Taryn Geiger
Mr. Carlson
Honors English 1
May 8th, 2017 Odysseus vs. Fiona Gallagher
Fiona Gallagher from Shameless shows the complexity of human heroes through her strengths and flaws in a similar way that the Greeks created Odysseus. All throughout Shameless Fiona is in a very difficult spot, being responsible for her four brothers and sister. She is the oldest in the young herd of kids, and has all of the responsibility resting on her shoulders. Despite being able to handle the situation most days, some days she can’t, tempted by the chance of having a normal life if she gets out. In the Odyssey, Odysseus struggles with the choices he has to make. Whether he should continue his journey back to Ithaca, or stay with the many gods he has
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They both have strengths they show in each story, showing their courage and bravery. Fiona makes the decision to legally become the guardian of the kids, no longer having a way out. After a talk with the judge and being asked if she agrees to the conditions of being their guardians she answers, “Yes I do” to the court (Abbott “A Long Way from Home”). This reminds me of the time Odysseus sacrificed himself to get his men past the sirens. Having himself tied to the mast of the ship and held back, while his men’s ears were stuffed with beeswax to block out the deadly song. “The lovely voices in ardor appealing over the water made me crave to listen, and I tried to say ‘Untie me!’ […]” If Odysseus came free from the restraints holding him down, he would have been killed by the sirens (Homer 12.123-125). By being courageous and thinking fast he saves his men, risking his own life in the process. However, with great strengths and courage come horrific flaws. In Shameless, Fiona is tempted to leave town with Steve and visit Costa Rica, leaving all of the kids behind in order to live a normal life. After Steve pleads for her to go, she replies with, “Well I don’t have a passport.” (Abbott “Father Frank, Full of Grace”) At this point she is her own worst enemy, she realizes that she doesn’t deserve the life she has been given, and wants to get out while she can even though she is wrong. This is similar to the time Odysseus is lured in by Circe, staying in her palace with his men for a year. “Remain with me, and share my meat and wine; restore behind your ribs those gallant hearts […],” Circe says to Odysseus (Homer 10. 171-172). Once considered, Odysseus stays with Circe to feast and feast eventually becomes her lover. His men trapped with her until their captain comes to, and leaves to return them all to Ithaca. In the ways that these two characters are similar, are a prime
Odysseus’s weakest relationship is with Circe, the beautiful goddess of enchantment, the love in the relationship is based on respect and infatuation, this is shown before they meet and when Odysseus decides to leave back to Ithaka. Before they meet,
Throughout the text of The Odyssey, Odysseus is fixated into several situations, where he is forced to choose between his crew, and himself. When in these situations, Odysseus almost always chooses himself. Odysseus is proven disloyal throughout the book because of his selfishness and greed. Odysseus decided to return to Ithaca, not to save the townspeople, but to win back Penelope from the suitors, and reclaim his title as king. He often thinks very highly of himself, mostly because he is favored by many gods. All of these things prove that Odysseus is a disloyal king, and for the most part, very self-conceited.
A major part of being a hero is trying to protect the ones you love from any harm, hurt, and danger. Odysseus, however, does not protect his family from harm because he leaves Ithaca for so long. In particular, Odysseus does not protect his wife from hurt when he cheats on her. Every minute of each day that Odysseus was gone, Penelope was mourning the absence of her husband, not knowing that he was deceiving her. Odysseus not only cheats on Penelope once, but twice. First, Odysseus is held sex captive by Calypso, a nymph goddess, on her island for many years. This means that at some point Odysseus had fallen for temptation. Odysseus then cheats on his wife yet again with another goddess named Circe. Although this affair does not last as long, Odysseus still sets
At first it appears as though the only reason Odysseus sleeps with Circe is to regain his companions, but she easily persuades them to stay. And what’s even worse is the fact that Odysseus isn’t even the first one ready to go. His men are the ones who urge him to leave: "What ails you now? It is time to think about our own country". So though at a glance it appears that Odysseus is merely succumbing to Circe’s schemes for reasons related to their health and well-being, if we read between the lines, we soon begin to realize that Odysseus is weak in the voracious hands of lust.
Odysseus must journey from Troy to his homeland of Ithaca. Throughout this journey Odysseus experiences a lot of inconsistent emotions. A lot of this is attributed to the physical and mental hell he goes through on this remarkable
Odysseus from the epic, “The Odyssey” was the least effective protagonist due to Homer’s characterization of him. Homer depicts Odysseus as a courageous and brilliant leader when in reality, his negative character traits outweigh his positive ones. Three characteristics that should be altered in order for the protagonist to be more effective and more relatable to the reader are his loyalty to his wife, his ability to make decisions, and his ego. Odysseus’s loyalty to his loved ones fluctuated throughout the story causing the reader to detach emotionally to his intentions of getting back to his family. An example of this occured when Odysseus was seduced by Circe the Witch Goddess, causing him to be her partner for a year. If this scene were changed to where Odysseus’ love for his wife overpowered that of Circe’s, the reader would relate and side with Odysseus because of his loyalty for his significant other which would increase the effectiveness of his character.
