The Odyssey, by Homer, has withstood the test of time. For centuries, The Odyssey has been read to be studied, and also read to be enjoyed. This great book can be acknowledged as superior art for multiple reasons; The Odyssey is written with superior craftsmanship, it perfectly exhibits Greek literary tradition, and it holds pleasing aesthetic value. However, perhaps the principal criteria that this book meets for being superior art is that it explores numerous complexities of human nature. The first people that read The Odyssey, and the countless individuals that have poured over it in modern days can benefit from reading this inexhaustible epic because it delves into fascinating truths about humanity including family relationships, pride, …show more content…
The main struggle of the story circles around returning home (to family). Odysseus longs for home in Ithaca, and makes numerous sacrifices to get back to his family, including risking his life, and losing all of his men through pressing forward through countless dangerous and unanticipated obstacles. For a time, the goddess Calypso holds Odysseus captive to be her lover. Odysseus despairs, and bemoans being kept away from home the whole while he is held there. When Calypso reluctantly tells Odysseus that he may go free, he beseeches, “Ah great goddess…don’t be angry with me, please…Look at my wise Penelope. She falls short of you…she is mortal after all…Nevertheless I long–I pine all my days–to travel home…And if a god will wreck me yet again…Add this to the total–bring the trial on!” (Homer, pg. 159). Odysseus prefers mortality with his imperfect family over immortality with an essentially flawless goddess–because his heart resides in Ithaca. In addition, Odysseus’s relationship with his wife, Penelope, provide a rather beautiful insight into marriage. Odysseus built his home around Penelope and his marriage bed. Penelope tests Odysseus to make sure of his identity. After Penelope challenges Odysseus, he exclaims, “woman–your words, they cut me to the core! Who could move my bed? Impossible task...I know, I built it myself!” (Homer, pg.) Odysseus describes the process of building his home around their …show more content…
As shown, Odysseus struggles with some of his faults, including pride. However, Homer wrote him to be a dynamic character, and towards the latter end of the book, this fact becomes apparent. When Odysseus lives among the suitors disguised as a beggar, he forces himself to constrain his rage towards them. He checks himself saying, “‘Bear up old heart! You’ve born worse, far worse’…so he forced his spirit back into submission, the rage in his breast reigned back–unswerving, all endurance” (Homer, pg. 411). In this instance, he lets his pride dissolve for a time to provide for the better. In addition, Odysseus subtlety warns one of the better suitors, Amphinomus, to escape while he can acknowledging, “Of all that breathes and crawls across the Earth, our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man” (Homer, Pg. 380). This advice to Amphinomus suggests that Odysseus has been internalizing the idea himself, and correcting some of his prideful tendencies.
By and large, The Odyssey lives on in highest esteem because it artfully brings ancient characters alive that have surprisingly similar drives, and challenges that members of modern society encounter in this day and
In the final phase of his plan, where kills them, he states: “ /wooed my wife behind my back while I was still alive!/ No fear that man's revenge might arrive someday, now all your necks are in the noose-your doom is sealed”(XXII. 37-42). Evidently upset about the courting of his wife, he displays his heroic trait of courage. To stand before 108 men, and speak boldly questioning their actions, is unbelievably courageous , and without a doubt characterizes him as daring and audacious. Additionally, when he rejects to Eurymachus’ offer of gold, and promptly replies with an even more confident speech, regarding the punishment the suitors are soon to receive, evidence of his brutality and his courage: “ Not if you paid me all your father’s gold….not even then would I stay my hands from slaughter till all you suitors had paid all of your crimes!”(XXII. 65-68). This is where he tips over the point of violence into barbaricness. He kills the suitors brutally and viciously, showing his heroic trait of being ruthless to his enemies, as well as his skills, strength, and courage. Collectively these events exemplify Odysseus’ love for Penelope, portraying her pivotal role in the characterization of Odysseus. Homer uses Penelope, as Odysseus’ motivation in the story to bring out his loving husband side, as well as
Homer's The Odyssey can be truly considered as one of the best epic poems of all time. Odysseus' journey in returning home becomes a test to prove himself. Only on the testing grounds of life can one discover inegrity, loyalty and perseverance. Homer's craft is so profound that theme's found in the poem still pertains to man today. The Odyssey is truly remarable in that Odyseus' character, his morals, and his views are stil admired by people today.
It defined and sustained Greek society for hundreds of years much like the Bible once did in Christian nations. Yet, despite its archaic nature, The Odyssey remains fresh two and a half millennia after its conception. Homer's world has woven the fantastic together with the ordinary in such a way that it will never fall apart. In a significant sense, The Odyssey is immortal. Works Cited:..
The sum of all human traits is defined as human nature, meaning the excuse for our vices, and the flaws of mortal life. In Homer's The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus demonstrates these flaws throughout his journey, constantly struggling through the eternal fight for realization of life and death, and is weighed down by the never ending power struggle of nature versus mankind.
Odysseus faced many challenges and monsters along the way but one of the biggest challenges was when he returned home to his wife Penelope. She was testing Odysseus because he did not believe it was home that really came back. Penelope challenged Odysseus with a bow and arrow . But she said that there was a “ … have sawn that trunk and dragged the frame away” ( Homer 615 ). This is important because of the fact that in The Odyssey the whole story is based on the fact that. Odysseus is coming back home but since his wife does not believe it is him it has to prove to his wife that he came back .
