The_Odyssey

The Odyssey: Actions of Gods In “The Odyssey” by Homer, gods are always going around and meddling in the lives of the mortals. In some cases, the gods are around motivating the mortals, or making life difficult. Odysseus has been away at war for years and has been trying to get home, but Poseidon makes this a difficult mission. With Odysseus being gone for so long, his son Telemachus is left at home holding down the palace. Athena comes to Telemachus, telling him to stick up for himself and the palace. Telemachus has been at Odysseus’ palace in Ithaca for years, not taking action and not taking care of business as he should. Suitors have been ruining his house, “[his] house is being devoured, [his] rich farms destroyed, [his] palace crammed with enemies…” (4.366). It’s awful to hear that Odysseus’ common people are treating his house with such disrespect. When Odysseus was there, being king, he would treat his people well, but now they do the opposite. Sappho puts this act into words with her poem: Strange to say Those whom I treated well are those who do me the most injury now Sappho 77 Athena is the master-puppeteer of the Odyssey. She is the one who makes Telemachus stand up to the suitors and she is the one who helps Odysseus finally come home. In book one, Athena approaches Telemachus in disguise and tells him that he needs to stand up to the horrible suitors who are intruding in his father’s palace. Odysseus has been away at war for years and years, and Penelope has been without a husband. It is expected of her to have a husband around ruling the palace, which is why the suitors are there courting her. Telemachus should have chased away these men by now, but instead he has just sitting around, letting them wreck havoc in the palace. Athena comes to him, and orders him to fix this, and that he needs to get rid of the suitors and go find out what has happened to his father. “…seen them through, think hard, reach down deep in your heart and soul for a way to kill these suitors in your house…” (1.337). Aside from finally ridding the palace of the suitors, Telemachus needs to step up and become the man of the house, and again Athena is there to tell him so, “You must not cling to your boyhood any longer – it’s time you were a man” (1.341). Because a god is speaking to him, Telemachus has no choice; he must become the man of the house. After this first encounter with Athena, Telemachus comes across as more confident, and more man like. However, he only steps up whenever Athena is around helping him, almost like she is giving him the confidence to talk out against the suitors. “...the boy could sit no longer – fired up to speak, he took his stand among the gathered men” (2.37). Just after Athena tells Telemachus what to do about the suitors, he finally speaks up for himself. From the time that Athena talks to him about taking action, Telemachus acts more like a man, but then the confidence wears off and he acts like he did in the very beginning, like a timid boy. Athena is the main character that drives Telemachus’ motives and actions throughout the story. Poseidon is the god keeping Odysseus from returning home in a timely fashion. On his travels home, Odysseus finds himself on the island of Poseidon’s son, the cyclops Polyphemus. Odysseus meets Polyphemus, calling himself “nobody”, remaining an anonymous visitor. Odysseus blinds the cyclops and is sailing away when he yells back to Polyphemus “Cyclops – if any man on the face of the earth should ask you who blinded you…say Odysseus…he gouged out your eye, Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!” (9.560). Being the god of the sea, Poseidon hears this, and now knows who wounded his son. Poseidon is set out to make Odysseus’ journey home a long and torturous one. When it comes to the gods in the Odyssey, Athena and Poseidon definitely stand out as the main sources of support and misfortune. Athena is Telemachus’ motivator, helping him devise a plan to rid his house of the suitors. Odysseus can’t return home on time because Poseidon makes sea travel nearly impossible. Whether the gods be helping or hurting, the end of the Odyssey comes to a positive end, Odysseus returns to his palace, and Telemachus lends a hand in killing the terrible suitors.