The Role Of Poseidon In Homer's The Odyssey

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The Odyssey, written by Homer, is about a Greek epic hero named Odysseus. The reader finds out that Odysseus left his wife, son, and country of Ithaca twenty years ago to go fight in the Trojan war. After the war was over, Odysseus yearned to reunite with his family. This was made very difficult after Odysseus blinded a Cyclops. The problem was that this wasn't a normal Cyclops, this was Poseidon's son. This ultimately lead to Poseidon making Odysseus's journey home very difficult. Ultimately, being the great hero that Odysseus is he was able to overcome the wrath of Poseidon and made it home to his family. The Aeneid, written by Virgil, is about an epic who also fought in the Trojan war. This poem starts out in troy, where the reader finds …show more content…

Odysseus overcame the fury from Poseidon and the lust from the beautiful Goddess that he came upon, to ultimately be reunited with his wife. Some people say it was selfish for him to leave her in the first place, but he had to fulfill his duty to his country and fight in the Trojan war. Also, people say that he cheated on his wife with the Goddess's that he came to through his journey. This isn't the case because in Greek philosophy it was ok to have intercourse with a Goddess because there not humans. When Virgil says, "[Odysseus's"] heart set on his wife and his return--Calypso, the bewitching nymph, the lustrous goddess, held him back" (Homer 259). This quote shows how much his wife means to him. No one explains Odysseus's journey back to his wife then Dianna Rhyan Kardulias. Kardulias had her article, "Odysseus in Ino's Veil:," published into the Transactions of the American Philological Association. In her article she reinforces Odysseus's love for Penelope by saying, "Odysseus journeys home, from "submerged identity" back to wholeness and reintegration, from languishing "dangers of exotic vice" back to the firm-founded bed of Penelope" (Kardulias 23). To confirm his care for his wife he can't even enjoy his time Calypso a beautiful goddess. The contrast of this is the way that Aeneas viewed his wife. He didn't seem to love his wife that much or even at all. For example, when his wife, father, and child along with him were fleeing Troy, he was carrying his father and allowed his wife to get lost. When they are running Aeneas says, "did she Linger, or stray, or sink in wariness? There is no telling. Never would she be restored to us. Never did I look back or think to look for her, lost as she was" (Virgil 1140). This shows that Aeneas was only worried about getting his father and son to safety and wasn't concerned with his wife's disappearance. Another

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