Temptations of Odysseus Odysseus: a hero in every way. He is a real man, skilled in the sports, handy with a sword and spear, and a master of war strategy. Most of the challenges and adventures in his return voyage from Troy show us this even if we had no idea of his great heroic stature and accomplishments in the Trojan war. I found in my reading of the Odyssey that most of the trials the gods place upon him are readily faced with heroic means. These challenges are not necessarily welcomed by Odysseus but accepted as part of his role. He is the hero, its his lot to wield sword and shield and bravely face the next army or monster. Then we begin to see more of the challenges do not require our hero to fight his way out. These threats are the most difficult problems for Odysseus to overcome. The tests like the isle of the lotus eaters, Circe's island, and Calypso's island were the hardest challenges for Odysseus. His encounter with Polyphemus the Cyclops, the Laestrygonians, Charybdis and Scyylla, and the kingdom of the dead: these dangers were on his level, heroic battles where he could fight valiantly and if it was his fate, die valiantly. The challenges where heroic means were not a solution to overcome the danger were the most formidable tasks that could easily destroy Odysseus. Odysseus and crew are finally on their way home after the war, after nine days on the rough sea, they arrive at the isle of the lotus eaters. The lotus eaters are a group of people who have a lot of fun, thanks to their consumption of the lotus flower. This confrontation provides Odysseus and his crew with the first of their challenges (Odyssey 9:1-103). This threat is definitely one that a heroic confrontation is unlikely. This danger is not any physical threat to him or his men. The lotus eaters create a situation where Odysseus and his crew are tempted by a gift. This gift of immediate gratification threatens to take away several their basic heroic element. By eating the lotus flower they would find immediate happiness, however they would never make it home. They would died old men on that island without their families, they would be broken in a sense. Without the memories of their homes, wives, and children they would be just a shell of who they were. Odysseus would sooner die than to never see Penelope again and be ... ... middle of paper ... ...n or ever see his son. If he couldn't ever get back then there would have been no reason to ever leave. All of his heroic deed would have been in vain and no one would have even remembered him. He could not have fought the suitors and proved himself . The act of returning was always the ultimate goal for Odysseus and the temptations of happiness, beauty, immortality, and eternal youth were much harder for him to pass up every time he had to put his life on the line and fight an army or evade a monster. He could have given in to any of the temptations at any time and never had to endure the pain and strife that came from his homeward journey. Without his heroic resources to help him escape the temptations by battling his way out or using his wit to escape he holds on and endures and finally returns. Dying on the battlefield would be a fantastic ending for a hero such as Odysseus. Dying alone without a fight or giving in and living without ever returning to his home or Penelope would be a fate no hero could accept. He would have been forgotten and others would claim what was his. Odysseus does endure and returns, escaping danger and great temptation to be the hero and claim his own.
One of Odysseus's biggest challenges was to resist temptation. The first temptation Odysseus and his men encountered was the sweet lotos plant, "They fell in, soon enough, with Lotos Eaters, who showed no will to do us harm, only offering the sweet Lotos to out friends..." (IX. 98-100). Eating the plant did not seem like a bad idea, but resisting was a much wiser option, ."..but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotos, never cared to report, nor return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland" (IX. 101-104). If they had eaten the plant, they never would have gotten home. Another great temptation they had to withstand was the Seirênês. The Seirênês would tempt the men to them with their beauty and music, "Square in your ship's path are Seirênês, crying beauty to bewitch men coasting by..." (XII. 101-104). If men did not resist, they would fall into the Seirênês' clutches and die, "Woe to the innocent who hears that sound! He will not see his lady nor his children in joy, crowding about him, home from sea; the Seirênês will sing his mind away on their sweet meadow lolling..." (XII. 50-54). The biggest temptation that Odysseus had to defy was from the sea nymph, Kalypso, "I fed him, loved, him, sang that he should not die or grow old ever, in all the days to come" (V. 1420143). Kalypso wanted to have Odysseus as her husband, but all he could think of was home, "Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon that island in thralldom to the nymph; he cannot stir, cannot fare homeward..." (V. 15-17). Odysseus resisted, and was not completely unfaithful to his wife. If he had not resisted temptation, he would have been on the island of the Lotos Eaters, dead, or without a wife.
To begin with, Odysseus deserves to be called a hero because his courage is necessary for his survival. If Odysseus did not have courage, then he wouldn’t have survived the journey. Even though Odysseus is not fearless, he still has courage because he fights of the terrors. When approached with Polyphemos, the Kyklops, Odysseus was very afraid because the Kyklops was a huge man-eating monster. But Odysseus had the ability to not worry, control his men, and have the courage to fight the Kyklops using his wits. Another example is when Odysseus had the option to either go to Skylla and have only six men die or go towards Kharybdis and have either all men die or all men live. Odysseus was not very sure which one to go towards. The quote “that sight-far the worst I ever suffered” (XII, line 334) shows the reader that he was not fearless and rather frightened, but he was courageous by going with his “gut” feeling and going towards Skylla to risk six men instead all of them. Odysseus is also calm when in difficult situations, which means he doesn’t worry when things take a turn for the worst. Odysseus was calm when he was floating on the middle of the sea after the gods had destroyed his ship and his companions had died because they had eaten the cattle. It took him a lot of mental courage to stay calm and have hope that the gods would...
