, “Marks the beginning of Odysseus’s troublesome journey back home and, therefore, his odyssey.” (45).

In the cyclopes island Odysseus and his men wander into the cyclopes cave, once the cyclopes enters his cave he shut the only way out of his cave and spots odysseus and his men. The cyclops asks odysseus why he is here, odysseus responds him trying to convey the cyclopes to treat them like guests but odysseus insults poseidon the cyclops father the cyclopes get mad and eating too of odysseus men. The cyclops passes out and odysseus think of a way to get out. Odysseus blinded the cyclops and escaped by holding on to the sheep that the cyclops let out. Odysseus was the most heroic here because he was able to free the rest of his men and he stood claim while coming up with the plan to escape.

As Telemachus tracks Odysseus' trail through stories from his old Comrades- in- arm, Athena arranges for the release of Odysseus from the Island of the beautiful goddess Calypso, whose prisoner and lover he has been for the last seven years. Odysseus sets sail on a makeshift raft, but the sea god Poseidon, whose wrath Odysseus incurred earlier in his adventure by blinding Poseidon's son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, conjures up a storm. With Athena's help Odysseus reaches the Phaeacians. Their princess, Nausicaa, who has a crush on the handsome warrior, opens the palace to the stranger. Odysseus withholds his identity for as long as he can until finally, at the Phaeacians' request, he tells the story of his adventures.

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.