Role Of Loyalty In The Odyssey

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

In The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus shows many heroic traits, the one I think is most important is loyalty.

     Odysseus shows loyalty like Telemakhos and Penelope to the gods and his family. Odysseus is a man that can be described as tenacious. He is always focused on one objective and that is to get home. He is persistent and overcomes any temptation that gets in his way. An example of this is when he is with the beautiful nymph Kalypso. She offers him immortality to stay with her and leave his thoughts for home but he gave it all up for his family and home. He never gave up hope and continued to trudge his way back home. He also shows loyalty to the god by not cursing them for all the harmful events that occur during his journey home.

Loyalty has always been seen as a commendable trait, not only in human beings but in any creature, all through history. Soldiers have admired their enemies for their loyalty to fallen comrades, thousands of stories have been written about the intense loyalty animals portray for their owners, and even companies in the workforce look for loyalty in potential employees. Loyalty has been seen as something that distinguishes the trustworthy from the untrustworthy, and something that sets the great apart from the good. The archetypal hero commonly has a cause, whether it be another person or personal beliefs, that they are loyal to, and this unwavering loyalty is what makes them appear so highly in the eyes of the reader. Loyalty can be found in practically any work of literature, but within The Torah, The Odyssey, and Inanna is the idea that true loyalty, although a rare attribute, is the key to a successful relationship.

In The Odyssey, the theme of loyalty relates to Odysseus’s physical journey back to Ithaca. Many characters in the epic are loyal and faithful, like Penelope, Telemachus, Eumaeus, and even Odysseus himself. Penelope remains loyal to her husband, by not choosing a suitor during the 20 years he’s gone. “And there she [Penelope] sat down with the case on her knees and burst into sobs as she drew out her husband’s bow,” (Homer 317). Just carrying out Odysseus’s bow with such sorrow shows how in love she was with Odysseus and how the thought of choosing a new husband moved her to tears. As Penelope remained loyal to Odysseus and

Loyalty is a theme that represented all throughout Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. To be loyal means to be committed to a person, group, or country. In this composition, there are a select few of loyal people. Penelope making the shroud, Eumaeus being loyal to Odysseus, and Athena assisting to the success of Odysseus’s journey are all examples of loyalty. Penelope, Eumaeus, and Athena are all characters that show why loyalty is important in any relationship.

“A person who deserves my loyalty receives it (Joyce Maynard)” Loyalty is the building block to success and finding long lasting relationships. Many great examples of loyalty come from the Odyssey. Throughout the Odyssey, there are many people who show loyalty to Odysseus including,but no limited to: Penelope, Athena and also Odysseus’ dog Argos.

Loyalty can be viewed in many different forms. You can show different people loyalty in many kinds of helpful ways. Loyalty doesn’t have to be from one person to another. In the Odyssey, I felt there was a time when Odysseus was loyal to himself. In the epic, Odysseus stated on page 863, “I stormed that place and killed the men who fought plunder we took and we enslaved the women to make division equal shares to all”.

The Odyssey is a 3,200 year-old epic poem written by Homer. The poem has many themes including hospitality, vengeance, and loyalty. These themes combined are what make the Odyssey so relevant today. One of the most important themes that comes into play in The Odyssey is the theme of loyalty. The theme is used throughout Odysseus’ journey and even after the journey is over.

One of the most overused and cliche statements is “What you put in a relationship is what you will get out of the relationship” If a person is not loyal in the relationship and does not put much effort into it, they are going to get the same thing in return. This is relevant to the characters in the epic poem The Odyssey written by Homer translated by Robert Fagels. The main character, Odysseus is on his journey back home to Ithaca from being a part of the war in Troy. While he is on his journey, he also has his crew mates with him and they go through experiences that test their loyalty for each other. Throughout their journey together, Odysseus hurts his crew more than helped them. This results in Odysseus not deserving loyalty from his crew.

Bhavik Patel Summer Reading August 23, 2014 The Odyssey In my opinion, loyalty is a strong feeling of support or allegiance. Its like a mans best friend, which is talking about a dog which many are loyal to their owners.

The Perception of Faithfulness Faithfulness is an essential part of a culture’s beliefs. Staying loyal is praised, and respected by many cultures. This loyalty and devotion is rewarded. In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, the characters’ faithfulness and loyalty are perceived to be important traits. These traits are portrayed in Athena, the goddess of war, who stays loyal to Odysseus, by assisting him to execute his missions.

Trust is something that cannot be measured but rather it can be shown by action. In the story of Odysseus, Odysseus has been changing in the course of the story, beginning of the story he didn’t trust his men and as the story progress he started to trust the people around him.

Loyalty is a major theme displayed in Homer’s epic, Odyssey. Homer gives the characteristic of loyalty to Telemachus, Penelope, Odysseus, and Eurycleia. There are also some characters that show disloyalty. These characters are Antinous, and a few of Odysseus’ maids. Telemachus goes on a journey to find information about his father who he has never met. Penelope makes sure she doesn’t marry a suitor until she knows for sure that Odysseus is dead. She waits twenty years for Odysseus’ return. Odysseus is always focused on one thing and that is to get home to his family. Eurycleia keeps secrets for both Telemachus and Odysseus. Antinous disrespects Odysseus, he is very ungrateful and very rude. Some of Odysseus’ maids were sleeping with the suitors, so they were punished. If someone was loyal to another person they would be rewarded and if someone was disloyal they would be punished.

Loyalty in Odysseus’ world was a big deal. Once you’re loyal to someone, you follow them forever, even to death. But the consequences of disloyalty is death or exile. In the Odyssey ' was the ringleader of the suitors. When Odysseus killed him, all the other suitor basically gave up their lives. In this instance, all the suitors that were following Antinous were killed. Even though they were not loyal to him, the suitors still followed Antinous to death. At another time in the story, Odysseus and his men were imprisoned in a cave with a cyclops guarding the door. Every day the cyclops would eat a one or two men, but Odysseus’ men stay loyal. They knew there leader was going to get them out of the situation. When men were dying, they