Free Essays on Homer's Odyssey: The Gods
analytical Essay
726 words
The Gods of the Odyssey
Do the Gods in the Odyssey represent the Good and Evil sides of everyone, are they actually there to either help the person, or make their life worse?
In the Odyssey, the Gods seem to have a very huge part in the play. However, are the Gods actually real? Or are they just their sub-conscious telling everyone what to do. However if that’s true, then how could Odysseus’s and his “sub-conscious” spend 7 years on an island thinking that he was somewhere else? Anyways, in this thesis paper, ill be talking about how the Gods were portrayed and if they might actually be real or not. Ill also be discussing the role in which the Gods took in Odysseus life. So, with out further blabber talk....
The depiction of the roles the gods played in the Odyssey is both presented in good and evil. The Greeks portrayed their gods as powerful and merciful. However, in the Odyssey the gods play a role in a savior and tormentor like. The savior of the Odyssey is of course Athena, Telemachus refers to her as a “Mentor” (page 37, line 239) or “goddess” as the narrator refers to her (page 37, line229) The tormentor will most likely be portrayed through Poseidon, Lord of the Earthquake. Although no solid evidence has shown that this God is Evil, any God that requires sacrifices (“where they found the people of the seashore sacrificing jet-black bulls” page 30, line 5) can not be that good.
With the present role in the story of Odyssey, the gods can be seen as an important role in Odysseus life. Odysseus alone cannot have escaped the treacherous Trojan War without the aid of the gods. However, can it be reconcile that the gods were truly the ones who controlled our lives? In Odysseus’s case, the gods played a vital role. Through the treacherous paths Odysseus travels, it’s the hope of seeing Penelope and his son Telemachus will bring him his strength and wisdom. Without the help of Athena, and her wisdom and devotion to Odysseus, his challenges would be help with no boundaries. With the most gods in favor of Odysseus return, all he has to fight are the challenges Poseidon throws at him. With the water being the only road back to his home this challenge is fare more difficult then the Trojan War itself.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the gods in the odyssey represent the good and evil sides of everyone, are they there to either help the person, or make their life worse?
- Analyzes how the greeks depicted their gods as powerful and merciful, but in the odyssey the gods play a savior and tormentor like role.
- Analyzes how the gods played a vital role in odysseus' life. without athena's help, he would have to fight poseidon, calypso, and helios.
- Analyzes how the gods in the odyssey portrayed the good and evil in human nature.
- Concludes that the gods in the odyssey are at a 50-50 split on whether or not they like odysseus.
Related
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- Odysseus Justiceanalytical essayThe first controversy is about the virtue of justice which means as equal or right. It could imply the relation of equality or morality between person to person or a person to society and vice versa. The Odyssey is reliable evidence about the non- existence of justice since ancient world. Even there were many Gods who had high position and strong power that could control everything and protect people from dangers, most of the cases they just did what they favored and for their own benefits. First, the bright-eyed goddess Athena who favored Odysseus asked her father Zeus to let Odysseus returned his home. She said to Zeus “but my heart breaks for Odysseus” (1.57) “that wise Odysseus shall return-home at last” (1.99). Then, she always helped him to overcome obstacles. For example, she assured Odysseus when he was escaping from Calypso’s land by countering Poseidon’s revenge on him “The rest of the winds she stopped right in their tracks” (5.422), “the goddess beat the breakers flat before Odysseus,/so he could reach the Phaeacians” (5.425-426). Another evidence of the non-justice is about the hatred and revenge of the King of the sea Poseidon to Odysseus "then every god took pity,/all except Poseidon. He raged on, seething against the great Odysseus till he reached his native lan...
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the odyssey is a well-known epic poem of ancient greek. it shows the power of gods, the way they treat others, and the strong spirit of the hero odysseus.
- Explains that the odyssey is reliable evidence about the non-existence of justice since ancient world.
- Analyzes how odysseus is an epic hero because of his clever, carefulness about his shipmates, and faithfulness to his wife penelope.
- Analyzes how odysseus is a faithful husband to his wife penelope who has been waiting for the day he comes back for twenty years.
