In the epic poem written by Homer, The Odyssey, the king of Ithaca named Odysseus sails home from the war at Troy. Along the way, he and his men encounter a lot of tedious obstacles. They go to Ismarus as well as discover the island of the Lotus, and the Lotus eaters who live on the island. Odysseus and his men also find a cyclops named Polyphemus, which they find out is the son of Poseidon. The land of Hades, or the land of the dead, is another place they travel to. Throughout all of the places they went, Odysseus expects his men to follow him whether he is doing right or wrong. Odysseus’ men have clear tension with Odysseus, and almost never agree with him. After 20 years, Odysseus finally sees his home again. He soon discovered that he was not welcome, and the suitors of Ithaca are trying to replace him. Odysseus’ wife still believes he is alive, and will not give her hand to marriage to any of them. While those who are loyal to Odysseus are rewarded, those who are unloyal receive severe punishment. Because Odysseus’ men are unloyal to him, they face …show more content…
Penelope states, “So every day I wove the great loom,/but every night by torchlight I unwove it;/and so for three years I deceived the Achaeans (19.1332-1334). Penelope tells the suitors that she wouldn’t marry one of them until she finished her weave because she still believed Odysseus would return. She tries to stall as much as she could, and in the end it was just enough. Odysseus is able to kill all of the suitors with the help from his son, Telemachus. Both Telemachus and Penelope stay loyal to Odysseus after being separated from him for 20 years. Odysseus is also loyal to his wife. While he was being held sexual prisoner by Circe, he never gave his heart to her. His romance was still with Penelope. Since Odysseus and his family were all loyal to each other, they were able to live the rest of their lives together in
Throughout the epic poem Odysseus claims that he desires to return home, but after he saves his men he stays on the island with Circe, keeping his men away from home, keeping his son without a father, keeping his wife without a husband. Odysseus lets pleasure keep him away from his family, he falls victim to his own selfish desires, something a true hero would never do. Odysseus acts only as a servant to pride, pleasure, and himself not the greater good like any true hero would
During the assembly, one of the suitors, Antinous, blames Penelope for the suitors' prolonged stay at Telemachus's home. He claims that Penelope has been leading them on for almost four years and provides an anecdote of one of her tricks used to delay the suitors' pursuits. In short, Antinous demands Telemachus to have Penelope marry one of the suitors, or they will all remain and continue to feast away at his father's wealth. However, Telemachus asks, “Antinous, how can I drive my mother from our house against her will, the one who bore me, reared me too?” (Homer 97).
Penelope is the only reason that Odysseus wants to go home, and the only reason that he is able to establish his home once he arrives. Penelope’s cunning compliments that of her husband’s, because it highlights the fact that they are of one mind, which affirms Odysseus’s excellence in knowing. Penelope knows that no man can achieve this feat she has asked the suitors to perform, except
The natives there gave Odysseus and his men an intoxicating fruit of the lotus. After Odysseus and his men eat the fruit, they forget all of their thoughts about home and decide to eat more of the fruit. The only way that Odysseus can get him and his men back home is by dragging his men back to the ship and lock them up, Odysseus decides to go along with it. When Odysseus went back to Ithaca, He made the wise choice to go and see his wife Penelope. Odysseus was so brave to go see his wife because he didn’t know if she was going to recognize him at all or want to be with him for the rest of her life.
Odysseus learns that while he was away from Ithaca, his home and property were abused by suitors who wanted to marry Penelope. Odysseus takes revenge on the suitors for their rude, wasteful behavior. He also punishes any staff who participated with the wooers. Odysseus is completely justified in his action to punish with death the suitors and staff for their actions. The suitors took from Odysseus’ property, plotted to murder Telemachus, and displayed arrogant, unhospitable behavior.
Odysseus and his men were fleeting from Polyphemus’ island, he said, “ Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye…” (book 9, lines 416-418, textbook). Odysseus is being to boastful and therefore it caused him and his man to become cursed and their journey to last for several years to come. Odysseus’ actions caused his men to pay for just being too full of pride and egotistical. After encountering Aeolus, king of the winds, odysseus received a bag full of wind so they could finally return home to Ithaca, “ nine whole days we sailed, nine nights, nonstop.
He felt obligated to remain with her in a perfect paradise for seven years. However, throughout the entire time he was trapped with Calypso, Odysseus felt that he was wanted elsewhere. Thus, he longed to return to his home and to his dearly loved Penelope. Odysseus’ passion for being with his wife ultimately won the call for him to return home.
None of Odysseus’s men were really loyal to him because of their lack of obedience and honesty. In this episode the men learn that their disobedience causes them their lives when Helios the sun god realizes his scared cattle had been killed. Helios furious goes to Zeus and begs him to punish Odysseus’s men, or he will take the sun and go “down to the House of Death and blaze the sun among the dead” (Odyssey 12. 412). Zeus with no choice left but to punish Odysseus’s men whips up a storm and strikes his thunder bolt to destroy Odysseus’s ship soon after they leave the island. No one survives but Odysseus.
Odysseus is truly loyal to Penelope because he leaves Ogygia (where he was trapped) as soon as possible, puts all of his effort into making it home to his wife, and even flirts with Princess Nausicaa to get him home. Even though Odysseus has been through
Also, Odysseus deserves loyalty because he saves his men from Circe's palace. Odysseus states, “But I, I drew my sharp sword sheathed at my hip and I rushed her fast as if to run through her- She screamed, slid under my blade, hugged my knees” (10.357-359). This also shows how Odysseus deserves loyalty because he threatens to kill someone so he can get his crew back after they are turned into swine.
As the precise definition of justice cannot be definitively stated, the line separating just from unjust actions is incredibly obscure. Many factors may influence an individual’s perception of what constitutes justice, such as time period, culture, or personal morals. Thus, while an act may be considered righteous in one context, the same act may be ruled unjust in other contexts. For instance, when Odysseus finally returns home to Ithaca, as retribution for defiling his home and attempting to court his wife, Odysseus murders all of Penelope’s suitors. The extremely graphic depiction of his retribution had appeared almost superfluous, causing the morality of his actions to be brought into question.
Poseidon Endangering Odysseus Throughout homer’s epic poem, the Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, goes through many physical and mental challenges and hardships. One of the greatest challenges that Odysseus overcame to get home was the wrath of Poseidon. Throughout the whole epic poem, most problems Odysseus faced can be traced back to Poseidon.
The loyalty he has is not just for his men, but also for his wife and his household he left behind many years prior (E.W.L. 2.13). While he has the ability to be a quick thinker and is resourceful which helps him in many situations, he also uses this same ability and some shrewdness to manipulate or convince those around him to his needs without regard for any future consequences. Even with the accomplishments he has completed in his adventures in eventually establishing himself; as an exceptionally hero, he does has some flaws that make him a mortal hero having human like flaws. These acts do test his mortality, but also grows his hero status. Odysseus at times is notoriously annoying the Gods, but still understands that they control factors of his life; he does have a protector in Athena (Dobel
While Odysseus did have good intentions of bringing his men home, he continuously made poor and selfish decisions, and he was constantly putting his men in danger more often than
His soldiers would not be as fortunate as Odssyeus. Most would end up dying during the excruciating journey, either by being eaten alive or lost in cauldron of strong water. But because of his men, Odysseus made it to his home of Ithica, and to the love of his life, his wife