The Lessons of The Odyssey
The Lessons of The Odyssey
In the epic poem, The Odyssey, written by Homer, a Greek hero named Odysseus is put through a series of difficult tests during his journey home to Ithaca. Homer is a blind poet who lives during the 8th century B.C.E. His story takes place after the Trojan War ends, when Odysseus is fighting to return back to his home, in Ithaca. However, his journey contains tremendous battles, unimaginable struggles, and heart breaking pain. The stories of his journey enthrall and entertain countless people who gather to listen to Homer recite. However, Homer didn’t compose these epic poems merely to captivate his audience. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer instructs as well as entertains his audience.
The first lesson Homer teaches is the importance of hospitality. Homer demonstrates the importance of this virtue by using the suitors as an example. In The Odyssey, while Odysseus is gone, many suitors come to Odysseus’ home in Ithaca to court his wife. The vulgar and disrespectful suitors eat Odysseus’ food, “trash the house of Odysseus, drool over his grieving wife, and make plans to butcher his son”(221). However, Penelope continues to be a model hostess. Her suffering pays off, however, when Odysseus returns and gifts the suitors with gruesome deaths in return for abusing his wife’s hospitality, and trying to take his place. Another example of the importance of hospitality is the section when Odysseus and his men encounter a cyclops, Polyphemus. Polyphemus shows no hospitality, and attacks Odysseus’ men, “grabbing the man and devouring him, slobbering, drooling, and burping as he gobbbles his victim, crunching his bones between his teeth.”(90) As a consequence, Odysseus stabs out Polyphemus’ eye during a dangerous escape that wouldn’t have been necessary if the cyclops had been hospitable.
The second lesson Homer teaches is the importance of fidelity. In The Odyssey, one of the most striking examples of fidelity is Penelope’s loyalty to
In the epic poem, The Odyssey, written by Homer, a Greek hero named Odysseus is put through a series of difficult tests during his journey home to Ithaca. Homer is a blind poet who lives during the 8th century B.C.E. His story takes place after the Trojan War ends, when Odysseus is fighting to return back to his home, in Ithaca. However, his journey contains tremendous battles, unimaginable struggles, and heart breaking pain. The stories of his journey enthrall and entertain countless people who gather to listen to Homer recite. However, Homer didn’t compose these epic poems merely to captivate his audience. In the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer instructs as well as entertains his audience.
The first lesson Homer teaches is the importance of hospitality. Homer demonstrates the importance of this virtue by using the suitors as an example. In The Odyssey, while Odysseus is gone, many suitors come to Odysseus’ home in Ithaca to court his wife. The vulgar and disrespectful suitors eat Odysseus’ food, “trash the house of Odysseus, drool over his grieving wife, and make plans to butcher his son”(221). However, Penelope continues to be a model hostess. Her suffering pays off, however, when Odysseus returns and gifts the suitors with gruesome deaths in return for abusing his wife’s hospitality, and trying to take his place. Another example of the importance of hospitality is the section when Odysseus and his men encounter a cyclops, Polyphemus. Polyphemus shows no hospitality, and attacks Odysseus’ men, “grabbing the man and devouring him, slobbering, drooling, and burping as he gobbbles his victim, crunching his bones between his teeth.”(90) As a consequence, Odysseus stabs out Polyphemus’ eye during a dangerous escape that wouldn’t have been necessary if the cyclops had been hospitable.
The second lesson Homer teaches is the importance of fidelity. In The Odyssey, one of the most striking examples of fidelity is Penelope’s loyalty to