The Role Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

In my eyes a hero is a person who shows courage, is humble, does not give up, and is someone everybody can relate to. The protagonist in “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus is a hero because although he is emotional throughout the book and lets his emotions take over his actions, he displays immense courage and perseveres through his journey and hardships.

The term “dynamic” is often used in literature to describe a character who changes drastically from one point in the story to another. When reading “The Odyssey” an epic poem by Homer, we see that our protagonist, Odysseus, changes throughout the course of the novel. This essay will argue how he changes, and also what changes him, such as his travels, his relationships, and how fate and the Greek gods affect and change him.

Anyone can consider themselves a hero, but the people are who determine true heroism. Responsibility for one’s own actions is a component in determining whether someone is a hero. Also, when considering someone as a hero, honesty is a contributing factor. Many people, including Odysseus, can lack responsibility and honesty. Odysseus’ habit of blaming others for his mistakes, and his dishonesty toward his crew, proved he was not the admirable hero he thought he was.

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.

They sent Hermes, the messenger god to convince Calypso to let Odysseus get back to his wife and son. His problems were not over yet once he left the island, however, because he had made Zeus an enemy. Zeus sent a terrible storm to rip apart Odysseus 's raft with the intentions that he be lost at sea forever. Gods saved him from this fate, though, when Ino and Athena give him a veil to keep him from drowning and changing the wind to make sure the waves carried Odysseus home. It was very important that Odysseus was so reverent towards the gods; otherwise he never would have made it home from the Trojan War.

This gives him the title as chosen one. His intention was to get home to Ithaca but he remarks with over prideful insults towards the gods. This low point results in punishment from the gods to face some of the worlds monsters. Through it all, he receives aid from those who think he can amount to more. He receives news of home from his grieving mother, and his prophecy from Tiresias. “For not to everyone will gods appear.” (pg.294) The only reason why Odysseus was able to survive through the quests was because Athena’s fondness for him. She covers him with a disguise when he finally returns home so that he may win his last battle. His restoration came with absence of pride and ego from all the horrors he has perceived. Although he had to fix his character, Odysseus is still known as a hero not only because of his cleverness but also how he fixed his

Calypso being the temptress that she is kept Odysseus on her island, Ogygia, for seven years. Eventually, after Zeus talked to Athena, Zeus told Calypso that she must set Odysseus free. Even with Zeus’ orders she did not want to let Odysseus go so Odysseus had to escape her dreadful island and return home on his own. Then after he left the island of Calypso, he ran in to Circe. Circe started to mess with all of Odysseus’ men and made it harder to get home. Both Calypso and Circe, made Odysseus’ journey home so much harder than it needed to be. Since Calypso trapped him on the island for seven years, his family and everybody at home was starting to believe he was dead. They had no hope that they would ever see him again. So they started to push themselves on Penelope. Also if Circe would have just left him alone and did not mess with any of his men and stayed out of the way, he could have made it home faster. Since both of the Goddess wanted him for their selves they both interfered with his journey in many different ways. Some ways was the same like giving him the gift of immortality and persuading with other stuff. Some ways was different like trapping him in a cage for seven years and turning his men into pigs so he could not leave as

The final strange and difficult situation Odysseus finds himself in is Ogygia where the goddess Calypso lives. Odysseus drifted there after nine days on a piece of his ship. Zeus had struck the ship with a bolt of lightning because Odysseus' men had eaten the sacred cattle of Helios. Calypso "Loved me and cared for me," but Odysseus didn't want to marry her and become immortal because he wanted to go back to his wife and son (147). After several years of living with calypso, the gods finally decide to help Odysseus escape.

To summarize book five of The Odyssey, all of the gods met to decide Odysseus’s fortune, and Athena persuaded Zeus to intervene. Zeus sent Hermes to Calypso’s island to tell her to let Odysseus return home. Calypso agrees with the request from Zeus to let Odysseus go, and she helps him build a new boat. Also, she provided him with food for his journey home. When Odysseus sailed off the island, Poseidon spotted him.

