Development of Humans through Pain and Suffering
Throughout our human life, we go through and endure pain and suffering in our own ways. They influence our way of thinking and merely what drive us to become mature characters. The idea of pain and suffering is one of the basic themes of, “The Odyssey Of Homer” translated by Richmond Lattimore. This epic narrative story talks about Odysseus journey home to the land of Ithaca, where he resides as king. The main question or idea that arises is, how does the theme of pain and suffering influence Odysseus’ actions and guide him to become a man of cunning, and strength?
After being too far from home in the land of Calypso Odysseus explains his sorrow to the beautiful nymph:
“Goddess and queen do not be angry with me. I myself know that all you say is true and that circumspect Penelope can never match the impression you make for beauty and stature. She is mortal after all, and you are immortal and ageless. But even so, what I want all my days I pine for is to go back to my house and see my day of homecoming. And is some God batters me far out on the wine-blue water, I will endure it, keeping a stubborn spirit inside me, for already I have suffered much and done much hard work on the waves and in the fighting. So let adventure follow ” (Odyssey, Book 5, lines 215-225).
Stuck on the island of Calypso, Odysseus finds trouble getting his way out of there. Zeus, the king of gods and men explains to the messenger of the gods Hermes, to tell Calypso to liberate Odysseus from her island after spending seven years of being her sexual slave. Zeus infers that it is ultimately Odysseus fate to go through many troubles and eventually reunite his family. Calypso does see that by keeping O...
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...ed Clytemnestra a great big deal of suffering, and rage so she decides to end Agamemnon’s life. Now because Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon, their son and daughter, Orestes and Electra, suffer the loss of their father. They ultimately want vengeance upon their mother and avenge their father. We see that there is this ongoing pain and suffer between the characters seen in Libation Bearers and also in the Odyssey. How they deal with pain and suffer however, seem to be a bit different. Odysseus uses that feeling to persevere to his journey home. Clytemnestra, Electra and Orestes use the feeling of pain and suffer to get revenge. What they have in common is that these types of troubles that they are going through make them to be stronger characters and have a choice to fulfill their fate.
Another example would have to be in the book of “Euripides: The Trojan Women”.
While with Calypso Odysseus relies upon the gods to decide whether he shall return home or if he is fated to stay with the nymph goddess. Though Odysseus is powerful amongst mortal men his attempts to free himself from Calypso’s island prove to be in vain. Instead, Odysseus must wait, for "…in the gods’ lap it lies to say if he shall come and wreak revenge in his halls…" (6). Odysseus must bow to the gods’ wishes and it is Athena, rather then Odysseus himself, who convinces mighty Zeus to free Odysseus and set him upon his journey home. Athena pleads Odysseus’ cause to the gods upon Olympus and beseeches her father begging that "…if it now please the blessed gods that wise Odysseus shall return to his own home…" (2) then she will aid him in this journey. Were it not for Athena’s intervention, Odysseus might never have returned to his native land and seen his dear Ithica once more.
Homer’s The Odyssey, a magnificent story of lust, deceit, greed, and heroism, still fascinates scholars and casual readers alike today in the same way it fascinated its audience at the time it was written. The Odyssey, a journey of determination, patience, and virtue, tells the tail of Odysseus, the main character, on his voyage home to Ithaka after the end of the Trojan War. Odysseus goes through many unforeseen trials and tribulations, which exemplify his character. During these different happenings, Odysseus makes decisions that do not correspond to his character.
... Odysseus' experience with Calypso reflects his strength and diligence, though he cries all day everyday. It is quite ironic. Calypso seems to represent womanly jealousy. She knows he has a wife waiting in Ithaca for him, yet she continues to retain him for her own selfish happiness. She seems to be a little unsure if she is greater in beauty than Penelope when she assures Odysseus that she exceeds Penelope by far in that area. It seems that she knew what his reply would be and merely wanted to hear it from his mouth.
