Poseidon's Role In The Odyssey

In Homer’s Odyssey, the idea of fate is more significant than the idea and sense of duty. Odysseus’s journey begins when Poseidon learns that Odysseus blinded his Cyclops son, Polyphemous while trying to escape from his capture. This enrages the already hot-tempered sea god, damning Odysseus, his men, and his voyage. Poseidon attempts to delay and keep Odysseus from his home, Ithaca. His anger towards Odysseus is so great that Zeus has to step in to save him from the sea-god. Zeus, after Poseidon complains to him about the Phaenecians aiding Odysseus, states “Since for Odysseus now I vowed that he his home should win through many a misery yet utterly bereft not his return; for such your purpose was and decree.” (Homer, Book 13, st. 45) Zeus, in the Odyssey, acts as the hand of fate by preventing Poseidon from further stalling Odysseus’s return home. This is unlike Jupiter in the Aeneid, who dispatches Mercury to remind Aeneus of

First off, Odysseus was too prideful. If he wouldn’t of told the Cyclopes who he was and about his win in the Trojan war he may have made it home. Odysseus thought he was free and on his way home but in telling the Cyclopes who he was he didn’t think of what the Cyclopes would do. The Cyclopes prays to Poseidon: “O hear me, lord, blue girdler of the islands, if I am thine indeed, and thou art father:

Penelope, while she probably a little worried that Odysseus wasn’t coming back, she didn’t know how little progress he was making. Odysseus was constantly making progress towards getting home, then something else would push him back to square one. He was extremely close to reaching Ithaca, then Poseidon decided it wasn’t his fate to return at that moment. Even when he was trapped on Calypso’s island. He had his boat fall into Charybdis, the monster living in the whirlpool. Odyssey then was forced to hold onto debris of his ship as he was whisked away wherever the ocean took him. He then stumbled upon Calypso's island, was trapped for many years, and could not leave. Another emotional burden he had on him, was that when they were travelling through the Strait that occupied Scylla, Odysseus knew that 7 of his men would have to sacrifice. He had to be able to keep to himself that some of them would not make it. He did this in order for him and the rest of the crew to survive. However, it was a large burden to carry and was difficult for him especially because he couldn’t do anything about

One of Odysseus's many privileges was having the trust of many gods. The book says, “Yet all gods pitied Lord Odysseus, all but Poseidon,” (Pg 3). Odysseus used the gods’ feelings to his advantage. Whenever he needed help to look better or get off of Calypso's Island the gods helped him. This leads the reader to believe that Odysseus would not have survived

Determined, she influentially announces to the gods, “But my heart breaks for Odysseus, that seasoned veteran cursed by fate so long…” (Homer 79). Stealthily, Athena carries out her plans to get Odysseus off of Calypso’s island while Poseidon, the antagonist, is not present. As a result, he cannot interfere with her arguments. This wise action emphasizes Athena’s loyalty and caring gesture toward Odysseus.

Possibly the most important character to Odysseus and Telemachus is Athena. First she is able to convince a shy and self conscious Telemachus to learn more about the whereabouts of his father by giving him the confidence that he was lacking. Athena answered the prayers of Telemachus, “and from nearby Athena came to him likening herself to Mentor in voice and appearance. Now she spoke aloud to him and addressed him in winged words: ‘Telemachus, you are to be no thoughtless man, no coward, if truly the strong force of your father is instilled in you; such a man he was for accomplishing word and action’” (page 102). Here Athena disguised as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus, and she is able to give Telemachus the courage he needed to go out of his comfort zone and search for his father. Without Athena it is likely that Telemachus would have never thought twice about whether or not his father was still alive. Thanks to Athena the memory and legacy of Odysseus was kept alive, which ultimately contributed to the return of Odysseus. Along with this, Athena help Odysseus on his long journey several times. An example being when Poseidon sends a storm towards Odysseus while in the sea and Athena calms the winds and pushes him towards land. Unlike most women during this time, Athena is a very wise and confident woman. She

