Homer: Odyssey Travelling by boat on the sea through a cloudy, windy night is hard. When Odysseus and his men went back to sea, a supernatural storm hit them. Since the storm unexpectedly hit them, Odysseus and his men would be in shock and probably in terror on trying to save each other and the boat by trying to sail safely. However, the violence the of the wind ripped their sails into three and four pieces.
After losing several men and parts of their ship, they probably lost their supply of food and fresh water. Odysseus and his men ended up starving and therefore acted revolting. They were all in pain and weariness together eating their hearts out. The strong winds drove them off course and travelling at night would be difficult to for
Around the 1200 B.C., Odysseus was sailing the Mediterranean Sea for the purpose of reaching home. In his long narrative poem, The Odyssey, Homer conveys how Odysseus desperately wishes to go home to Ithaca. However, he faces brutal treatment and obstacles from several different antagonists, and more obstacles appear when he reaches home. Odysseus came across many external conflicts, which he dealt with intelligence, determination, and loyalty.
Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey translated by Robert Fagles completely illustrate Odysseus’s journey home after The Trojan War. Separated into twenty-four different books, the poem describes the hardships Odysseus faces and how he overcomes obstacles. Though this poem is composed for listeners and may seem incomprehensible, Homer includes a plethora of literary devices to help audiences better understand, follow, and enjoy the context of The Odyssey. Throughout this poem instances of epic simile, foreshadowing, epithet, and xenia are included to help the poem flow.
Loyalty and Betrayal You have been trapped in a Vietnamese camp for 3 months. They have tortured you every day trying to get you to reveal secrets about your government. You endure the pain, and with clenched teeth you keep saying no. When you are at the brink of death.
Also, in book twelve: Scylla and Charybdis fate is demonstrated once again. Thirdly in the text, at this point Odysseus men disobeyed his order not to eat the plumed sheep’s, and Zeus help him realize that his men are not promising. Odysseus says on page 166, lines 372 to 373,”…so it was to ruin me the [Zeus] lulled me into a cruel sleep, while left to themselves my men planned this awful crime.” Zeus put Odysseus in a deep sleep so that Odysseus could see that his men are not promising; Odysseus men lack strength and they are very greedy. They only care for themselves! Furthermore, Zeus was punishing Odysseus and his men completely by destroying their boat. Odysseus says on page 167, lines 414 thru 416,”… Zeus thundered and struck the vessel with lighting. The whole ship reeled from the blow his bolt and was filled with the smell of sulphur…” This shows that Zeus is the reason why Odysseus couldn’t get home overall, because throughout the book we seen Zeus take charge more than once and that he is above all gods; therefore, Zeus is the reason Odysseus couldn’t get home.
All the winds rushed out - storms winds seized them, swept them out to sea, in tears, away from their own native land.”(10.64) Odysseus believed that he was the only man honorable enough to know what was in the bag and that caused the men to become suspicious and untie the bag, blowing them a great distance from their
Odysseus’s desire is shown by his use of first-person narrating, claiming, “There I sacked the city,/killed the men, but as for the wives and plunder,/that rich haul we dragged away from the place—/we shared it round so no one, not on my account,/would go deprived of his fair share of spoils” (9. 45-49). Odysseus holds him and his men accountable for the sharing of the sacking, killing, and presumably raping of the loot and Cicones. Right after this raid and assault, Odysseus tells his men to leave, but they resist, and pay the price of their lives for their mistake: “Then I urged them to cut and run, set sail,/but would they listen? Not those mutinous fools;/there was too much wine to swill,/too many sheep to slaughter…the Cicones broke our lines and beat us down at last./Out of each ship, six men-at-arms were killed” (9. 50-52, 68-69). Odysseus understands what will become of him and his crewmembers if they stay too long and relish too much in what wasn’t
Although Odysseus is the captain of a fleet, he initially takes no responsibility for the welfare of his crew. When exploring unknown lands, he often “sent out two picked men and a runner to learn what race of men that land sustained.” *(147) The king delegates the task solely to fulfill his own curiosity, without consideration of any dangers his men might face, such as intoxication in the land of the Lotus Eaters and cannibalism in the land of the Laistrygonians. Due to his indiscretion, Odysseus puts his men in unnecessary peril.