Homer (fl. 850 B.C.). The Odyssey. The Harvard Classics. 1909-14). "In disguise as an old friend of Odysseus', Athena travels to his manor in Ithaka, now overrun with noisy, lustful suitor's intent on marrying Odysseus' wife, Penelope. Odysseus' son, Telemakhos, unhappy among the suitors, greets Athena warmly as a stranger and invites her to their feast. As the suitors devour Odysseus' oxen, Telemakhos says he believes his father - whom he does not know at all - is dead."(gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/odyssey/summ1.html). "He is so unsure of his own identity that he refuses to affirm without qualification his relationship to Odysseus. Athena introduces herself as Odysseus' old friend Mentes and predicts that he will be home soon. Telemakhos matures from a callow, helpless youth into a stronger, more confident man" (Approaches to Teaching Homer's Iliad and Odyssey ). "Just as Odysseus' story is about returning home to his old identity, Telemakhos' is about forging a new one; as Athena tells him, "You are a child no longer"."(gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/odyssey/summ1.html). As Telemakhos' develops from youth to man inspired by Athena, especially her favorable comparisons between him and his father; he stands up against the suitors in his assembly. "Failing in an attempt to get the Ithacans to help him to assert his rights, Telemakhos sets out for Pylus under the guidance of the goddess Athena, who is disguised as Mentes, a friendly chief.
Odysseus has been away from home for nearly two decades and is being held captive by the Nymph Calypso. Calypso is holding Odysseus on her island for her sensational desires. Odysseus yearns to get home, it deeply saddens him that he has been away for his kingdom, home, and family. Odysseus says “Yet, it is true, each day I long for home, long for the sight of home.” (X 228-229). By this he means that he never stops thinking about home and his wife, Penelope. Ithaka is constantly on his mind. He will do anything to see his home or to touch foot on its soil. An epithet showing Odysseus’ determination is “much-enduring” (VII 107) . By Homer calling Odysseus to much-enduring he is saying Odysseus can handle anything and everything, which goes to make him extremely determined. To endure is to continue through tough times, determination is the trait that posses endurance. This endurance and yearning for home makes Odysseus
These few instances of revenge: Orestes’ revenge on Aegisthus, Zeus’ revenge on Odysseus and his men, and Poseidon’s revenge on Odysseus in The Odyssey, lay the background for Odysseus’ story of struggle in his journey home from Troy. Revenge proves to be the main reason not only as to why Odysseus cannot return home, but also as a means of proving the importance of the gods’ role in the epic journey. Without these occurrences of the gods getting revenge on Odysseus and other mortals, there would be no passionate tales of the perseverance that Odysseus had in achieving his goal: getting home to Ithaca.
Horrendous pain and suffering worthy of masochists is something that any sane person would shy away from. Yet, authors from all eras of time find those experiences pleasing to put down on paper. The Odyssey of Homer, as translated by Allen Mandelbaum, alongside William Golding’s Lord of the Flies are two such works of literature where the author writes about the agonies of their main characters, Odysseus and Ralph, respectively. Odysseus of The Odyssey of Homer and Ralph of Lord of the Flies are two characters who endured the backlash of divine powers and the pain of betrayal, yet they persevered onwards in their journeys towards success, teaching readers it is possible to push on past all of life’s challenges.
In Homer’s Odyssey Odysseus shows his yearning for adventure and that challenging himself brings him happiness through his actions not his thoughts. Even in the clutches of a raging cyclopes Odysseus’ accepts the challenge at hand and persevere through the loss of some of his men. “My name is Nohbdy,” he tells Polyphemus who is drunk from the liquor Odysseus had given him before. The giant “reeled and tumbled backward,”. He son fell asleep and the next stages of his plan fell into place. When the sharpened log was hot enough for his liking he and a few other men “bored that great eye socket,”(380). Instead of letting his men die while he cracked under the pressure Odysseus remained calm and allowed himself to think. Having achieved his goal of defeating the mighty cyclopes he rejoiced in his valiancy. Odysseus exuded happiness when most of his men got out alive. Odysseus’ habits of getting his men into seemingly inescapable predicaments continues on the island of Cersei. At the gate of the witch’s island his need for adventure takes the best of his judgement. Against the advice of Eurylochus Odysseus “rushes to save his men from the enchantress,” (387). Odysseus’ need for thrill and excitement draws him onto the island. He knows that he will suffer the same fate but makes a decision in the heat of the moment that could've made him unable to return home, but he wasn’t thinking of home, he purely wanted to get his men back. Throughout his journey Odysseus perfectly represents the bond between a man’s adventures and the challenges they bring to
Homer compares the crying Odysseus to a woman who weeps for her husband who died in battle. The weeping woman is described in a very dramatic scene in order to reflect the intensity of the sorrow that Odysseus is experiencing. The “woman weeps, flinging herself across the fallen body of her dear husband.” As she is “clinging to him, [she] wails,” and then “the enemies behind her strike her back and shoulders, then they carry her away to slavery and trials and misery.” The woman goes through a great deal of hardship, which explains why “her cheeks are wasted with pain.” Not only does her husband die, but the enemies strike her with their spears and take her away to suffer more. By comparing Odysseus’s crying to the woman weeping in this intense scene of misery, Homer is able to show the reader the degree of sorrow that Odysseus is feeling.
