Of the major components of the Odyssey, the theme of "homecoming" seems to be one of the main aspects that drives the plot as Odysseus epically attempts and succeeds to return to his native Ithica. The logical idea that Homer advances on the reader is that Odysseus desires to return to his family after the war, yet faces many obstacles upon doing so. In the voyage to his homeland, although there are many of these inevitable problems, such as when they are trapped in the Cyclops' cave and are threatened with being devoured, Odysseus causes many problems for his crew as well as himself.
As an example, after having blinded the Cyclops and escaping the cave, Odysseus taunts the Cyclops and reveals his true identity. Perhaps if the Cyclops and Poseidon would not have known about Odysseus, then the crew could have returned and in a lesser amount of time, yet Odysseus' pride destroys any chance the crew has to return. Later, he spends an entire year with Circe as well as time with Calypsio, wasting said time that could have been employed sailing home, and by his actions, being untruthful and unfaithful to Penelope. Alongside various other actions, Odysseus sets his pride and hubris in place on several occasions that cause more damage to himself and his crew than any possible emotional reward that he can obtain from them.
Another interesting observation to note is that Odysseus is commonly seen crying for various reasons, such as in the company of Menelaus, yet no reason is given. Perhaps it is due to the memory of his homeland and family, or maybe due to another reason, but there are few reasons that the reader can logically assume since Odysseus does not pertain to one idea, value or belief, and changes his emotions randomly (especially with the homecoming aspect).
Yeah, I agree with your point that at many stages the journey could have been cut short. But so could this epic tale. Books 13-24 could have easily been shortened down to 2-3 books, with all the main action (which I guess is what the movies do), seeing the incredible amount of content and action which happened in book 12. My point is, that in order for Odysseus to be able to come home after an "epic" journey, he needs to go through a tough time, and back after an "epicaly" long amount of time...
ReplyDeleteI agree that Odysseus really is a hypocrite when it comes to him really wanting to come home, but the way he goes about it seems like he almost has ADHD. He focuses extremely hard on getting home for a short time, but then becomes distracted by another island or object and is sidetracked until he realizes that he needs to get home and the process repeats itself.
ReplyDeleteA note on Odysseus' crying...he does cry a lot, and we do get some ideas about why he's crying in some points. For example, where he's at the feast where his own story is told by the bard, that would be quite an emotional time as he gets to hear his own story of him in the Trojan War. As with practically any war, there are emotional as well as psychological scars along with the physical scars. Hearing the story again could bring up these memories, similarly to the way many veterans are dealing with PTSD these days.
ReplyDeleteThere's been a lot of speculation about why Odysseus cries. I recently came up with the idea that Odysseus could possibly be crying because he's screwed things up. His actions ultimately lead to the death of his entire crew and his entire fleet of ships...I can't possibly imagine Odysseus being happy or even unemotional about this. He's lost everything he's had for this long and convoluted journey.
Finally, I'm not sure how important Odysseus's fidelity towards Penelope is. We briefly discussed the sexual double standard regarding Penelope and the suitors as well as Odysseus with the nymphs. As such, it does seem like Odysseus can and does get off a lot easier than Penelope would have. This is a stark contrast from today, where these affairs have greater consequences regardless of who is unfaithful (especially in the case of public figures, such as Ron Washington, the manager of an MLB team who resigned after having an affair).
Overall, I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we are constantly bashing Odysseus for his actions through the lens of modern societal norms. Much of what Odysseus does would be seen as acceptable in his time. After all, these parts do make it into the story. If they were undesirable traits at the time of Homer, I doubt that he would have included them because they would have undermined Odysseus's hero status at that time.
I'm not even sure that Odysseus's crying is seen as a sign of weakness or emotional instability by most contemporary readers, although at times our discussions in class have seemed to imply so. We maybe don't always know exactly why he's weeping, although Jacob cites a number of possibilities. But they all combine to draw the picture of a hero who has suffered a lot--he's faced the ugliness of battle, he's killed men in war, he's traveled far, and he just wants to get back home. At its core, there's a very familiar human story tied up in this epic.
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