Essay On The Odyssey

An Analysis of The Odyssey The Odyssey is an Epic written by the ancient Greek poet Homer. The epic is a sequel to one of Homer’s previous works The Iliad. This story follows the great hero Odysseus’ struggles to find his way home after the Trojan War. There are plenty of monsters, angry gods, and hostile natives that hinder his journey home along the way; however, this tale is overflowing with Odysseus, his crew, and their undoubtable reckless actions and succumbing to temptation. Giving in to the internal forces of temptation and recklessness makes a larger impact than monsters and gods in keeping Odysseus and his crew from reaching their home, Ithaca. Recklessness causes the death and near death of Odysseus and his men and it delays them
The royal son of Laertes has set anchor on the island of “Ismarus, /the Cicones” (9.45-6) stronghold.” Where they sacked and plundered the city he “Then…urged them to cut and run, set sail, / but would they listen? Not those fools/… Cicones sought out other Cicones/… and Zeus presented us with disaster…” (9.50-61) the natives killed six men per ship, there was twelve ships totaling the cost of seventy-two lives lost due to the temptation of war spoils. Had the crew listened and obeyed, had they the resisted temptation they would still be alive. Next on their journey home Odysseus and his crew stop on the Aeolian island where “He [the king master of the winds] gave me a sack, the skin of a full-grown ox, / binding inside the winds that howl from every quarter…” (10.22-4). they were sent on their merry way and were almost back to Ithaca when “...the crews began to mutter among themselves” (10.39) sure he was keeping treasure from them. Ready to get their hands on ‘the treasure’ they had been ‘wrongly cheated out of, they yelled “Break it open-now! /…They loosed the sack and all the winds burst out/ and a sudden squall struck...”(10.50-3) sending them far away from Ithaca back to Aeolus’ island, this time gaining no aid delaying them an additional seven days until they found the next island. Finally the incident that is
However the recklessness of Odysseus and the crew along with them giving into their temptations is what causes them to end up in those situations. If Odysseus hadn’t demanded Xenia he wouldn’t have lost men to the cyclops; if the crew would have obeyed Odysseus’ commands they would have lived to see home. In all honesty there is a lot to be learned from the Odyssey, like rules are there for a reason and always trust those in authority above you. The crew and Odysseus learned these the hard way, proving internal forces have just as much if not more of an impact on Odysseus than external forces could ever