Father And Son Relationships In Homer's Odyssey

As mystery author Dan Brown said, “No love is greater than that of a father for his son.” In The Odyssey by Homer, father/son relationships play a strong role, the most prominent being Odysseus and Telemachus, Odysseus and Laertes, and Polyphemus and Poseidon. These relationships drive many major parts of the story these relationships display characteristics that the Greeks valued. The Odyssey focuses on these relationships which shows that they are central to the story, and the characteristics that the relationships display are the characteristics that were valued by the Greeks. The father/son relationships between Odysseus and Telemachus, Odysseus and Laertes, and Polyphemus and Poseidon in the Odyssey are very important to the story, and

Polyphemus and Poseidon’s relationship is not loving or respectful. Polyphemus doesn’t see Poseidon as a father, and he yells at him to give Odysseus a rough time at sea. Poseidon seems to love Polyphemus, but the relationship is not equally loving. Not many valued characteristics. Odysseus had just blinded Polyphemus and yelled his name at him, and Polyphemus tells Odysseus that he will ask his father to give him a hard time at sea if he does not stay on the island. Polyphemus threatens Odysseus by saying “‘Come back, Odysseus, and I’ll treat you well, praying the god of earthquake to befriend you-his son I am, for he by his avowal fathered me, and, if he will, he may heal me of this black wound-he and no other of all the happy gods or mortal men’” (160, 564-559). Polyphemus wanted to make a deal with Odysseus; he would have his father make Odysseus’ voyage home smooth, and Polyphemus hoped that Poseidon could heal his eye wound. Polyphemus seemed to doubt that his father would help him with his blindness, which shows that their relationship is not close or strong. After Odysseus threatened to kill Polyphemus and says that Poseidon could not help his blindness, Polyphemus prays to his father, saying “‘O hear me, lord, blue girdler of the islands, if I am thine indeed, and thou art father: grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never sees his home: Laertes’ son, I mean, who kept his hall on Ithaca. Should destiny intend he shall see his roof again among his family in his fatherland, far be that day, and dark the years between. Let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at home.’ In these words he prayed, and the god heard him” (161, 176-186). Polyphemus prayed that Odysseus would have a hard voyage home, and his father heard his request and went through with it. This shows that Poseidon loves Polyphemus and cares for him; he is avenging