Central Conflict In The Odyssey By Fitzgerald's 'Odyssey'

In all stories, a central conflict is paramount in creating an interesting narrative that keeps readers engaged throughout the totality of a tale. The different ways in which different writers can achieve this through literary devices while telling the same story speaks to the diversity of literature, and to the fickle nature of translation, as exemplified through The Odyssey. One great moment of contention is on Circe’s island. Shewring acknowledges Odysseus’s resistance to Circe’s magic, “…Never has any other man resisted this drug, once he has drunk it and let it pass his lips. But you have an inner will that is proof against sorcery. You must surely be that man of wide-ranging spirit, Odysseus himself; the Radiant One of the golden wand

Another clear point of great conflict is on the Cyclops’s island. While in the case with Polyphemus, according to Shewring, “…My name is Noman; Noman is what my mother and father call me; so like-wise do all my friends.’ ‘To these words of mine the savage creature made quick response: ‘Noman then shall come last among those I eat; his friends I will eat first; this is to be my favour to you’” (Shewring 108). Shewring’s structure here indicates immediately that Odysseus will come as the last meal for the Cyclops, forcing him to view his friends be eaten one by one. The same scene, according to Fitzgerald, “…My name is Nohbdy: mother, father, and friends, / everyone calls me Nohbdy.’ And he said: / ‘Nohbdy’s my meat, then, after I eat his friends. / Others come first. There’s a noble gift, now” (Fitzgerald 150). Fitzgerald’s translation establishes only that Odysseus will be eaten, initially, and later that his friends will come first. Despite the differences, both come across with the same message: Odysseus and his men need to do something before they are

Fitzgerald’s translation keeps it all together, not placing emphasis on the story immediately. This changes the conflicts within the story, as the perception of Odysseus as a skilled man versus a hero alters his adventures. On the island of the Cyclops and on Circe’s island, Odysseus does more than just escape and free his men. Through the lens of Odysseus as a hero, this is acceptable because he is trying to make it home and take his men with him. Through the lens of him as, simply, a very skilled man, he is cruel and destroys the lives of others to save his own. The ending has clear affects on the understanding of the conflict as well, through the lens of the translator’s imagery. Shewring completes his work, “So Athene spoke, and with joyful heart the king obeyed. Then a solemn covenant was made between those who had been at enmity. The contriver of it had the form and the voice of Mentor now, but this was no other than Athene, daughter of Zeus who holds the Aegis” (Shewring