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Loyalty in homers odyssey
Loyalty in homers odyssey
Intimation of immortality text
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In the Odyssey, Homer displays that although a man's loyalty can be tested, he will always stay faithful to his home. Odysseus sails through all of Poseidon's best obstacles, not knowing if he’ll get home to Ithaca, gets to multiple islands. One island in particular is Ogygian, the island of the goddess Calypso. He spends 7 years with Calypso, only for immortality, but the price was passion, love, an intimate relationship. When Odysseus spends three years on the island, he soon becomes overwhelmed, depressed, and tired. He said while telling his story, “the gods brought me to the Ogygian island where the great goddess Calypso lives. She took me a treated me with the utmost kindness; indeed she wanted the make immortal that I might grow old,
In the story The Odyssey, Odysseus showed many traits. I believe the most important trait he showed was loyalty. He showed it in multiple situations. Odysseus showed loyalty when dealing with the sirens, the louts eaters, and the cyclops.
In his journey, Odysseus is frequently met with obstacles that prolong and disrupt his journey, most of which are created by the gods. An example of this is his captivity on the goddess Kalypso’s island. She keeps him there of her own will despite his opposition, desiring Odysseus as a mate. She “clung to him in her sea-hollowed caves—/ a nymph, immortal and most beautiful,/ who craved him for her own” (Homer I, 23-25). Her selfish actions are recognized by Athena, who tells Zeus “His daughter will not let Odysseus go,/ poor mournful man; she keeps on coaxing him/ with her beguiling talk, to turn his mind from Ithaka” (Homer I, 75-78). In Zeus’s argument, he says “My wor...
Although Homer describes Odysseus as long-enduring, he is even more accurately described as battle-weary, because he fell apart emotionally when faced with the challenge of being trapped on Ogygia by Calypso and Poseidon’s wrath out at sea. Odysseus, who was the only survivor from his group of shipmates, has been trapped on Ogygia, a remote island, since the end of the Trojan War. This long period of time on the island has kept him away from his family and native land, Ithaca. When Hermes arrives at Calypso’s island as a messenger for Zeus, he finds Odysseus not acting like the brave warrior he knows Odysseus is, but sitting on a headland, “weeping...wrenching his heart with sobs and anguish...gazing out over the barren sea through blinding tears” (5.93-95).
Odysseus, at the beginning, is very determines to get home and would do whatever it took to get there. In the story of “Calypso, the Sweet Nymph,” Odysseus does everything in his power to get home. Calypso asks him to stay with her, but Odysseus refuses. He kindly puts her down and says “it is true, each day I long to be home,” after being offered immortality (Homer 117-118). This event shows his determination to get back
In 490 B.C, King Darius made his final push towards Athens. The Athenians were waiting for the Persians to arrive, ready to fight. It seemed crazy for Athens to retaliate against the Persians at this point. Historians still wonder why the Athenians and their 10,000 soldiers stood up to the Persians and their 25,000 soldiers, but this is because of their gallantry. The Athenians valued pride over cowardice.. Athenian men, since childhood, were inspired by tales of the Odyssey, Iliad, etc, and were taught to never turn their back on their country in times of hardships. These books and their upbringing, not only instilled a sense of nationalism, patriotism, and loyalty, but also them strive for fame achievable during war. Although it might have seemed foolish to fight the Persians, the Athenians were intelligent; in fact, they were relying on their strategic intelligence to overcome the difference in their army size. Ultimately, loyalty and the desire for fame inspired the Athenians to take such bold actions. These traits coupled with their intelligence led to the Athenians’ victory.
As the human race, we value many different characteristics to admire people by. The Greeks value hospitality and loyalty. Homer displays these values within two different characters: Nausicaa and Eumaeus. Odysseus’ journey starts after the Trojan War has ended and when Odysseus is making his way back home to Ithaca, his kingdom. At home in Ithaca, the insolent suitors are causing dismay to Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Odysseus faces the wrath of gods and uses his strength and intelligence to dodge obstacles put in his way. After spending seven years on Calypso’s island, Odysseus leaves on a small raft that he built. At sea, he is thrown around by Poseidon’s wrath and washes up at the shore of the Island of the Phaeacians.
Throughout history and literature, people have been disloyal to one another; Jesus was betrayed by Judas, Caesar by Brutus, and the Potters by Peter Pettigrew. Disloyalty is something that occurs frequently in The Odyssey. However, there is emphasis on the idea that true faithfulness is rare and something to be honored. Odysseus, the great hero, is not faithful when approached by Kirkê and Kalypso, while his wife remains unwielding and sly to her suitors. Not even Helen is faithful to her husband after he fought an entire war for her. Agamemnon even commends Penélopê in contrast to Klytaimnéstra.
Throughout the Odyssey, there are many relationships that represent love between two people. These relationships show loyalty, compassion, and the wanting to be near one another. Two of these kinds of relationships are between Odysseus and Telemakhos, and Odysseus and Penelope.
