...From the wise words of Woodrow Wilson, “Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice”. An important aspect in building relationships with others is loyalty. In the book, The Odyssey by Homer, loyalty plays a huge role. A Greek hero named Odysseus took twenty years to return home from the Trojan War. During Odysseus’ way back to Ithaca, his wife Penelope and his son Telemachus try to ward off the suitors who want to marry Penelope until Odysseus’ homecoming. On his journey home, the amount of crew members quickly declined and truly showed the loyalty Odysseus held for his crew. Notwithstanding that Odysseus shows a little bit of loyalty to his crew, he constantly puts them in danger, he doesn’t have a close bond with a majority of his crew, and he puts no...
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...A focal subject in "The Odyssey" is loyalty. Odysseus' commitment to his family, his nation and his god is immovable. Along his trip, Odysseus has the chance to be unfaithful to his better half. This would disgrace his nation and disregard his convictions. “Despite the fact that he now and then flounders and some of his choices have negative results, his faithfulness, adore for his better half and want to return home never fades.” p.58 Odysseus also has solid values with regards to self-control and sexual allurement. Despite the fact that the excellent Sirens endeavor to draw him off base, he cautions his men of their alluring ways, connects himself to his ship so he won't stray and fills his group's ears with wax. He additionally shows discretion...
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...The issue of Odysseus loyalty is that no matter how hard or how much he desires to be loyal, most of times he is forced to do the opposite. When he gets to Calypso’s island, the sweet nymph, any man would want to stay because she offered him to become immortal. Only someone loyal to their desire to get back home would reject such a great offer, but only he who is loyal to home denied it, Odysseus. Even though he is loyal to his home and wants to go back, he is forced to stay with Calypso for seven years. Throughout those seven years very night he would weep because he was forced to stay there. Odysseus is trialed with many obstacles in his way home, but for ten years he did not lose hope and never gave up. He had to go through many losses of men and had to motivate them to keep on going to reach home. Even though all odds where against his favor he always kept thinking of one thing, home. He kept being faithful and kept true to himself maybe not physically but mentally and spiritually....
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...Twelve of Homer’s The Odyssey are probably the most famous of the epic. This is because of the fact that this is where much of the action of Odysseus’s journey back to Ithaca is described. However, these books work greatly as a whole. The Odyssey’s Book Nine through Twelve contain many major themes that help develop the characters in the collective piece. These selected books from Homer’s The Odyssey have many themes and values that including the importance of loyalty. Odysseus is often portrayed as a very loyal person. The very point of his journey is to return to his home in Ithaca to his wife and son. Odysseus is also very loyal to his crew and goes to great lengths to ensure their safety, such as using wax to put in their ears so that they could not hear the songs of sirens. Loyalty is also important to many of the creatures that Odysseus and his crew...
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...Loyalty in The Odyssey Many human cultures assign values as well as worthiness to the existence of loyalty. As a Classical culture known for its emphasis of loyalty at home as well as abroad, the faithfulness of ancient Greeks in their relationships is exemplified in many Classical texts, such as Homer’s The Odyssey. In both ancient Greece as well as in The Odyssey, loyalty was the social norm because of the egalitarian nature of the city-state as well as because of the typical ancient Greek family structure. Not only because of social expectations as well as traditions was loyalty expected, but there was also an added pressure by one’s religious conviction such that it was believed that if the guests were in any way or manner mistreated, then the ancient Greek deities would punish the offender(s). There are several passages in Homer’s Classical text The Odyssey which illustrate these aspects of ancient Greek loyalty. In illustration of the faithfulness between Odysseus as well as his crew, there is a passage that notes loyalty in the crew-leader relationship: He saw the town as well as learned the minds of many distant men, as well as weathered many bitter nights as well as days his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home. But not by will or valor could he save them, for their own recklessness destroyed them all- children as well as fools they killed as well as feasted on the cattle of Lord Helios, the Sun… (651). It would initially...