Another character that was loyal to Odysseus is Athena, the goddess of wisdom, aided and stayed loyal to Odysseus through his journey in the Odyssey. By persuading Zeus and the Olympian court that the time has come for Odysseus to be set free from Calypso, a sea nymph who detained Odysseus for seven years, and should be reunited with Telemachus Odysseus’ son (Athena's Assistance,2). Next, Athena inspires Telemachus to embark on a journey to seek information about his father. She disguises herself as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus, giving Telemachos hope that his father is still alive and that the only way to find out the truth about his return is to go search for him personally (3). Without Athena’s persistence Odysseus would never have been able to leave Calypso’s island to continue on his journey back to Ithaca . By arguing in front of the Olympian court, Athena convinces Zeus to send Hermes, a messenger of the gods, to Calypso’s island and instructs Calypso that the time has come for her to release Odysseus from her

Throughout this part of his journey, Odysseus transformed from an ordinary man into an epic hero. One of the temptresses who causes Odysseus to delay his quest was, “Calypso, loveliest among goddesses,” who confined Odysseus on his way home and keeps him, “in her smooth caves, to be her heart's delight” (31). Even though Calypso is a temptress, Odysseus does not abandon his initial quest to get back home. However, Calypso does create a huge delay for Odysseus on his journey. Odysseus also meets with the goddess during his initiation. For example, when Odysseus went to the underworld he saw “the soul of Anticlea, dead, / [his] mother” (615). In Greek mythology, the mother is considered a goddess and although Odysseus loves his mother, but he can't grieve over her because he has to complete his journey back home to Ithaca. The Ultimate Boon is the achievement of the goal or quest. This can be found in The Odyssey when Odysseus states “Twenty years gone, and I am back again / on my own island” (1051). He attains his objective and has gained a new experience and understanding of life following all the previous steps. After Odysseus completes his strenuous and grueling 20 year-long journey, he arrives back home to Ithaca to reunite with his family and his

Athena, in this scene pleads to Zeus to let Odysseus go home after being trapped on the island for so many years. She even states “ But my heart breaks for Odysseus, that seasoned veteran cursed by fate for so long” (Homer 79.57). She loves Odysseus and praises him because of his wisdom and how he’s cunning. Coming from the Goddess of Wisdom, she loves the wisdom that Odysseus has in him because it reminds her of her own wisdom. Its why she’s able to be concerned with Odysseus continues by stating, “far from his loved ones, still he suffers torment off on a wave, washed island rising at the center of the seas” (Homer 1.79-59). She visualizes the suffering that Odysseus is going through with Calypso and it worries her, as Odysseus is a hero who has doing nothing wrong to the gods. To her Odysseus should be allowed to go home and reclaim his Glory that is rightfully his. This scene shows that Athena has a soft spot when it comes to Odysseus, wanting to help him return, even if it means pleading to Zeus to let her take action. This soft spot is what allows her to head to Prince Telemachus who is the son of Odysseus to convince him to save his

Odysseus arrives on Calypso’s island alone, after the loss of his men and ship. Calypso rescues him and loves and cares for him in her cave. At first, it seems like Odysseus doesn’t seem much to mind her taking care of him, but over time it is plainly evident that he is unhappy with her. When Hermes arrives on Calypso’s island to give her the message from Zeus to release Odysseus, he is bawling on the beach a day-long activity for him. Calypso is holding him with her by force; she has no companions to help him back to Ithaka, nor has she a ship to send him in. Athena pleads with Zeus to give Odysseus good fortune, saying that "he lies away on an island suffering strong pains in the palace of the nymph Kalypso, and she detains him by constraint, and he cannot make his way to his country, for he has not any ships by him, nor any companions who can convey him back

When Odysseus is in trouble he always shows that he is depending on the gods by praying to them. The fact that the gods usually listen to him shows that he is well liked by the gods. In order to be a Greek hero you had to be liked by the gods since religion was such a big part in their lives. Odysseus, with the help of the gods, can survive adventures that kill most other men. Odysseus travels to the island of the Cyclopians. The Cyclopians are giants that have one eye, they don't fear the gods because they believe that they are better than the gods and they eat people. They represent the opposite of what Greek men should be. Odysseus and his men meet Polyphemus the Cyclops. Polyphemus being a Cyclops eats some of Odysseus' men. Odysseus with the help of the gods figures out a plan to escape and he does. Scylla is a ferocious monster with six heads that kills most men that pass by her island. She kills six of Odysseus' men. Odysseus prevents her from killing himself and more men. There is another ferocious monster named Charybdis. Charybdis sucks in water from the sea and creates a whirlpool that kills any ship that passes by. Odysseus passes by her. His crew is killed and his ship is destroyed in the whirlpool but Odysseus alone survives. There is an island that Odysseus passes by with monsters called Sirens on it. The Sirens sing beautiful songs that lure ships toward them. The ships then crash into the island and the people are killed.

In various encounters throughout the book, Athena, the goddess of wisdom influences the lives of Odysseus’s family in order to improve their fate due to her favoritism for the persistent mariner attempting to return home and respect of his cleverness. Her preference to Odysseus is seen in the beginning of Book 1 stating to her father, Zeus that she is concerned of the whereabouts of Odysseus and pleads for support to deliver him