- Analyzes how the odyssey shows that justice does not exist throughout the poem since the gods seem to just do whatever they want to do, and try to help or revenge the one they favored or hatred. odysseus is still a just man because of his wise and clever way of taking care his shipmates and his love to the penelope
850 wordsRead More - Destiny, Fate and Free Will in Homer's Odysseyanalytical essayWhen we look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the gods in the odyssey control many aspects of the story, but the people still have to choose to go.
- Analyzes how free will and fate are represented in the odyssey. the suitors on ithaka behaved poorly throughout the story, but the gods chose to sit back and allow the people to make their choices.
- Explains that in greek mythology, the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the odyssey. fate and free will are not mutually exclusive.
- Analyzes how zeus' statement shows that the people are responsible for themselves and have the ability to make their own choices.
- Analyzes how the odyssey represents free will in that it gave choices to the gods but more importantly the people made their own choices.
- Analyzes homer's "the odyssey" in the constant reader, the norton anthology of world masterpieces: the western tradition.
1370 wordsRead More - Odysseus Identity Essayanalytical essayThroughout Homer’s Odyssey there is a consistent internal conflict regarding identity. Odysseus’ long circuitous route home can be attributed not only to the gods but to his own flaws that additively form his identity. Particularly, these faults of complacency, arrogance, and desire for concealment as means of avoidance are outlined in his early interactions most explicitly with Polyphemus (IX). Phaeacia, where he recounts his adventures, serves as a transition point where Odysseus is forced to address his flaws. He gains the capacity to learn from his mistakes and change the person he sought to cover up with disguises (VI, VII).
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how odysseus' long circuitous route home can be attributed not only to the gods but to his own flaws that additively form his identity.
- Analyzes how homer establishes the initial state of odysseus' identity, one that includes dangerous arrogance, complacency, and desires for concealment.
- Analyzes how odysseus' identity must be confronted once he arrives in phaeacia. he is naked and alone, exposed and weak in stark contrast to his earlier disguises.
522 wordsRead More - Heros Journey In The Odyssey: The Hero's Journeyanalytical essayIn this long narrative poem, Odysseus changes from being disrespectful to the gods by explicitly saying that he doesn’t need them, to longing forgiveness later by stating that he is nothing without them. After the success with the Trojan Horse, Odysseus considered himself higher than the gods because he, a mortal, was able to accomplish something even the gods couldn’t. He boasted to Poseidon and the others about how he is overpowering, and how his power and abilities were far beyond their limits. His epic boasting to the gods had lead him to create his own obstacles as, he is one who essentially was the cause. This disrespectful attitude is the personality which shows how Odysseus behaved at the beginning of the story. It not only demonstrates what he was once like, but how his obstacles get much more precarious. As this is the attitude in the beginning, by the end of this epic, Odysseus understands the value of gods and their power, even if it’s for good or bad. At the end of book twenty-two, page 1160, on lines 107-109, Odysseus finally accepts the fact that he is not the biggest thing
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how odysseus' experiences transformed his personality from how he was in the beginning to the end, by leading him through a heroic journey.
- Analyzes how the odyssey follows the archetypal hero's journey, but it doesn't mean they acquire equal amount of knowledge from their expedition.
- Analyzes how odysseus has never truly come to terms with reality and the fact that he can't destroy every mortal, god or monster that approaches him.
- Analyzes how odysseus displayed his loyalty by demonstrating that he stands on his word and that it's not all about himself.
- Analyzes how the self-knowledge odysseus acquired from his journey helped him discover and meet new friends, mentors, enemies, challenges, skills and new knowledge.
- Analyzes how the main protagonist, odysseus, changes in a way which helps him gain self-knowledge. it is only through these challenges and trials that an individual goes through, to truly evolve into an improved person.
1422 wordsRead More - Odysseus As A Hero In Homer's The Odysseyanalytical essayIn Homer’s The Odyssey, the main protagonist, Odysseus, is trying to make his way home to Ithaca, ten years later, after the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus is portrayed as a hero throughout the epic; however, the events surrounding his heroism is with considerable help from the gods and goddess. Being a hero is defined as a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Based on the play, there is evidence to suggest that Odysseus is not a hero as defined but that he relied on the help of the gods and goddess.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how odysseus is portrayed as a hero in homer's the odyssey, but he relied on the help of the gods and goddess.
- Analyzes how poseidon, the god of the sea, is angered by the death of his son the cyclops.
