Perception In Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

There are many different perceptions in this world, one might think that someone dying in war is awful, and another might think that it is beautiful because someone is dying for a cause. For that man or woman to die he has to be thinking about the communal good and what will happen to himself for doing that. Because if he does not die that others may die, in a world like this everything has a cost. This also happens in Odysseus’ world we have a cost for something but they have a bigger cost because they have to lose an army by a god for someone else to be able to get back to their home.

Perception in Odysseus can be seen in the scene of Odysseus at the Cyclops’ island and all that happens there. On one side of the story Odysseus has “won”

This is where he is wrong. He wants to leave the island and get back home, but really if the Cyclops has help from the gods that feel sad for him being blind he could be able to go to Odysseus’ home and destroy it all. So then when Odysseus is back all he will have is a destroyed hometown and a blind Cyclops to deal with. This is where individual good vs communal good, people in that type of situation especially with gods, and monsters involved you can’t just think about yourself you have to think about others. Yes, Odysseus was not selfish for leaving so that he could see his wife, but he was selfish of not thinking what could happen with a world of gods and a son of a major god, Poseidon. In this type of setting, you can not think about yourself you have to think about the entire world around you because with one word from the gods they can easily destroy cities themselves, or seduce others to destroy the cities for them, with a reward. Odysseus thinks that he can rule over the world and through his selfishness his actions will cause no harm as said, “The poem in effect redefines justice in terms that privilege the individual over the community, since Odysseus’ vengeance brings on neither exile nor death at the hands of his victims’ families”(10 Schein). In this case, Odysseus is very lucky because he is loved by the goddess Athena but for others this at times is the exact opposite, through their actions all they get is punished that leads to death. In addition, Odysseus has to stab the Cyclops eye, Zeus had to kill all of Odysseus’ men, and Penelope had to get a new husband. Without destroying the eye Odysseus and his men would have been trapped in the Cyclops’ cave. Zeus would have been hated by Helios, and as a leader you need to have as many people you can to like you. Also, Penelope had to find a new husband because that is her only way to have a social stance, without a man