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...virtue”). In Homer’s “The Odyssey”, Odysseus is the king of Ithaca, father of one son, and husband of a noble wife. After leaving Ithaca to fight in the Trojan War, Odysseus faces a short journey home, in which he makes bad decisions that cause him to take much longer to arrive back in Ithaca than he should have. Odysseus’s selfishness, disloyalty, and mercilessness eliminated any chances he had of being a hero. Some may argue that Odysseus was a hero because of his extreme cleverness or cunning ways. Yes, Odysseus was clever and cunning, but in most situations he did not apply those skills correctly. Therefore, Odysseus was most definitely not a hero. To begin with, Odysseus’s selfishness is made obvious during his encounter with Polyphemus. Everything he does is for the good of himself. Every action he takes is only taken to build onto his ego. If Odysseus had not decided to provide the Cyclops with all his information, his journey...
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...In Homer’s the Odyssey, a man named Odysseus spends years and years trying to get home to his family. On his long journey, he encounters a number of different situations that test his true character. The reader finds out who Odysseus really is based on the situations he is put in and how he chooses to handle these situations. From being stuck on an Island with Calypso, a nymph goddess, to almost being eaten by a vicious cyclops, to seeing his wife for the first time in 20 years, Odysseus stays true to his character. Throughout the epic, Odysseus shows constant signs of bravery, leadership, intelligence, cleverness, and wholehearted faithfulness, and these things are what makes him such an admirable character. Bravery and leadership go hand in hand because bravery is a trait that all good leaders have. Odysseus showed amazing bravery and leadership skills throughout the Odyssey. One place where Odysseus’s bravery and leadership are revealed the most is when Odysseus and his men encounter Poseidon’s Cyclops son, Polyphemus. Odysseus used his leadership skills and bravery to help his men escape the wrath of Polyphemus while...
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...After twenty years away from his family and Ithaca, Odysseus’ dear wife Penelope continues to remain loyal nonetheless. In The Odyssey, Book I, lines 325-345, the principal theme is one of loyalty between Odysseus and Penelope as well as Penelope and her responsibilities. This theme is enforced through the use of diction- specifically alliteration and word choice- as well as characterization. One of the ways in which Homer stresses the idea of loyalty in Book I, lines 325-345, is through the use of diction, in particular; alliteration and word choice. Homer’s use of alliteration- which is described as the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words which neighbour each other- throughout the passage creates alliteration putting...
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...Demonstrations of Family Loyalty In ancient Greek societies where a woman’s most important role is that of caring for the home and family, the extent of a woman’s loyalty to her family is worthy of exploration. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Penelope is the wife of Odysseus, whose long absence from home tests her loyalty to him. In comparison to Penelope, Antigone from Sophocles’ Antigone is tested in family loyalty when a law forbids her to bury her brother. Jocasta from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, similarly to Penelope, is tested when her husband’s innocence in a murder case is called into question. While Antigone displays more action in her demonstration of family loyalty, Penelope exhibits the ideal way of showing loyalty to one’s family as her willpower and careful strategies are more successful than that of Antigone and Jocasta. Women in most ancient Greek societies had few rights compared to men, and were submissive to their male superiors, but both Penelope and Antigone’s actions in defense of the loved ones contradict this custom. Penelope is more passive in her actions, telling her eager suitors, “‘Young men, my suitors… go slowly… until I can finish off this web… This is a shroud for old lord Laertes, for that day when the deadly fate… will take him down’”...
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...Penelope: The Strongest of All Although Homer’s The Odyssey portrays the brave adventures of Odysseus, his wife, Penelope is a brave and clever hero in her own patient and loyal ways. Like Odysseus, Penelope keeps her cool in scary situations, and uses her bravery and wits to find a way out of it. When the suitors invaded her own home during Odysseus’s disappearance, Penelope kept her bravery and outsmarted them multiple times. They all wanted to steal Odysseus's life in his kingdom along with his wife, but they didn't know that she was stronger than they thought. Penelope tricked them by promising them that she would choose one of them to marry once she had finished Odysseus's death shroud, but what they didn't know was that...
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...interest. Intellect performance shows what we know what we are trying to portray. During the highest peak of the Greek era the society valued body and mind intellect; creating some of the most famous philosophers known to time. Main Ideas and Values of Ancient Greek Civilization Ancient Greek civilization has contributed too many parts of today's society. The teachings and doings of Ancient Greeks have contributed important lessons that many societies still use to base their own laws and ethics on. The Ancient Greeks realized values of loyalty, glory, intelligence and hospitality were important to incorporate into everyday life. Ancient Greek civilization valued dualism, truth and “good society”. Helping your fellow man was an important aspect of ancient Greek society. They offered food, shelter and protection to travelers without question. Loyalty was also embedded in everything the Greeks did. Implementing simple values of loyalty, intelligence, and hospitality into everyday life helped create a strong “good society”; which the Greek valued very much. It is not known why the Greeks felt this way, but with the strong beliefs Ancient Greek had with their gods, it is easy to believe that they did this in practice of...