- Analyzes how athena, the goddess of wisdom, protects odysseus from revealing to the phaeacians that he fought in the trojan wars.
- Analyzes how athena helps to conceal odysseus' identity when he finally lands in ithaca. she transforms him into an old man so no one can recognize him.
- Analyzes how hermes was a messenger of zeus and athena to keep odysseus from danger. he is being held captive on ogygia with the nymph calypso, who has fallen in love with him.
- Analyzes how odysseus, the protagonist of homer's the odyssey, is not worthy of the title hero because the gods and goddesses intervene in his journey.
835 wordsRead More - Fate In Greek Mythologyanalytical essayLooking at Greek Mythology we tend to encounter the gods of that time. Sometimes they work in the background of the human part of the story, but in epics like The Odyssey the gods play a very large if not central role in the main developments of the story.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that in greek mythology, the gods play a large if not central role in the main developments of the story.
- Explains that free will is the idea of having complete control over one's actions and decisions. the odyssey demonstrates that your life is your own responsibility.
- Explains that the gods held odysseus imprisoned for eight years and refused to free him. calypso tried to make him stay by offering eternal life, but he refused.
- Analyzes how the gods intervened in the story of athena, telemachus, and odysseus.
- Analyzes how athena sentenced the suitors on ithaca to death by odysseus' hand, based on their choices.
- Analyzes how homer's epics are wonderful places to see the relationship between free will and fate. free will is experienced throughout the odyssey and makes the story more exciting and unpredictable.
- Explains that homer's conception of fate was published in the classical journal 42.8 (1947): 477-85. solomon, robert c.
- Analyzes strong, c. a., "fate and free will." the journal of philosophy psychology and scientific methods, vol. 15, no. 1 (1918): 5-9.
835 wordsRead More - The Role of the Gods in Homer's Odysseyanalytical essayThe Role of the Gods in The Odyssey In the ancient world, the gods of the Greeks had been predominately confined to cosmological deeds prior to the works of Homer. " As Hesiod laid out the roles of the gods in his Theogony and the Works and Days, it is apparent that though the gods were active in the creation of the cosmos, natural phenomenon, and cyclical events such as seasons, they were not however, functioning in any historical way"(Bloom 36). This strictly cosmological view of the gods was in no way unusual to the ancient world. Though the breech of theology into historical events was perhaps first introduced by the Hebrews at the turn of the first millennia B.C.E., it was soon echoed in the religious paradigms of homo religiosus throughout the Near East and Europe.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how homer associated desires with wealth, power, sex, gluttony, suffering, and death.
- Analyzes how odysseus' return to ithika is a transition from cyclical time to linear historical time. homer reveals the gods from the skies and eliminates the adversarial relationship.
- Analyzes how the greek gods were confined to cosmological deeds prior to homer's work in the odyssey.
- Analyzes how odysseus explains asceticism and how it is a sacrifice to the gods.
- Explains that david w. tandy and walter c. neale, hesiod's works and days: a translation and commentary for the social sciences, berkeley: university of california press, 1996.
1922 wordsRead More - Theme of Justice in the Odyssey and the Bibleanalytical essayThe Greeks in the Odyssey viewed justice as only coming from the gods. They believed the gods punished them because they have fallen out of their favor, and not because they had really done anything wrong by human standards. As Socrates later stated in the Euthyphro, what is holy, and perhaps then just, is what is “approved by the gods.” Although Socrates proved this to be wrong, it still shows the view of most Greeks. Zeus in the opening book of the Odyssey stated, “Upon my word, just see how mortal men always put the blame on us gods! We are the source of evil, so they say- when they have only their own madness to thank if their miseries are worse than they ought to be.” This shows that the Greeks feared justice; they felt it was negative and often undeserved. However, each Greek deserved his punishment because he has a hand in its reason. For example, when Odysseus’s troops killed the cattle of Helios, they deserved Zeus destroying their ships because he had warned Odysseus beforehand not to let the men eat the cattle. When the Greeks disobeyed the gods, they disrupted the right order of things, and when the gods punished them, they made the other Greeks respect them once again, and thus fixed the balance of the world.
In this essay, the author
- Explains that justice is a theme that differs in many different texts, and this also true in the odyssey and the bible.
