The course of Odysseus’s journey should have been a straightforward ride home but obstacles in his way make it otherwise. He is affected by his own personal desire for honor and kleos as he sets foot onto the Cyclops’ island. His crewmen negatively impact his journey two different times as they open a bag of wind that backtracks them away from Ithaca, and eat Helios’ cattle, which they were told specifically not to, killing them all off. Athena, who is like his guide through the entire epic, helps Odysseus when times are rough. She saves him from the sea nymph, Calypo’s, island and convinces the Polynesians to send him home safely and with treasure.
There are three major factions that effect Odysseus' journey in both positive and negative ways. These factions being himself, others, and the gods. So which of these groups effected his journey the most? Or more specifically, which obstacle or event?
Personally, I would say that the catastrophe on Helios' island probably had the biggest effect on Odysseus' journey home. It is hard to say whose fault it is when both Odysseus and his crew mates are to blame. Odysseus does tell his crew that they will die a horrible death if they eat the cattle, but this obviously is not enough. His men kill the cattle because of their hunger and suffer the consequences. The loss of Odysseus' crew causes him to return home lonely and sad. We can only take guesses on how the story would have turned out if his crew would not have eaten Helios' cattle. Maybe Odysseus would make a huge entrance back into Ithaca, scaring the suitors out of his home, leaving no need to kill them. Anything is possible.
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It appears pretty clear that the most influential event on Odysseus' journey (in terms of getting back to Ithaca), was the whole ordeal with Polyphemus. Not only does the blinding of the cyclops begin the attacks of Poseidon on Odysseus, it is the only time that we explain why Odysseus' crew becomes mutinous.
ReplyDeleteThe experience shows Odysseus at his lowest. He steals Polyphemus' chesse, with no respect towards who owned it, or his crew, some of which are eaten by Polyphemus because of his theft. He then blinds Polyphemus, a son of the Gods, which would not have been so bad had he not proceeded to tell the cyclops that it was Odysseus that blinded him. We can see in that respect how desperate Odysseus is for glory. He barely escaped death, and is risking his future safety on the seas. His hope for glory backfires, and Poseidon, as well as his crew, become his biggest obstacles on his way home.
When Odysseus finally gets home, it never shows accepting that he caused, at least partly, his long journey. Nor is he shown thanking any of the people who decided to pity him and helped him get home (mainly Zeus and the Acheans).
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ReplyDeleteDuring Odysseus’ journey he must surpass several obstacles in order to return to Ithaca, but the most difficult one is the power of Poseidon. In the Odyssey, the suitors act as the human antagonists to Odysseus while Poseidon acts as the god antagonist. From the very beginning of the story, Poseidon takes a disliking to Odysseus because he always blamed the gods for everything. “…Then every god took pity, all except Poseidon. He raged on, seething against the great Odysseus till he reached his native land. (1.24-26)” There are several instances in the story where Poseidon meddles with Odysseus’ journey back home like in chapter 5 when Poseidon creates a storm to try and kill Odysseus. Fortunately for Odysseus, Athena comes to the rescue and save him from drowning. Then after Odysseus blinds Polyphemus and the crew eats Helios’ cattle, Poseidon gets enraged and as a result kills his entire crew and almost Odysseus himself.
ReplyDeleteWithout the negative impact of Poseidon, Odysseus could still have had his crew and the story would change dramatically. Without Poseidon’s interference, Odysseus could have wasted a lot less time getting back to Ithaca.
I believe he affected his own journey the most. He couldn't take control of his pride, and yelled out his name to Polyphemus. This kept him away from home for quite a while. Then, he couldn't take control of his crew, so when they were in sight of Ithaca, his crew got greedy and pulled the bag of winds, setting him away for even a longer time. He never listened to anything anyone told him, and he only cared for himself.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Odysseus journey home is hindered by many obstacles, including himself, the gods, and his crew, I think that his crew is by far the largest obstacle. If not for their actions, Odysseus and most of his crew would have safely returned home to Ithaca. Odysseus and his men are within sight of Ithaca, in fact they can even see the men tending fires, when his men’s greed and jealousy of Odysseus’ success brings disaster upon them. Their envy of Odysseus is evident in the following words of the crew. “Heaps of lovely plunder he (Odysseus) hauls home from Troy, while we who went through slogging just as hard, we go home empty- handed.” (page 231 lines 45-47) Believing that the bag given to Odysseus by Aeolus contains additional treasures for Odysseus, they open it up as Odysseus sleeps. This unleashes the winds in the bag, sending them hurling back to Aeolus’ island. Astounded to see Odysseus and his crew again, Aeolus refuses to give them additional help as he now believes that they must be cursed by the gods. The second catastrophe that the crew brings upon themselves is on the Sun god Helios’ island, Thrinacia. Odysseus specifically instructs his crew not to harm the cattle and sheep of the Sun god, even making them swear an oath not to do so. Yet as their hunger grows and they run out of provisions, they break their word to Odysseus and slaughter the herds. As a result, when they set sail Zeus creates a tremendous storm that destroys their ship and kills all of Odysseus men. Thus, it is the crew’s jealousy and disobedience to Odysseus that most hinders Odysseus’ journey home to Ithaca, and causes the death of the entire crew.
ReplyDeleteI beleive that others is the main reason that Odysseus has trouble getting back to Ithaca. THe people that affected him mostly was his crew and Calypso. Calypso affected him greatly because she held him captive for numerous years. But also the crew members because of all of the stupid things they did and how they did not follow Odysseus' orders. First they opened the wind and next they ate the cattle at the cyclops' island, both which made Odysseus have to go through a great hardship to get home.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus' journey could have been a straightforward one, however many obstacles stopped him from reaching his final destination earlier. One of his first and most problematic stops in his journey was Polythemus’ island. On Polythemus’ island Odysseus tries to steal some of Polythemus’ cheese, and because of that Polythemus makes Odysseus’ whole crew stay in the cave so he could eat them. After eating some of Odysseus’ crew, Odysseus blinds Polythemus by putting a burning club in his eye. After Odysseus gets away from the island he tries to spread his fame by telling Polythemus his real name. I believe that is the reason why Odysseus’ journey became so hard for him since now Polythemus knows his name and told it to his father Poseidon. After this Poseidon, the god of the sea and earthquakes had a grudge for Odysseus and tried to make his trip home as hard as possible. At one point Poseidon sends a huge wave at Odysseus that really hurts him, and the backwash of the wave is described to actually tear some of Odysseus’ skin off.
ReplyDeleteHowever Polythemus was not the only factor that kept him from arriving home on time, it was also his crew’s fault. His crew opened the sack of wind, which sent him back to the island of Ogygia, and made his journey longer and much harder. Also his crew ate the cattle of the sun, which made Heleos complain to Zeus which also made Odysseus’ journey harder.