Write An Alternate Ending To Odysseus

Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus is warned many times of the perils and difficulty of his journey. All through these times it seems that Odysseus will never get home, but he never loses hope. In Book 11, Odysseus ventures into hell to meet with the great prophet, Teiresias. Teiresias prophesizes, “But anguish lies ahead: the god who thunders on the land prepares it…” As terrible as this sounds, Odysseus just accepts his fate and continues on with his journey. Just as he did earlier in the story, after his encounter with Polyphemus, the Cyclops puts a curse on his head. “…and thou art father: grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his

There are always going to be a moment in life when it feels like giving up is the only solution. Sometimes if one digs a little deeper like Odysseus did, goals in life can be achieved. Odysseus was faced with multiple obstacles that were difficult to overcome. However, the toughest are Penelope because she tested Odysseus’s loyalty and mental strength, Scylla and Charybdis kept Odysseus from being capable of using his physical strength, and Calypso tested Odysseus’s honor to his loving relationship with his wife Penelope and his ability to separate greed from his goals in life.

Taking Circe advice Odysseus was able to get pass Scylla and Charybdis, but the fatality was that he lost six of his men because Scylla ate them alive.

Many think being a hero is having super powers, but on the contrary it's more than that. A hero is one who is distinguished for their courage and bravery, and looked upon for their great deeds. A hero like this is not just found in modern society today, but in mythology as well. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus earns the title of a true hero by conveying many qualities such as: determination, courage and leadership.

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.

Odysseus was warned of the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis. When he approaches the Sirens, he has his men tie him to the mass so he will not be lured to their tempting singing. When he reaches the location of the deadly whirlpool, Charybdis, and the concealed deadly trap across from Charybdis, Scylla: a six headed monster that catches men in her mouth and eats them; Odysseus sacrifices a few of his men for the majority of the other men. He sacrifices for the better good. Hiding his knowledge of these obstacles and sacrificing his men, takes a full amount of determination for his objective to get home; it shows his vast amount of unconditional willingness and sacrifice. Perseverance takes time and sacrifice. His time and knowledge lead him through another dangerous obstacle.

Though Odysseus is as great a man as ever lived, he is still only mortal and at the gods’ mercy. Odysseus does not control his own destiny, but instead the gods determine what shall befall him and whether he shall ever reach his home. Odysseus is only a man and "hard is a god for mortal man to master" (36) even if he is great amongst his brethren. Odysseus can not control the gods anymore then he can control his fate and so he is left at their mercy. Even Zeus, who gives Odysseus many signs, will sometimes deal Odysseus woe which he is powerless to stop. To avenge the Sun god upon Odysseus’ evil crew, "…Zeus with a gleaming bolt smote [Odysseus’] swift ship and wrecked it in the middle of the wine-dark sea" (47). Such acts illustrate the control that the gods exercise over Odysseus and his inability to deliver himself from woe.

Spider-Man is your average modern day hero, he is a citizen who was bitten by an unusual and peculiar spider which gave him powers and abilities such as being able to shoot webs out of his hands and climb walls without the need of any equipment. And Odysseus is a Greek hero who was strong, heavily favored by the gods, and could take down any and all challenges he´d ever have to face. And if you ever compared the two you would see that both characters are extremely different. Why you would see this is because we know that Spider-Man is a modern day hero, but can we consider Odysseus as one. My answer to this would be NO. Society today would not consider Odysseus as a modern day hero because of many reasons. One would be that he doesn´t show

For generations, heroes have always fascinated people and people have strived to achieve certain qualities of their heroes. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is considered the hero of the story. While Odysseus does demonstrate some qualities that are not heroic, he is still defined as a hero because of his better, more heroic qualities in which he is far superior in than any other man. The qualities in which define Odysseus as a hero are courage, intelligence, and leadership.

Second, Odysseus remains level-headed throughout his journey by continuing to be a strategist and maintaining wisdom. Odysseus shows his ability to strategize mainly on Ithaka. When he is with Athena on the shore, ““Whoever gets around you must be sharp and guileful as a snake: even a god might bow to you in ways of dissimulation. You! You chameleon! Bottomless bag of tricks! Here in your own country would you not give your stratagems a rest,”” (XIII, 371-376). Here Athena herself says that Odysseus could fool even a god with his tricks and strategies. To have a god of wisdom and say this to him shows how good of a strategist he is. Another example of his mastery of stratagems comes soon after when he plots with Athena, “under the old grey olive tree those two sat down to work the suitors death and woe,” (XIII,465-466). Athena and Odysseus devise a strategy together and unless Odysseus was an excellent strategist, Athena would not let him plan with her. His strategies allow him to save himself and as many other people as possible which makes him a hero. Odysseus also sows his level-headedness through his wisdom. One example is in the lair of the Kyklops, “if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous

While Odysseus was on his long quest, his son, Telemachus, was also on a journey to find his father. Thus, leaving no one on Ithica to defend Penelope, Odysseus' wife. Because of this, many suitors have tried to take the throne of Ithica. When Odysseus returns from his quest and sees the suitors he is infuriated. He knew that he had to defeat them , but they are "a strong foe indeed" and that needed a clever plan to defeat them (1232). Odysseus used a combination of both brute force and cleverness to overcome his enemy. First, Odysseus cleverly removed all of the suitors weapons from the great hall so "all they could do was yell in outrage" (1246). Because the suitors do not think the situation through and use wisdom to reason with Odysseus, they go straight to using brute force to try and get

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

There is yet one more difference between Odysseus and the other two heroes which may help to find the reason why his tale does not end

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.

            Odysseus is no god.  He is man, and with that comes the mistakes and errors in all of us.  In many situations Odysseus' mortal side is seen.  An example of the power of Odysseus coinciding with his human flaws is his battle with Polyphemous the Cyclops (son of Poseidon).  After escaping the lure of the lotus-eaters and their island, Odysseus and his men find themselves on another island, rich with food and shelter.  After feasting, the men grab a large container of potent wine and go off exploring the new island.  Later in their search they stumble across a large cave filled with food.  Curious where the owner's whereabouts are the men encourage Odysseus to steal the food.  Odysseus (showing his hospitable and genuine character) decides to instead wait for the