We know that Odysseus has had problems with the god of the sea Poseidon, as with his son the Cyclops. When Polyphemus eats two of Odysseus’s men, “He knocked them dead like pups.” (Page 220, Homer) the crew knows that he is trouble. Odysseus gets the giant drunk, and when the cyclops asks Odysseus what his name is, he says that he is “Nobody”. The men shove a sharpened stick into the Cyclops’s lone eye and escape. This Cyclops, being Poseidon’s son, was not someone that Odysseus should have crossed. We also see Athena, daughter of Zeus, take pity on Odysseus, and helps him and Telemachus many times, though disguising herself as mentor when talking to

Athena is helping Odysseus in every way she can. She even eases Penelope's distress about the suitors, and aids Telemachus in his journey to find his father. She is trying very hard to reunite the family safely. Poseidon, however, is acting as the antagonist in this situation. He has a grievance with Odysseus because he injured the Cyclops, who called upon Poseidon to curse his homeward journey. Curse him he did. Poseidon conjures up terrible storms and rough sees to throw Odysseus off track and get him further away from his destination, even going so far as to toss him onto Kalypso's island for seven

Though Athena takes the prize for interfering with Odysseus’ life the most out of the rest of the gods, Poseidon also fights and claims the controller, but he prevents Odysseus from reaching Ithaca instead of helping him (please refer to the quote from page 78). Because of Odysseus’ actions against Poseidon’s

When Odysseus was learning of his future in the underworld, he was told of an upcoming obstacle, he would have to choose to either go against Sylla or Charybdis. If he went against Sylla, he would for certain lose six crew members, but if he went against Charybdis he has the risk of losing his entire crew. Odysseus chose the safer option, Sylla, in the process he lost the six crew members he was told of. All in all, knowing of the choices Odysseus made for his crew, showing he was always thinking of the well-being of his crew, this supports that Odysseus was a strong

They sent Hermes, the messenger god to convince Calypso to let Odysseus get back to his wife and son. His problems were not over yet once he left the island, however, because he had made Zeus an enemy. Zeus sent a terrible storm to rip apart Odysseus 's raft with the intentions that he be lost at sea forever. Gods saved him from this fate, though, when Ino and Athena give him a veil to keep him from drowning and changing the wind to make sure the waves carried Odysseus home. It was very important that Odysseus was so reverent towards the gods; otherwise he never would have made it home from the Trojan War.

     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

The Odyssey is a story about a man named Odysseus and his difficult journey back home from the Trojan War. Throughout the Odyssey, the main character Odysseus, faces numerous obstacles such as fighting Polyphemus the Cyclops, Scylla a six-headed monster and Charybdis, a whirlpool. During these trials, the author Homer uses diction to create a tragic and mournful tone.

Throughout the Odyssey, the struggles of Odysseus are revealed to the reader through the well written epic. His journey is very difficult and he is haunted with the loss of his entire crew and seemingly impossible task of getting home to his family. While journeying homewards, Odysseus makes the mistake of harming the Cyclops, who happens to be Poseidon's son. Poseidon is so angry at Odysseus for the harm he inflicted on the Cyclops, that through the influence of all powerful Zeus, he punishes Odysseus along with his other children, the Phaeacians, who can be seen to parallel as well as contrast with the Cyclops.

When Odysseus is in trouble he always shows that he is depending on the gods by praying to them. The fact that the gods usually listen to him shows that he is well liked by the gods. In order to be a Greek hero you had to be liked by the gods since religion was such a big part in their lives. Odysseus, with the help of the gods, can survive adventures that kill most other men. Odysseus travels to the island of the Cyclopians. The Cyclopians are giants that have one eye, they don't fear the gods because they believe that they are better than the gods and they eat people. They represent the opposite of what Greek men should be. Odysseus and his men meet Polyphemus the Cyclops. Polyphemus being a Cyclops eats some of Odysseus' men. Odysseus with the help of the gods figures out a plan to escape and he does. Scylla is a ferocious monster with six heads that kills most men that pass by her island. She kills six of Odysseus' men. Odysseus prevents her from killing himself and more men. There is another ferocious monster named Charybdis. Charybdis sucks in water from the sea and creates a whirlpool that kills any ship that passes by. Odysseus passes by her. His crew is killed and his ship is destroyed in the whirlpool but Odysseus alone survives. There is an island that Odysseus passes by with monsters called Sirens on it. The Sirens sing beautiful songs that lure ships toward them. The ships then crash into the island and the people are killed.