Firstly, Penelope who plays Odysseus’s wife is alone tending to her city Ithica until her husband returns. Meanwhile Odysseus is out fighting in the Trojan War and against many of the Greek God’s who are trying to make his trip back home as eventful and hard as possible; “…work out his journey home so Odysseus can return” (Homer 276). While King Odysseus is away Penelope is to deal with a bunch of suitors who are eating and trashing out Ithica, “…if those suitors have truly paid in blood for all their reckless outrage” (559). In order for Penelope to keep peace until Odysseus returns she has to come up with a clever plan to keep the suitors from completely taking over. For almost 2 years Penelope was able to keep the suitors from getting out of hand by saying she will find someone to marry and replace Odysseus after she is d...
However, his journey isn’t over yet. This last leg of Odysseus’s journey is perhaps the most important and crucial. Odysseus’s nurse and maidservant, Eurycleia is the first woman in Ithaca to know that Odysseus is back after she recognizes the scar on his leg while she is washing him. Eurycleia vows to keep his identity a secret. Odysseus’s wife, Penelope has stayed faithful to Odysseus for all the years that he was gone. Penelope was consistently unweaving her web to the delay the suitors. The reader even grows sympathetic for Penelope as “we see her struggle to make the virtuous choice about her marriage, despite pressures from her suitors, her son’s endangered situation, and her own uncertainty about Odysseus’s survival” (Foley ). Finally, Odysseus reveals his identity and Penelope is bewildered, but quickly embraces her husband after he tells her the secret of their immovable bed. It is the faithfulness of Penelope and nurse Eurycleia that insures Odysseus’s survival to the very end.
One important characteristic that Penelope and Odysseus share is their loyalty to each other. Odysseus failed to return home seven years after the Trojan war. Because he is assumed dead, 108 wealthy noblemen and princes invade his palace and refuse to leave until Penelope has married one of them. By marrying her, the suitors hope to gain control over Odysseus’s wealth and power. However, Penelope remains faithful to Odysseus. But, as a woman, she is powerless to remove the suitors from the palace. And without a man in the household, she is subject to her father’s decisions. However, despite his wish for her to remarry, Penelope clings to the hope of Odysseus’s return and remains faithful to him. She waits and gathers information by asking strangers who arrive in Ithaca about Odysseus. She goes through the stories of their encounter point by point, and asks about every detail while tears stream down her eyes. Although the suitors promise her a secure future, Penelope continues to wait for Odysseus. Without Odysseus, she does not believe that she will ever be happy again.
The Odyssey is filled with emotion and adventure. Homer’s ability to show and give the reader a visual of each and every scene gives the story its unbelievable significance. To all the people who read his work there is something to be captured within every sentence, each one different in its own, unique way. Through tales of courage and defeat, friendship and love this book tells of all the values within the life of a single, solitary man, and his journey to attain what is true and dear to him. And this journey is known to all of us as The Odyssey. The Odyssey is a test of human devotion and trust through the gods, the mortals, and the obstacles through which they venture. No matter where they go or what they do, humans are tested for certain characteristics everyday of their lives, whether they realize it or not; and The Odyssey is just one of those many miraculous tests.
Homer. “The Odyssey”. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Ed. Martin Puncher. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. 475. Print.
There are many occasions in the story when Odysseus let his pride overcome his judgment and his crew suffered a consequence. When Odysseus defeated Polyphemus, his pride got in the way and caused him and his crew a lot of trouble. Instead of listening to his crew, who advised him "Why bait that beast again? Let him alone!" (495), he stayed and waited until the Cyclops of the cave returned. When Polyphemus stumbled into earshot of Odysseus, Odysseus shows how haughty he was. He insulted Polyphemus and told him “Cyclops, if any mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, who took your eye.” (502-505) knowing that Polyphemus was the son of Poseidon, the sea God and that all of his travels were to be made on the sea. In return, Polyphemus curses Odysseus and makes his journey hard and treacherous. Odysseus let his pride cloud his judgment and this led to him acting like a madman and openly challenging a monster, which makes his travels home a great deal longer. Anyone in his right mind would know better than to insult a monster, especially the son of a God whose help you a...
The relationship between Odysseus and his wife Penelope is one of loyalty, love, and faith. Both characters are driven by these characteristics. Odysseus displays his loyalty in his constant battle to get home to his wife. This love helps him persevere through the many hardships that he encounters on his journey home. Odysseus spent 20 years trying to return to his home in Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War. Along the way he manages to offend both gods and mortals, but through his intelligence, and the guidance of Athena, he manages to finally return home. There he discovers that his home has been overrun by suitors attempting to win Penelope’s hand in marriage. The suitors believed that Odysseus was dead. Odysseus and his son, Telemachus,
In conclusion, the “Odyssey” is one of the greatest literary works ever known and this literary analysis should help the reader to understand the important components of the novel such as theme, characters, relationships, symbols, motifs, literary devices, and tone.
There are many essential emotions that form the building blocks of our lives. These emotions help to shape the people that we are. These feelings are emotional necessities to ultimately keep us happy. No piece of literature these feelings more evident than the Odyssey by Homer. Throughout the course of this book there is one major emotional theme: love.
Many diverse cultures are found in every corner of the world. Every culture is defined by its traditions and values. The film “The Odyssey,” depicts the culture of the ancient Greeks, where it illustrates the life of a man, Odysseus, who has gone on a journey just to get back to his kingdom. Many values and traditions can be identified through the path of the journey. Some elements that are found important to the Greeks are the music, the religion, and the duty to the kingdom.