Hermes helps him out and gives him a plan to help save his men. So our hero is saved by the god Hermes from a horrible fate. Still Odysseus is not content to sail on and leave the goddess behind (Odyssey 10:269-532). Here Odysseus lost sight of his goal, thinking he was in full control of the situation. Only after a full year has past does he even ask Circe to help them on their way and only at the urging of his crew. He forgets that it was only by the gods help that he was able to triumph over Circe. There was no other way he could have survived her magic. In a sense he is beat by her because he forgets his voyage home and wastes a year in tarring there. By forgetting the voyage he denies himself, a hero, and forgets his family and subjects in Ithaca. Exactly the same threat that the lotus eaters posed to Odysseus and his men. The temptation that Circe offers is a life of pleasure. Anything you desire: food, sport, beautiful women, anything at all. For a time Odysseus is taken in my her offer but thanks to his men he is able to break free of it and remember his home and family.
This time spent on Circe's island was a test of whether he could resist lust from a goddess, and he fails. At first it appears as though the only reason Odysseus sleeps with Circe is to regain his companions, but she easily persuades them to stay. What makes it worse is the fact that Odysseus is not even the first one ready to go. His men are the ones who urge him to leave: "What ails you now? It is time to think about our own country" (Book X, line 472). At a glance, it appears that Odysseus is merely succumbing to Circe's schemes for reasons related to their health and well being, if we read between the lines, we soon begin to realize that Odysseus is weak in the voracious hands of lust. Odysseus arrives on Calypso's island 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 daylong activity for him. Calypso is holding him with her by force; she has no companions to help him back to Ithaca, nor has she a ship to send him in. Athena pleads with Zeus to give Odysseus good fortune,
In The Odyssey, the Greek hero Odysseus must make it back to his home in Ithaca after the battle of Troy. Along his journey, he encounters obstacles that require the upmost perseverance and willpower to survive. Some of these obstacles include a giant cyclops who wants to eat him, lotus-eating peoples that drug his crew, violent storms that
Circe and Calypso were the women that Odysseus slept with on the islands, therefore he cheated on his wife. On the other hand, while Odysseus was gone Penelope however did not cheat on Odysseus, therefore she is considered to be loyal. So although Odysseus is incredibly intelligent, he is NOT a hero.
Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and the main character in homer’s The Odyssey, was gone for twenty years before finally returning to his family and his homeland. He struggled through many hardships and lost many loyal companions. The King of Ithaca would not have made it home without the assistance of the Greek gods. Despite all of the help and advice that Odysseus receives from the gods, he is a very brave man because his courage and daring in the cave of the Cyclops, his inability to give up and abandon his men on Circe’s island, and his flawless following of the gods instructions are acts of bravery that is uncommon in most men.
Something common in the two epics about their journey is that both Odysseus and Aeneas are distracted from what they are destined for; by the lust and arousal of women obsessed by love. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is first encountered by Circe’s love and then by the over obsession of Calypso. Circe is an immortal goddess and enchantress who is extremely beautiful and sexy. In the Aeneid, Aeneas after reaching Carthage meets Dido who is a mortal woman and queen of Carthage. She is foreign, exotic, mysterious, sexually and politically potent. Talking about Odysseus, we see that Odysseus is approached by Hermes who warns him against Circe. She offers Odysseus to have sex with her and it happens. Odysseus now distracted, lives with her on her island for a year until his comrades remind him of Ithaca. The longest delay in Odysseus’ journey is at the island of Calypso. Calypso lives alone on an exotic and beautiful island. After Odysseus crash lands here, he is rescued by her and held captive for seven years. Calypso loves Odysseus unconditionally and offers him immortality. Calypso could never impress Odysseus like Circe did. But in the Aeneid, we see that Aeneas loses sight of his mission of founding Rome in Italy. Dido makes Aeneas forget about what he is destined for as they fall in love. Both Dido and Circe keep men away from their
Many would argue that Odysseus is more of a villain nowadays, for every instance of his wiliness or feats of strength there are several of venality, vice, cruelty, or selfishness. The episode of the Sirens,(Book 12), is one example. The only reason Odysseus ties himself up to the mast, when instead he could have simply plugged his ears with wax like the rest of his crew, is that he chooses the jeopardous choice, wanting to "go down in the books" by being the first man to ever listen to the Sirens song and live. In consequence he possibly endangers the rest of his crew from safely reaching home by endangering himself. While Odysseus’ many adventures are very exciting, he spends a considerable amount of time cheating on his wife (with
After Odysseus came from the encounter he had with the beautiful witch goddess Circe,, his men are grateful to see him . His men gather around him like a master and a shepherd, his men surrounded him. Odysseus a well respected man who is admired by his men and treated as a mortal god due to his God like qualities . While his crew are stranded in the middle of a cross road without his leadership and guidance, pivoting towards all directions but incapable of moving forward with
The second woman who was responsible for problems that Odysseus faced was Circe. Firstly she turned all but one of Odysseus’ men into pigs and delayed Odysseus’ progress. “Now they had pig’s heads and bristles and they grunted like pigs; but their minds were as human as they had been before,” (Page 131) this quote depicts Circe’s cruelness towards Odysseus’ men. Secondly Circe again stalls Odysseus from completing his journey back to Ithaca. “You are worn out and dispirited, always brooding on the hardships of your travels. Your sufferings have been so continuous that you have lost all pleasure in living.” (Page 136) This quote shows how Circe convinced Odysseus and his men to spend more time on the island. Thirdly Circe made Odysseus and his men take a different route, via the prophet Teiresias, rather than going straight back to Ithaca. “But Circe has marked out a very different route- to the Halls of Hades and the dreaded Persephone.” (Page 139) This makes the rest of Odysseus’ crew very upset. “When I told them they were heart-broken. They sat down where they were and tore their hair out.” (Page 139)