- Analyzes how the greeks in the odyssey viewed justice as only coming from the gods. they feared justice; they felt it was negative and often undeserved. each greek deserved his punishment because he had a hand in its reason.
- Analyzes how justice was delivered randomly or excessively in the odyssey. since there was no divine moral code or set of rules, people were free to live life to the fullest.
- Analyzes how odysseus and polyphemus were punished in book 9, but in contrasting ways.
- Analyzes how the death of the suitors who wrongfully courted penelope while odysseus was away raises the question of whether justice should be served individually or collectively.
- Analyzes how justice is served on a guilt by association premise. the good deeds are not rewarded, but the bad are repaid.
- Analyzes how zeus punished odysseus' crew by sinking their ship when they went out to sea.
- Analyzes how the book of genesis shows a different side of justice than the odyssey does. god's justice is more reasonable and appropriate in level to the situation.
- Analyzes how god's use of justice seemed random, but this was due in part to his inexperience in relating to creations, the humans.
- Compares greek justice and biblical justice, stating that the greeks expected what was coming when they broke the rules, but the early humans did not.
- Analyzes how god's punishment was harsh, random, and not very thought out on his part, because different languages would make it harder for everyone to worship god together.
- Explains that good deeds were rewarded justly in the bible, and bad deings sometimes went unpunished. abram sacrificed his son isaac to show his undying loyalty to god. jacob stole esau's birthright and his brother'
- Analyzes how god's justice was not revenge-based, but he wanted his people to learn to be kind, respectful, and honorable, rather than killing them.
- Analyzes how the treatment of justice in the odyssey and genesis differed from that of the bible.
- Explains that heubeck, alfred, j.b. hainsworth, et al. a commentary on homer's odyssey.
2498 wordsRead More - The Odysseyanalytical essay... throughout mythology like The Odyssey, Homeric Hymns, and Theogony, is that gods are seen as spiteful and unstable towards the people that revere them. Homer depicted the gods as powerful beings with negative attributes that will harm people if they do not appease to the immortals. So are the Greeks of this time just worshipping the gods to avoid harm and repercussions? People seemed to be so focused on appeasing the gods that they weren’t following their own paths of life. Regular people make mistakes and with the temperate of the immortals, the whole race could nearly be wiped out for making the wrong reaction in the presence of a god. Whether it would be direct contact or indirect effects of an immortal to a mortal, the interaction with gods may have some positive effects for humans, but overall gods can overreact at petty things thus canceling out the positive.
In this essay, the author
- Argues that the interaction between the greek gods and humans is negative for humans.
- Analyzes how humans can sway gods through sacrifice and create their own and even humanities fate, for better or for worse.
- Analyzes how humans see the negative side of the gods in the odyssey, the homeric hymns, and theogony.
- Analyzes how the gods in the homeric hymns and theogony act on personal motives, which can lead to major consequences for mortals.
- Analyzes how the greeks worshipped the gods to avoid harm and repercussions. they were so focused on appeasing them that they weren't following their own paths of life.
964 wordsRead More - The Contradictory Nature of Greek Gods and Godessesanalytical essayMany Greek gods were seen as both benefactors and tormentors, typically it depends on which god or goddess you are researching about. The seemingly contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how the greek gods were seen as both benefactors and tormentors of man, based on the prime directive for man to worship them and the ensuing "deus ex mahina"
- Explains that a benefactor is someone who benefits or helps someone in real life. prometheus stole fire from the great gods and gave it to mankind.
- Explains that tormentors are foreseen to be evil and not bring any good to mankind. apollo brought music, prophecy, and enlightenment to the humans.
- Explains that the prime directive of man in greek mythology is to flat out worship the gods.
- Explains that deus ex machina is a plot device where an unsolvable problem is resolved by the manipulative and unexpected interruption of some new event, character, ability or object.
- Explains that in greek mythology, greek gods are benefactors or tormentors of mankind. the titan prometheus had originally been assigned with the task of creating man.
- Narrates how arachne challenged athena, the goddess of war, handicraft, and practical reason. she boasted that she was better than her.
- Analyzes how odysseus tricked the enemy into bringing a wooden horse within the walls of troy. the greeks had been laying siege to troy for nine long years, but suddenly it looked like their entire army had departed.
- Analyzes the myths which prove the contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man.
1265 wordsRead More