In Book 18, Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, “[a]nd the one who knew the world” (144), comments to one of the kinder suitors:
So I will tell you something. Listen. Listen closely.
Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth,
our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man.
So long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees,
he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years.
But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times,
bear them he must, against his will, and steel his heart.
Our lives, our mood and mind as we pass across the earth
turn as the days turn . .
as the father or men and gods makes each day dawn.
I, too, seemed destined to be a man of fortune once
and a wild wicked swath I cut, indulged my lust for violence,
staking all on my father and my brothers.
Look at me now.
And so, I say, let no man be lawless all his life,
just take in peace what gifts the gods will send (18.149-63)
What do the lines above reveal about the impact of Odysseus own journey on him? What has he learned? What insights has he gained? What values does he advocate? What other episodes in the poem up to this point contribute to the viewpoint expressed by Odysseus in these lines? Is Odysseus' journey similar or different to Telemachus' journey to manhood? Has Odysseus changed (has he renounced any of his former values or beliefs)?
What do the lines above reveal about the impact of Odysseus own journey on him? What has he learned? What insights has he gained? What values does he advocate? What other episodes in the poem up to this point contribute to the viewpoint expressed by Odysseus in these lines? Is Odysseus' journey similar or different to Telemachus' journey to manhood? Has Odysseus changed (has he renounced any of his former values or beliefs)?
ReplyDeleteThis passage reveals that Odysseus’s journey makes him undergo a conceptual journey that triggers a philosophical realization about the importance of humanity and appreciation for life. Odysseus tells Amphinomous,
“our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man.
So long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees,
he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years.
But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times,
bear them he must, against his will, and steel his heart” (18.151-155). He has learned that humans are fragile deep down, prone to weakness during hardships, not truly believing that death will come one day. Oddyseus continues with,
“I, too, seemed destined to be a man of fortune once
and a wild wicked swath I cut, indulged my lust for violence,
staking all on my father and my brothers” (15.159-162). Even if things seem to be going well in life, anything bad can happen, so valuing the simple things in life is important because it can all be lost in a matter of seconds. Odysseus’s greatest mistake was resorting to violence to achieve his goals, losing sight of the most cherished things in life such as his family. He values “carpe diem,” appreciating the present, and does not believe in dwelling on the future as much as he used to. Odysseus’s journey is different from Telemachus’s journey to manhood because Telemachus’s transition was heavily based on gaining enough courage to leave his home whereas Odysseus needed better leadership, not bravery. Odysseus values his home and family more than anything now because he has been away for so long. He also understands that wealth, treasure, and war victories are not the most important things in life as well as aggression and power is not the answer to everything.
I believe that the quote Odysseus said means that life has many joys and hardships. Odysseus stated, "So long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years. But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times, bear them he must against his will and steel his heart" (Homer). This relates to Odysseus’s life because he thought when he won the Trojan War the gods had “granted him power” however he soon realized that even though the gods had helped him win the Trojan War that they also created hardships for him. Odysseus winning the Trojan war was an amazing victory for him. Odysseus believed that the gods would never create hardship for him. However, Odysseus’s entire return trip home was full of hardship. This shows that the gods can punish Odysseus as well as reward him. This quote is a metaphor for Odysseus’s Trojan War victory and his devastating return trip home. Odysseus’s journey was relatable to Telemachus’ journey to manhood because Telemachus had to suffer with the suitors for so many years however Odysseus eventually returns. Odysseus’s return was a high point for Telemachus and the suitors invading his house was a low point. Odysseus and Telemachus have many similarities in that regard. Odysseus learned from his hardships and victories that life has its ups and downs. Odysseus is advocating this to Amphinomus since he thinks that everything is going well for him. Odysseus is trying to tell Amphinomus that everything can change incredibly quickly.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus shows his amiable and sympathetic characteristics, when he attempts to tell a suitor he should leave before Odysseus and Telemachus kill all the suitors. In this passage, Odysseus reveals that as long as the gods see favor with him then he will not be afflicted in good times. But when bad times occur, such as the killing of all the suitors, it is the work of the gods and no man has the power to stop the gods. While undercover in his kingdom, Odysseus, who is disguised as an old raggedy man, has a talk with one of the very kind suitors, Amphinomus. In this talk Odysseus tried to hint at Amphinomus and tell him to leave. Odysseus tries to advise Amphinomus by saying, “But here I see you suitors plotting your reckless work, / carving away at the wealth, / affronting the loyal wife/ of a man who won’t be gone from kin and country long./ I say he’s right at hand- and may some power save you, / spirit you home before you meet him face-to-face/ the moment he returns to native ground! / Once under his own roof, he and your friends, / believe you me, wont part till blood has flowed” (18.164-171). In trying to tell Amphinomus to leave the castle, Odysseus shows his kind heart but the passage reminds the reader that ultimately Athena is in control of the life of Amphinomus. After Odysseus warns Amphinomus to leave the palace, Amphinomus makes his way back into the hall because he could not “escape his fate. / Even then Athena had bound him fast to death. / at the hands of Prince Telemachus” (18.177-179) Odysseus risks having his identity shown to everyone just to save one life. If Odysseus disguise had been blown, the suitors would kill him and take over the kingdom.