First, Odysseus is not a hero because he is a foolish leader who makes many mistakes on his journey back home to Ithaka. His first mistake is his decision to let his men raid and pillage the kikones, this thoughtless decision gets thirty of his men killed and countless others wounded, it also angers the Gods because he caused the deaths of many kikones and also many of his own soldiers. Another foolish decision Odysseus makes is his decision to explore the island of the Kyklops. Instead of just exploring his surroundings Odysseus decides to explore the entire island, just so he can see a Kyklops. Again this idiotic decision ends up in the death of more of his faithful men. Finally, another foolish decision he makes is to leave Elpenor unburied, which tortures his soul. As a result of this Odysseus is forced to go all the way back to Kirke's island, wasting time and valuable food to bury his body. This decision is not only selfish but disrespectful because it forces Elpenor to go through extreme suffering in the painful underworld. Odysseus is a selfish leader who needed to stop and think about his decisions instead of acting on impulses, this could have saved the lives of...
Odysseus is a hero because he acts courageously while facing the many challenges he encounters. Odysseus’s shows great bravery when he engages in physical challenges. Odysseus daringly fights against the suitors, while significantly outnumbered: “For I must tell you this is no affair / of ten or even twice ten men, but scores, throngs of them” (XVI, 291 – 293). Even though Odysseus is facing hundreds of men, his bravery keeps him confident that he can win the battle. Odysseus must use his physical strength when Poseidon punishes him with turbulent waves: “Odysseus’s knees grew slack, his heart / sickened, and he said within himself / Rag of man that I am, is this the end of me?” (V, 307 – 309). Odysseus is exhausted from the torrential sea, yet refuses to give up because of enormous courage and his unwillingness to surrender. Odysseus must also cope with emotional challenges throughout his journey. His emotions are tested when he ventures to the underworld, Hades, and must confront his greatest fear, death: “From every side they came and sought the pit / with rustling cries; and I grew sick with fear. / But presently I gave command to my officers” (XI, 45 -47). Although Odysseus is deeply fearful when he comes face to face with the dead, his mental f...
In the return the hero must return to everyday life and often becomes a better person. Odysseus’ return is filled with murder but he does become a better person afterwards. He now thinks things through more and he plans how to deal with the death of all the suitors,”Then sponge down all of the beautiful tables and chairs,”(22;350;464-465). This quote shows that he knows that he must get rid of the evidence and break the news of the suitors death himself. In the Return the hero is often has gifts in Odysseus’ case it is his family,”This brought tears from deep within him, and as he wept he clung to his beloved wife,”(23;360;238-239). Odysseus weeps when he is finally with his wife. The main point of The Odyssey is Odysseus getting home to the family he loves. This quote shows just how much Odysseus cares and loves his family. Odysseus has received many gifts throughout the Odysseus and has lost all of them one way or another, except for the greatest gift of all his family. The Return is the last part of The Hero’s Journey and is where the a person becomes a hero, Odysseus finally achieves that title at the end of the
He and his men found a way to escape by blinding the Cyclops and exiting by holding on to the sheep’s bellies. They all started to celebrate, but Odysseus started to mock the Cyclops instead. His crew started advising him stop and one of them said, “God Sake, Captain! Why bait the beast again? Let him alone!” (page 383, 408). Later on, the Cyclops prayed to Poseidon and cursed him to “lose all his companions” along the way. If Odysseus had followed hs men’s advice, then he wouldn’t have been cursed to reach Ithaca by
Going to his journey home, he no longer needed to reach the olive fields with stones that warm in the sun as his child plays, and his wife helps with the harvest. His journey has changed to get his vengeance and in the end die so he can reunite with his family. I bring this up because dieing is a change as is the change Odysseus goes through by essentially becoming no one, a regular Joe so to say. This is what I believe...
Odysseus is also a hero because he travelled to the underworld, a feat which no mortal man had ever accomplished. He was seeking the blind prophet Tiresias who would grant him the answers he needed to find his way back to Ithaka. He sacrificed himself, and only himself, to get his men home safely. He insisted that no one else go with him because it was too risky. This selflessness, and willingness to sacrifice himself for the benefit of others is what makes him a hero. He showed extreme bravery in the face of danger, and managed to return
Odysseus, at the beginning, is very determines to get home and would do whatever it took to get there. In the story of “Calypso, the Sweet Nymph,” Odysseus does everything in his power to get home. Calypso asks him to stay with her, but Odysseus refuses. He kindly puts her down and says “it is true, each day I long to be home,” after being offered immortality (Homer 117-118). This event shows his determination to get back
Odysseus is often times considered a hero for triumphing, for living through the many challenges that he has to face over the course of The Odyssey. He defeats the mighty cyclops, he braves years away from home fighting one battle after the other and makes it home alive. Many times he has the chance to give in to death, to end his suffering, however he doesn’t take his chance and he continues fighting. He survives. However Homer doesn’t put it in that light, he doesn’t centralize the idea of life in The Odyssey but rather the idea of death, and all that it brings, or fails to bring.