When The Battle of Troy ended in victory for Odysseus, he began his journey home (DelGuercio, Anthony M.). Of course this was easier said than done. He would have to pass through many islands. Some of the islands were Cicones, Lotus Eaters, Cyclops, and Aeolus. He would even have to make it through the Underworld before he got to Calypso’s home, Ogygia (DelGuercio, Anthony M.). After nine days of him slowly drifting through currents of water, he finally came to shore ("Calypso." Nook of Names.). Calypso quickly became enamored with Odysseus. Not only did she want Odysseus to stay with her, she wanted him to become eternally young with her as well. Odysseus had other plans though. He rejected Calypso’s offers for immortality time after time. Going home would be better than Calypso’s offerings (Calypso and Odysseus). Eventually, Odysseus gave in to the temptation.
Beginning on Calypso’s island, Odysseus acts helpless in many ways and relies on others to help him get where he wants to be. Luckily this works, and after 8 years on Ogygia Athena asks Zeus to help free Odysseus. Zeus sends Hermes to the Island where he finds Calypso in her home. “As for the lion-hearted Odysseus, Hermes did not find him in the cave, for he was sitting disconsolate on the shore in his accustomed place, tormenting himself with tears and sighs and heartache, and looking out across the barren sea with streaming eyes” (p.65). He cries while looking at the sea because it reminds him of how he is trapped and away from his family. Although Odysseus is released on this particular day, sitting by the shore and crying is a regular occurrence. Calypso treats Odysseus well on the island, and he can try to control his emotions instead of let them get the best of him. However, his vulnerability is exposed and Odysseus behaves in a way that makes others pity him instead of respect him. He continues to conduct himself this way even when he reaches the Palace of Alcinous in Phaeacia. Laodamas, a Phaeacian man, asks Odysseus if he would like to participate in their competition, and he declines with the excuse that he is too sad. He says, “‘I am too sick at heart to think of games. I have been through many bitter and exhausting experiences, and all I seek now is my
Loyalty is faithfulness to a commitment, obligation or person. To many people, loyalty is an important quality and without it there would always be backstabbing. From all the Greek literature read in class, readers can can infer that loyalty was an important quality to possess in Grecian society. In both The Odyssey and “The Quest of the Golden Fleece” loyalty between characters is tested and those that remain loyal are rewarded as oppose to those who are disloyal, but in each piece of literature the reward for loyalty and the punishment for disloyalty are dealt with in different ways.
Odysseus nearly died of homesickness (or boredom) when Kalypso detained him on her island, hoping to make him her immortal husband. Odysseus knew if he drank that ambrosia, life would be eternal, you'd have a beautiful house and a babe for a wife, but things would get terribly vapid after a certain point. Immortality is death, in this sense. Finally, it is Athena (thought, action) who convinces the gods (who are, I think, jealous of us mortals) to let Odysseus off the island and back into his life. It is interesting to note that even Hermes couldn't wait to get off Kalypso's island--"who would willingly come here? There is no city of men nearby. . . . .
He is rather willingly “detained long by Kalypso, / loveliest among goddesses”, spending most of that time being held “in her smooth caves” (Homer 9.30-31, 32). He is kept a prisoner on her island for seven years, until Zeus orders Kalypso to release him. On his way back to Ithaka from Ogýgia, Odysseus is shipwrecked and found by the princess Nausikaa, a young girl “so fine / in mould and feature that she seemed a goddess” (Homer 6.20-21). She offers him shelter and mentions she would like a husband similar to Odysseus. Her father agrees and suggests to Odysseus that “my daughter should be yours / and you my son-in-law” (Homer 8.335-36). Though it is not stated in The Odyssey, Odysseus potentially harbors deeper feelings for Nausikaa, hearing her “name / in every gull’s outcry” while travelling to Ithaka (Walcott 8-9). Odysseus’s “longing” for Nausikaa compels him to keep her a secret from Penélopê when he finally returns home (Walcott 7). All of these women—Kirke, Calypso and Nausikaa—are Odysseus’s “obsession” because he can’t seem to leave them behind entirely, while Penélopê is the “responsibility” getting in the way of his fun (Walcott 11). He
Because of his resourcefulness, he is able to thrive away from his homeland. He is able to use his cunning ways to avoid trouble. Odysseus loves his wife Penelope and never ceases to find her. In book V, Calypso offers her hand in marriage to Odysseus, however, he declines because of his love for Penelope. Then, Calypso offers immortality if he stays but still, he refuses. “Well, I wish you luck all the same. If you knew what troubles you will have before you get to Ithaca, you would stay here and keep this house with me, and be immortal, however much you might want to see your wife whom you long for day in and day out.” (The Odyssey Pg.
From the time of Homer to modern times, The Odyssey has remained entertaining to all generations. Whether it be for the romance and loyalty between Odysseus and Penelope, or the gory scenes depicted by Homer, the story stands out amongst all other stories for it’s enjoyability. While Odysseus was away, Penelope stayed true to him, and did not remarry or have sexual relations with anyone else, showing the loyalty in her true love for Odysseus. During the Trojan War and during the fight between Odysseus’s men and Polyphemus, gory scenes are depicted, audiences enjoy blood and gore. Odysseus’s determination to get back to Ithaca, and his ways of doing so showed his persistence, a moral would be that hard work eventually pays off. Obviously,there