There is a copious amount of major characters in the story. Some of them include Odysseus, the main character, who is a soldier and returns home after a twenty-year absence. Some of his family includes Laertes, his father, Penelope, his wife, and Telemachus, his son. There are many gods that Odysseus must battle on his journey home, including Zeus, who is said to be father of all gods, and Poseidon, the god of the ocean who punishes Odysseus and his crew by giving them a very difficult trip home after they blind his son, Polyphemus, or the Cyclops by blinding him after stabbing him in the eye. Another major character is Calypso, a sea goddess who is in love with Odysseus.
Returning to the quotation “… the great leveler, Death: not even the gods/ can defend a man, not even one they love, that day/ when fate takes hold and lays him out at last’” (Homer 3.269-271). Death is a power that surpasses the gods. In The Odyssey we are introduced to gods who control the water, the wind, and the decisions of men. They can bring peace and war, but the one thing they cannot do is prevent a mortal’s fated death. This alone shows how central death is to The Odyssey. The power that death holds rivals no others in this story, there is “… no escape from death” (Homer 12.483). Death is a constant threat for Odysseus throughout this story, and the future foretold for Odysseus by Tiresias is not one of his life being a good one but of “…your own death will steal upon you…/ a gentle, painless death, far from the sea it comes to take you down…” (Homer 11.153-154). His fortune ends not with his happy life, but with his eventual death. This scene is crucial because it draws the reader back not to the life that Odysseus will have once he has successfully returned home and killed the suitors but the death that he will experience. It draws it back to when and where Odysseus will die and take his place among the
Homer’s literature served as a moral messenger to the people of ancient Greece. The Odyssey by Homer demonstrates the character development of Odysseus, the epic hero, and his journey of self-discovery. Odysseus was a great, wise, noble, and well respected war hero to his people. Odysseus had one tragic flaw that was demonstrated by his actions throughout the book. The author Homer continued to strip Odysseus of his arrogance throughout the story, by throwing challenges his way, making him pay for his mistakes, and allowing him to continue to overcome obstacles. The main purpose of Odysseus journey also to reach his home a more humble man. Reading Odysseus’ journey also served as a way to look at morals. The
Odysseus’ journey is one that features much emotional pain. Pain for being away from his home, wife and son, but in Aeneas’ journey he is a warrior, and he goes through physical pain. Unlike Odysseus, Aeneas begins his journey after the Greeks have burned his home to the ground. He does not have the pleasure of long comfortable “holdups” Odysseus has and he also has to deal with his father dying—the ultimate blow.
middle of paper ... ... In Homer’s Odyssey, both Odysseus and his son Telemachus embark on long, difficult journeys; Odysseus trying to return from Troy to his home in Ithaca, escaping Calypso and the island of Ogygia, and Telemachus from Ithaca to Pylos and Sparta in search of his lost father. While The Odyssey tells of the courage both men demonstrate during their respective travels, their quests are the results of the intentions and desires of gods. Odysseus is trapped in exile on Ogygia by the will of Poseidon, whose anger Odysseus attracts when he blinds the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon, and by the love of Calypso, who wishes to make Odysseus her husband.
Homer’s The Odyssey is a Greek story that follows the journey of its primary character, Odysseus, back to his home in Ithaca after the Trojan War. Odysseus encounters many challenges in his journey home, from encounters with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the witch Circe and even the ghosts of dead Greeks. Meanwhile, his household in Ithaca is being threatened by suitors of his wife, Penelope, all wanting to inherit Odysseus’ possessions in the belief that he was already dead. Like many epic heroes, Odysseus possesses many admirable qualities. Three good characteristics of Odysseus are—cleverness, bravery and strength—here are some supporting instances from the epic that demonstrates Odysseus possession of such characteristics.