With the Odyssey, Odysseus learned a big lesson in humility. The greatest example of this is in the last five books or so within the story. He has to dress, act, and live like a beggar in order to regain everything he had lost. While he was a beggar, the suitors treated him horribly. Antinous, leader of the suitors, was the worst of them all. He was the first to mistreat Odysseus and planned to kill Telemachus. He was also the one that would abuse him physically and verbally for some time to come. Also, if that weren’t enough, he planned a boxing match for Odysseus to be in to watch him get beat up. All this was happening and the other suitors were most likely following their leader in whatever he was doing. Odysseus had to control himself the whole time this was happening. If he had lost his temper, the suitors would have killed him, his son, and most likely taken over the kingdom. That didn’t happen though. Odysseus learned self-control and humility. He may not be perfect at it, but going through all the humility made him a better man. Along the same topic, he was a king going through this humility. It would be one thing for a peasant to go through it, but a king? This made it even harder for Odysseus. He had rank above all the suitors and could rightly kick them out of his kingdom. Instead he waits for the right time and kills them all. The “pre-journey” Odysseus would of thought of himself invincible and probably would have died trying to get his kingdom back.
Odysseus was a very courageous man. In Book 10, of the Odyssey, Odysseus runs to save his men from Circe’s spell. To protect himself from the spell, Hermes gives him a magical plant called Moly. In the text, it states, “Odysseus rushes to save his men from the enchantress” (Homer 387). This shows how courageous Odysseus was. He cared so much about his men, he was willing to die along the way to save them. He didn’t care how powerful Circe was. He had no fear, nor regret of going back for his men. Based on his actions, no
...-evaluation and corrected himself by turning his life around so that he could be fully aware of what it means to be a hero. Even though he has different traits from different heroic people he still succeeded in proving himself, like all heroes do. Now he truly understands his place in the world, his purpose, and what he must do in the future as the main hero of his household. Journeys like Odysseus’s would influence people to think about a hero in a complete opposite way than stories about pure-hearted knights in shining armor because it shows a person’s mistakes and how he handles or copes with them while maturing overtime. Even though different traits can describe who is or who is not a hero Odysseus is beyond doubt a well-developed hero.
From escaping the cyclops to getting lost at sea and coming home to seeing the non-expected, he still managed to survive his hell on earth. One of his most powerful moment that shows how really brave odyssey is, is when his men were turned into pigs by the goddess Circe. Eurylochus who managed to escape goes and tells Odysseus what Circe had done. Odysseus then tells Eurylochus that he will go and save them, but Eurylochus warned him that no one returns alive. Eurylochus also,“.... Begs him [Odysseus] to sail away from Circe’s island.” ( 10.46-48) Odysseus being the courageous man he is went “ Against this advice” and “... Rushes to save this men from the enchantress” ( 10.46-48). Within these line odysseus shows how honorable he is to his men. Knowing the risk, Odysseus still chooses to risk his life to save his men rather than just leaving them for dead. His bravery is why his men honor him. Through all the danger they went through, his men never left Odysseus’s side and Odysseus never left theirs, which is a very good example of what being honorable is. Odysseus reveals that bravery is a powerful characteristic of a hero, because people will honor you for your bravery. [Zehaa
The challenges that Homer give the protagonist is all a test of character. Odysseus continues to pass the obstacles with flying colors, but his arrogance is the one flaw that is in dire need of correction. Some of the many challenges Odysseus overcomes on his voyage home is defeating the Cicones, surviving the Island of the Lotus Eaters, outsmarting the Giant Cyclops, saving his men from Circe, Traveling to Hades, passing between Scylla and Charybdis, escaping Calypsos’ Island and many more. Odysseus survives these obstacles and uses his smarts to escape near disaster. Often times he was the only one to survive these things and his crew often lost their lives due to their own stupidity. “‘We left the island and resumed our journey in a state of gloom; and the heart was taken out of my men by the wearisome rowing. But was our own stupidity that had deprived us of the wind.’”(P127 L75-79) Odysseus shows how he is an extraordinary man by being much smarter than his crew and the men that follow him. As a part of this stripping of Odysseus, Homer shows that Odysseus is a collective symbol of Everyman. On the one hand Odysseus is a great warrior, who is extremely intelligent, noble, and a great man. Although he has many god- like qualities he is still human. He shows that he is human and like every man, because of the fact that he still has major flaws. The