The Heroic Journey Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

In almost all of the stories that have been written, there is a journey that the character undertakes to become whole and balanced, also known as the heroic journey. In the first stage of the journey, the departure, the hero leaves their known world and begins their adventure. After the hero undergoes the departure, they then move on to the next stage, the initiation, where they are put through tests and venture into the world of hero or magic or the previously unknown. The third and final stage is that of the return, where the hero must return back to his home. A perfect example of someone that underwent the heroic journey is Odysseus from the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer because he had undergone a journey that included a departure, initiation, and return.
Odysseus goes through his road of trials when he is at the realm of Circe on the island of Aeaea (Hamilton 305). The road of trials is when the hero is beset by a series of tests, ordeals, or challenges, and is often aided by a supernatural aid or by an amulet or other magical device. In the realm of Circe, a group of Odysseus’ men were turned into swine, but luckily Hermes gave Odysseus an herb that would make him immune to her powers and because of his immunity, she fell in love with him and began to help them. Odysseus comes across his women as temptress at the nymph, Calypso’s island, where he was a virtual prisoner (Hamilton 295). A women as temptress is someone or something that distracts the hero from his journey, but the hero must conquer, ignore, or fool the temptress. Calypso loved Odysseus and wanted to keep him forever, so she overwhelmed him with kindness, but everyday Odysseus ignore her and go on the seashore and long for his home, his wife, and his son. Odysseus’ encounters with the road of trials and the women as temptress indicate that he had gone through the initiation