Lack Of Free Will In Homer's Odyssey

‘The Odyssey” where Odysseus tries to persuade his crew to bypass Thrinacia, the island of the sun god Helios, but they were too stubborn and insisted on landing. Due to their ignorance, and refusal to listen to Odysseus they accidentally angered the god Helios and to appease Helios Zeus sent down a thunderbolt on their ship killing all of Odysseus’s crew except himself. This is proof of how this was not entirely his fault, and how his name and reputation of being a hero shouldn’t be

He is willing to satisfy his own sense of curiosity and pleasure without thinking of the consequences it would have on his man. Even though he is destined to escape all deaths and attacks, his team is not nearly as fortunate. Their lives are in mortal danger because Odysseus considers them as baby calves who should sacrifice their lives for him when the

Consequently, Euthyphro says that goodness is something pleasant to all gods. So at end of dialogue, Socrates have not agreed with Euthyphro and says “So I think you’ve just been playing games with me, Euthyphro. I asked you to tell me what holiness really is, and it seems you’ve sneakily refused to tell me” (Plato, 1984, p.49). Thereby, the dialogue leaves readers with unanswered question “Does goodness exist?” and if it exists what goodness is?

He shows them as sinister creatures who are determined to destroy any man who gets in their way. The artist is inspired by the original Greek mythology and shows Odysseus as one recognizes his weakness and with god-like strength in his successful attempt to stand against the temptation of Siren

The woes that Ulysses faced made his growth as a character more realistic and more credible because it was not simple or absolute. Although his men were not disciplined well and under control he did not make his men do anything he would not

Even if these were warnings from the gods and goddesses themselves, he would still learn and remember what to do the next time he encounters these problems in his life. Lastly as I mentioned before, a hero must always show mercy to their foe no matter how bad they are. But Odysseus doesn’t show any mercy to his enemies, not even his own when they disrespect his honor and pride. A real hero doesn’t kill even if their honor and pride has been torn to shreds, yet Odysseus killed all those suitors because they were ransacking his house and eating his goods. So to answer the question, is Odysseus a real hero, Odysseus isn’t a real hero.

While Oedipus slanders the gods at every chance given, Creon is more respectful, he listens to what the gods say and follow their instructions, so the chance of yet another plague due to the anger of the gods is unlikely. The destruction that hailed onto Thebes was due to Oedipus’ murder of Laius, but one has to think that perhaps the reason the gods even brought up now was because of his constant smearing of the gods skills and knowledge. Perhaps, if he was more respectful, the price of his murder may have been let off and forgotten, seeing as he is a hero. Yet he brought this anger down on himself, on all of Thebes, and Creon was the one who knew how to fix it not Oedipus. Creon was the one who called for Tiresias, who knew that the gods needed something in return for the cease of the

we’d only show our incompetence in arms” (X 63-65). This is expressing Telemakhos’ desperation because he knows that he does not have the ability to defeat the suitors himself and take back control of his home. In addition, he says, “Think of the talk in the islands all around us, / and fear the wrath of the Gods, / or they may turn, and send you some devilry” (X 70-72). Telemakhos says this to make the men of Ithaca think about their immortal fame (kleos). If they allow this to happen in Odysseus’ home without intervening, their eternal reputation would be tarnished.

The concept of hero has been interpreted in many ways throughout the ages. Hero have gone from knights slaying dragons and rescuing the princess, to heroes who save the world with their supernatural-like powers, to a modern day hero who is someone who has noble qualities and is regarded as a role model. In the epic, The Odyssey, by Robert Fagles, the heroic Odysseus is a well known in Greek mythology. However, although Odysseus is the most respected, honorable hero of Greek mythology he is not a modern hero. A modern day hero is someone who puts their life on the line to save the lives of other innocent people.

If he were a hero he would have the courage to live up him being a part of the sin. Odysseus immediately tries to blame Zeus and the other gods. It was Odysseus’s fault his men were starving and had nothing to eat. He was not there to remind his men that the cattle was not for eating. A hero would take full responsibility for the mistake they made.

If living in a society where people showed apathy towards others, and trying to help those in need, then Richard maybe wouldn’t have killed himself. Without taking action, any situation goes unresolved, much like Richard Cory’s and the subject in “Musée des Beaux Arts”. When the shipmen and plowman ignore the innocent boy falling from the sky, he continues to drown, much like Richard Cory’s situation. The speaker says “The plowman may have heard the splash, the forsaken cry” (Auden 16), representing the plowman and shipmen to society’s unwillingness to help because the “forsaken cry” was avoided. The ignorance of the “innocent” plowman and shipmen create an outcome of a young boy falling out of the sky—drowning—and Icarus burning in the background.

When people get lost without a way home, they will usually sacrifice everything to get home. Being on the way home for ten years already caused Odysseus to make the brash decision of sailing past Scylla, even after Circe had warned, “No mariners yet can boast they've raced their ship past Scylla’s lair without some mortal blow”(9.108-109). This brash decision lead to death of some of his crew, he sacrificed his men for himself. Odysseus also decided that in order to get home he and his men we to go, “to the House of Death”, which is extremely dangerous. So many things could have gone wrong, they may have never even made it out to get out.

Tiresias is a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes that helps predicts the future for Odysseus, which comes true and proves to be helpful to Odysseus with his journey. Richard Lattimore wrote “The Odyssey of Homer” where he describes three predictions that Tiresias said that was true and aided Odysseus. Tiresias told Odysseus do not eat the cattle or something bad will happen. In addition, Tiresias told him he must pray and sacrifice or he will drown. Lastly, prediction was Penelope’s suitors have to be forced away or killed.

In The Odyssey, Odysseus and Telemachus are two heroes that go through tests to try and complete their quests. At the beginning of the book, Odysseus is a Trojan war hero who has been away from home for a war that lasted ten years. It takes him another ten to get back home. Telemachus is Odysseus’s son. Telemachus believes that his father will never come back until Athena tells him to go and try to find any information about Odysseus’s whereabouts.

Hierarchy is abundant in all societies, whether it be ranks in a government, social classes, or any other worldly positions. In Greek society especially, there can be seen a hierarchy not only including governmental positions and social classes, but also a ranking of power of the gods above men, and even some gods above other gods. The gods can help humans by making sure their lives go smoothly, and even by controlling the weather and aspects of nature. The gods also have to power to make things go horribly wrong for a person, and can be triggered by disrespect from a human being, or even by the emotions of the god. Odysseus, one of the main characters of The Odyssey, an epic poem written by homer, embarks on a journey in efforts to reach home,