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...Heroes are defined as people who help and save people. It could also be defined as someone who goes on a dangerous adventure with many obstacles that the person has to surmount. Heroes are everywhere. Odysseus is the hero of the “Odyssey” by a blind poet, Homer. Odysseus fights in Trojan War for 10 years and it took him another decade for him to get home. He had to pass many hardships to get to his homeland Ithaca. The three main stages in Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey” that exemplified in Homer’s The Odyssey are the crossing of the first threshold,the road of trials, and freedom to live. For example, Joseph Campbell describes that the crossing of the first threshold is the hero which is Odysseus who is accompanied by the guide which is Athena, the goddess of wisdom goes beyond the boundaries of his or his everyday, enter the wilderness, and has the first encounter with...
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...Bailey Ormond Friday, October 6th “Disguise Is Necessary” 1 In The Odyssey of Homer, disguise plays an influential role in the development of the plot and Odysseus’ return to Ithaca. In Book 1 of The Odyssey, Athena uses disguise to influence Telemachus. Athena comes to Ithaca disguised as Mentes, an old friend of Odysseus. Mentes convinces Telemachus to go search for his long lost father (1:271-279).1 Athena’s use of disguise in the opening book puts faith in Telemachus that his father may still be alive; this is very important for the development of the plot because Telemachus was on the cusp of giving up hope that Odysseus would never return home. The departure of Telemachus also reveals the character of the suitors as they plan to murder him upon his return to Ithaca. The suitors have already been characterized as greedy and disrespectful but their plot to kill Telemachus is evidence of how despicable they truly are. In Book 6, Athena uses disguise to persuade Nausicaa. Athena visits Nausicaa while she is asleep disguised as “the daughter of Dymas, famed for seafaring, a girl of the same age in whom her fancy delighted” (6: 22-23). Using this disguise Athena urges Nausicaa to wash clothes the following day (6: 25-31). Without Athena stirring Nausicaa in her sleep, her and Odysseus would not have been acquainted. Athena also persuades her to have a favorable opinion of Odysseus by making him appear more handsome and favorable than he actually is (6: 223-231). Athena’s use...
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...Poetic perspectives on “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” Reading the poem by John Keats, I was actually disappointed because I could not interpret the poem well enough to something bigger than Keats’ amazement to Chapman’s translations of Homer’s stories. Maybe due to my lack of expertise in poetry, I did not find it very amusing. It was quite easy to understand, but it did not seem as meaningful to me. In the opening lines, Keats speaks of his long endeavors and exciting journeys which were all very impressive and quite epic and adventurous. He speaks of having travelled to many different lands and even those which were sort of “properties” of very famous epic poets. By land, Keats probably means the land of literature because he comes off as a poet who is unimpressed by the works of other big poets or litterateurs who had claimed the world of literature as they were such talented writers. He even mentions that these “bards” have proven their loyalty to the “land” even over Apollo, who is the God of music, but Keats, remains not very amused. That was only until he heard Chapman speak out and express his version of the Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer and that is when Keats felt like he was swept away like an astronaut would be at the sight of a new planet, or like Cortez when he looked across from the pacific and spotted land. He was genuinely impressed by Chapman’s work and it was sort of an epiphany in the...
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...The Faithful Wife In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, Penelope is portrayed as a grieving woman who remains loyal to her husband, even though suitors pursue her. In the poem, Odysseus’ wife Penelope is a hopelessly lovesick person who still grieves over Odysseus, though she has not seen him in twenty years. When her son Telemachus comes home from a long journey, he is surprised to find that Penelope has not married any of the suitors that pursue her. Instead, she remains in “‘the women’s hall’”(line 973) because she mourns over Odysseus and refuses to marry any of the suitors. Penelope has never moved on from her husband even though many believe the time has come for her to do so. Furthermore, Penelope’s loyalty is also one of...
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