Six of Odysseus’ men are eaten because of his foolishness. Again, Odysseus’ arrogance came into play when Odysseus and his men escape from the cyclops, Polyphemus. He taunts the monster, despite the fact that his men tell him stop. He exclaims, “If ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home is Ithaca” (Fitzgerald 908). If Odysseus did not provoke Polyphemus, the curse laid up on his ship and crew would have never happened. If he did not mock the cyclops, his odyssey would have been non existent. Odysseus always wanted to be remembered as the grandest hero of Greece. This is object when his ship rolls past the Sirens and Odysseus demands that he listens to their song. His overly extensive hubris clouds his mind and wants the fame of being able to survived the Sirens’ song. He never once considers what might have happened if he had
During his visit to the underworld, Odysseus was informed of one of his most formidable enemies: desire. Teiresias plainly told him that “if [he could] contain [his] own desire, and contain [his] companions… [they] might all make [their] way back to Ithaca” (Homer 171). When they finally saw the island, Odysseus did feel the desire to stop at the island, but tried to heed the warnings he received. His men however did not feel the same way he did. His me pestered him until he felt they had “[forced him] to it” but in reality he was just making an excuse to give in to his desires” (Homer 193). After indulging in his (and his crew’s) desires, he thought they would soon proceed off the island, however this was not the case. While exploring the island, his food deprived crew came upon the cattle of Helios, and being starving, began to cook and eat them, even sacrificing a part to the gods. Odysseus was walking back to their camp on his own when “the pleasant savor of cooking meat came drifting around [him], and [he] cried out [his] grief aloud to the gods immortal (Homer 194). Once he smelled the meat he knew that the horrific actions that were predicted would come true. All these things happened because Odysseus’ crew did not follow the instruction of their leader and instead followed their desires, but an even worse fate comes true when they disobey the gods themselves.
Why do you think Odysseus told his crew that they would be fine, But in reality they would possibly die. He was scared that they would leave him and he would die alone. So basically, he wanted his men to die and him not die. The only real problem is that he didn't want to die at all so his men would die for him. Who does that to people that have a wife a kid and a family, a real idiot that’s who. The only person who could just sit there and do nothing but watch someone get killed right in front of them is Odysseus.
Odysseus and his crew face many trials amongst their journey to Ithaca which involved Odysseus having to use his temperance. Unfortunately there were times in which Odysseus' temperance was not there, and his wantonness showed through. On the island of the Cyclops Odysseus and his crew found themselves in a tough situation. Stuck in Polyphemus' cave Odysseus showed temperance after his men urged him to kill the Cyclops. As much as he wanted to avenge his men who had already been eaten he figured the rest of his crew would still need a way out. He put his wiliness to kill Polyphemus aside in order to use the Cyclops to escape from the cave. Unfortunately upon his escape Odysseus could not fight his desire for immortal fame. He
Odysseus and his crew were in sight of the homeland they had waited so long to see, when a hand of rebel crewmen opened the bag because they thought it contained treasures, creating a great gale that blew them back to Aeolus. When Aeolus saw this he believed that Odysseus was cursed and banished him from the island. this is not the only time Odysseus was betrayed by his men and suffered a great price.
Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his long journey home. The Epic also includes the stories of Odysseus’ family left behind: the travels of his son, Telemachus, and how plenty, of what we would now call “home wreckers”, suitors pressured his wife, Penelope, into marrying one of them. The characters are beautifully crafted and the story is truly epic. All the elements presented can bring in any reader from any century, the Cyclops, the Gods, the trickery of Penelope, and the disguises of Odysseus, are all legendary literary hooks . There are many things to learn—about writing, about the world around us, the world ahead of us, and the past behind us—from The Odyssey. (26) It is undeniably evident that this ancient text has
Throughout Odysseus’ journey he is able to persevere against the overwhelming odds he is faced with. The driving force behind Odysseus’ perseverance is his hunger to get home; his crew however does not share this passion and therefore lacks the strength of character to fight on. Odysseus looks back on his life or death struggle as his ship is lost in Poseidon’s storm, " out of the ship my comrades fell and then like sea-fowl were borne by the side of the black ship along the waves; god cut them off from coming home. I myself paced the ship until the surge tore her ribs off the keel, which the waves then carried along dismantled. The mast broke at the keel; but to it clung the backstay, made of oxhide. With this I bound the two together keel and mast and getting a seat on these, I drifted before the deadly
This past week went by too fast. He has completed building his raft and his cargo is right beside it abound on the journey. Odysseus is surveying the horizon, planning his sail. My heart began to ache once more. I could not believe my eyes. Anger and frustration began to take control of me. Why does he have to leave? Why so soon? Curse the gods in Olympus! They do not know what true love is. Suddenly, I saw a lightning bolt in the far east and heard a clap of thunder at a distance. What am I saying? My gods, I