ReplyDeleteThrough his twenty-year hardship of his journey home, Odysseus learns that nothing good is permanent and one should appreciate what he is given and not feel the desire for more. In other words, he understands and learns gratefulness. Odysseus puts this lesson into words when telling the only reasonably-kind suitor, Amphinomus, "And so, I say, let no man ever be lawless all his life, just take what gifts the gods send" (18.162-2). Here, Odysseus is reflecting, as stated earlier, that no man should unlawfully take another’s gifts, he must only be content with what good he is granted, even if it is not permanent. Odysseus’s complete journey teaches him that the gods are almost the ones who control karma. In other words, saying that if man makes a mistake, the gods control their punishment, not that the gods punish man no matter what. An example where this is shown is when Odysseus is stranded on Calypso's island. By facing this uncontrollable circumstance, where he is sure he has lost everything, Odysseus gains a sort of appreciation for what he used to have, being his life back home. A last instance is after blinding Poseidon's cyclops, Odysseus faces multiple storms and shipwrecks created by Poseidon himself. In relation to Telemachus's journey to manhood, his son’s was more about realizing his gifts that actually appreciating them; Telemachus learns to see what the gods gifted him with (similarity to his father), and attempts to use it to rid of the suitors. Ultimately, Odysseus's leanings from his continuous journey home prove to him that gratefulness is something worth gaining because, in the end, it saves his life, unlike the suitors’.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus's lesson learned after all his traveling was that mankind is weak, for they are completely controlled by the gods. He tells Amphinomus, one of the suitors,
ReplyDeleteSo long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees,
he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years.
But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times,
bear them he must, against his will, and steel his heart. (18. 152-155)
Odysseus has learned this the hard way because of his journey back to his homeland of Ithaca. Leaving Troy, he had been a great, successful hero, sailing home with his fleet full of won prizes of war. But because of a cyclops’s curse, Poseidon, the god of most natural disasters and the seas, turned against Odysseus and made his way home full of pain and difficulties. Odysseus discovers that he has to bear with his fate and obey the gods’ will, because they can choose what to do to him and his men. As he was saying to Amphinomus, a man is controlled by the gods, and he has to go with the flow, either when the gods grant him power or when they give him a hard time. This can go against what Zeus said near the beginning of this epic, “From us alone, [men] say, come all their miseries, yes, / but they buy themselves, with their own reckless ways, / compound their pains beyond their proper share.” (1. 38-40) So according to Zeus, men can determine a lot of their own fate, but Odysseus thinks that mankind is vulnerable and the gods are dominant. How the gods are controlling a lot of what Odysseus does makes it similar to his son Telemachus’s story. If Athena had not approached to Telemachus, he would not have had the courage to stand up to the suitors and taken his reins of power. The gods can make many things happen to men. Then, at the end of Odysseus’s speech, he said, “Look at me now. / And so, I say, let no man ever lawless all his life, / just take in peace what gifts the gods will send.” (18. 162-4) He is advising him to just be a good man and do not try to fight back against the gods, for you will lose anyway. The gods reign supreme and have authority over men, and we can just relax and accept the situations gods put us in.
When Odysseus was fighting in Troy, he was one of the strongest warriors in the world. Along with the feeling of being one of the best warriors came an abundance of victories, and when people are praised for winning and having many impactful accomplishments, it can go to a person’s head sometimes. For Odysseus, he kept a humble state, most of the time. One exception to this is when he defeated Poseidon’s son, and cyclops, Polyphemus. After Odysseus and some of his crew members escape from Polyphemus’ captivity, Odysseus decides to taunt the creature with, “‘Cyclops- if any man of the face on the earth should ask you who blinded you, shammed you so- say Odysseus, raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca’” (9. 558-62). That one moment of arrogance caused the journey to become a difficult and drawn out journey. Although, if he never made that mistake and was never cursed, he would have never gotten to experience all his different adventures that formed him into the person the reader sees in book 22. Really, the curse that was bestowed upon him was a bad situation, yes, but it allowed him to meet new people, see his comrades from Troy, experience how much the gods can influence someone’s life, and see how people in different parts of Greece maintain happiness and wealth. One of many values he really upholds after his journey is fairness and generosity. Reason being when he was out wandering at sea, lost with nothing and no way home, he will remember and be forever grateful for the kindness that was offered. At the island of the Phaeacians, they allowed him to tell his story of the past twenty years, provided him with a cornucopia of treasure, and gave him a passage home. In this case, being kind made a person’s life worthwhile and meaningful again. Before Odysseus got to the island of Scheria, he was miserable. Especially, when he was stuck on Calypso’s island Odysseus would “[sit] on a headland, weeping there as always, wrenching his heart with sobs and groans and anguish” (5. 92-3). From his darker days at sea, he learned that feelings do not go away with time. This would explain him basically saying how the world does not wait for anybody. Finally, when both Odysseus and Telemachus arrived home, they both had a new sense of maturity within them. Telemachus finally entered manhood and Odysseus was able to empathize with people more after being undercover for about a month. A similarity between the father and son’s journey is that they were both forced into situations where nothing was familiar. Telemachus had to go to Pylos while Odysseus was traveling everywhere unintentionally. In this period of time they were able to find their true selves and improve the way they look at their values by seeing how they affect and influence others. During the time where they reconnect and work together, the duo become unstoppable with a humble and fair state of mind.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus learns that the weakest creature on earth is man. He says out of all the living creatures, man is the feeblest. When he justifies his claim, first he explains what makes man strong. He says that the gods give him strength, and because of the fact that the gods always give strength he takes it for granted. Odysseus says the way man takes this for granted is by thinking, "he will never suffer affliction down the years." This alone does not make man weak, because taking something for granted is only bad when this thing no longer exists. If this thing ceases to exist, the person who took this thing for granted will look back on himself with resentment because he didn't appreciate this thing in the moment--and only realizes its value now. This exact scenario does happen when the gods, "bring on the long hard times,". For this specific case of man and strength, there are two possibilities. The first possibility would define "the long and hard times" as a period of time when the gods take away man's power, and man is forced to deal his normal day. Or in the second more likely possibility, "the long hard times" would be a time frame where the gods give man more challenges, but leave him at the same strength. In both of these possibilities man is challenged harder than he was before. This is what Odysseus has learned from his journeys home.
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