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The Free Will Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

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In one of the most heartfelt moments of The Odyssey, Odysseus meets his mother in Hades on his journey back to Ithaca and discovers of her passing. So she spoke, and my heart yearned To embrace the ghost of my dead mother. Three times I rushed forward to hug her And three times she drifted out of my arms Like a shadow or a dream. The pain That pierced my heart grew ever sharper, And my words rose to my mother on wings: (11.204-210) Prior to this, Odysseus’s mother had been absent from the narrative, begging the question, if Anticlea evokes so much emotion from Odysseus, why is she only being introduced now? Although Odysseus is in Hades, his description of words rising on wings sharply contrasts his mother’s shadowy apparition, creating

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