Free Will In The Odyssey
The Odyssey
What is the nature of free will? Are gods or humans responsible for what happens? The Odyssey is a poem which is about a man named Odysseus (also known as Ulysses in Roman myths) who is on his way back to Ithaca where his home is with his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus but is said to be dead. Telemachus goes on hunt for Odysseus because he believes his father is still alive. On Odysseus’ way back to Ithaca he goes through many challenges such as defeating the Cyclops, Sirens, Helios’s cattle, Scylla, killing all of the suitors in his house, and more. The fate of Odysseus and all the mortals in The Odyssey is said to be controlled by the gods and not themselves. That is partially true but the gods do not control everything …show more content…
“There you will find them grazing, herds and fat flocks, the cattle of Helios, god of the sun who sees all, hears all things. Leave the beasts unharmed, you mind set on home.” (pg.253) Tiresias clearly warns him, to not even mess with the cattle or he and his men will pay the consequences. When a wise person or a prophet tells someone in the book to do something there is usually a catch or very certain steps that they must follow to accomplish what they need to. The instructions that the people are given are very specific and usually if they are not followed something very bad happens for instance when Odysseus’ men do eat Apollo’s cattle they are later on killed by Scylla and the whorl pool. The prophets don’t just give these orders to doom people but to help them out along the way on their journey. If Odysseus’ men wouldn’t have killed and eaten the cattle they could have lived and helped Odysseus get home, but they chose to eat it. The men were not forced or destined to eat the cattle they wanted to. Most likely even if the gods didn’t want them to eat the animals they would have done whatever they could so the cattle would be safe. The men made their own fate by eating the cattle because they thought nothing would actually happen and thought that they deserved to eat
What is the nature of free will? Are gods or humans responsible for what happens? The Odyssey is a poem which is about a man named Odysseus (also known as Ulysses in Roman myths) who is on his way back to Ithaca where his home is with his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus but is said to be dead. Telemachus goes on hunt for Odysseus because he believes his father is still alive. On Odysseus’ way back to Ithaca he goes through many challenges such as defeating the Cyclops, Sirens, Helios’s cattle, Scylla, killing all of the suitors in his house, and more. The fate of Odysseus and all the mortals in The Odyssey is said to be controlled by the gods and not themselves. That is partially true but the gods do not control everything …show more content…
“There you will find them grazing, herds and fat flocks, the cattle of Helios, god of the sun who sees all, hears all things. Leave the beasts unharmed, you mind set on home.” (pg.253) Tiresias clearly warns him, to not even mess with the cattle or he and his men will pay the consequences. When a wise person or a prophet tells someone in the book to do something there is usually a catch or very certain steps that they must follow to accomplish what they need to. The instructions that the people are given are very specific and usually if they are not followed something very bad happens for instance when Odysseus’ men do eat Apollo’s cattle they are later on killed by Scylla and the whorl pool. The prophets don’t just give these orders to doom people but to help them out along the way on their journey. If Odysseus’ men wouldn’t have killed and eaten the cattle they could have lived and helped Odysseus get home, but they chose to eat it. The men were not forced or destined to eat the cattle they wanted to. Most likely even if the gods didn’t want them to eat the animals they would have done whatever they could so the cattle would be safe. The men made their own fate by eating the cattle because they thought nothing would actually happen and thought that they deserved to eat