The Odyssey: Conflicts on Odysseus' Journey
Background:
- Recall that Odysseus is the King of Ithaca, an island in Greece
- The reason why Odysseus is on this epic journey back home to Ithaca is because he was overseas fighting in The Trojan War for ten long years.
- The Odyssey (journey) begins after Odysseus and his fellow Greeks defeated the fleet from Troy and won the war. Now, he and his men must get back home. Realistically, they should've been home a long time ago, but they keep encountering conflicts, enemies, the wrath of the Gods, and just plain bad luck.
*Recall that Odysseus is not just a King of Ithaca, he is also the leader (almost like a captain) for his men on this journey. They look up to him because of his valor in war times and his heroics, but also because he is clever and is therefore favored by Gods like Athena. Zeus is NOT a fan of Odysseus though. He gets very angry that Odysseus can be somewhat arrogant and often acts as if he is immortal even though he is a mere mortal. Maybe the gods are a bit jealous, or maybe they just really like toying with Odysseus as they make it near-impossible for him to get back home to his beloved wife, Penelope.
- Here is a list of the conflict/reasons why Odysseus and his men haven't gotten back home yet…
1. Lotus Eaters- Odysseus and his men found this land with giants and on the land, there were lotus flowers. The men ate the flowers and immediately forgot their memories of home, so they no longer had the desire to continue on their journey to return to Ithaca. They preferred to just eat and rest. Their laziness delayed Odysseus for a bit…
2. Cyclops- This one-eyed giant is a barbaric creature who hates men. Odysseus and his men explored his island because as always, they were hungry, curious, and in need of a rest. This prompted them to eat the Cyclops' cheese from his precious sheep. Naturally, the Cyclops, named "Polyphemus" wasn't too thrilled about this. He immediately ate some of Odysseus' men and showed them no mercy. Odysseus got clever though and got him drunk with wine. Once the monster fell asleep, Odysseus made a spear out of the wood using his tools and he blinded the Cyclops. He then shouted, "my name is Nobody" so the Cyclops didn't know who blinded him. The men hid under goats and escaped after the Cyclops moved the giant boulder blocking the entrance to his cave.
*Poseidon was enraged and so was Zeus because the Cyclops's dad is Poseidon. Odysseus stupidly yelled out to the Cyclops, "You can tell everyone that Odysseus blinded you!". Then he stole the cyclops' sheep, cheese, milk, etc. and sailed off. Big mistake.
3. Aeolus- Wind God: Aeolus tried to help Odysseus by giving him a bag of wind containing all of the bad winds that would've made his journey home difficult. Of course, Odysseus' men didn't trust their leader. They were tempted to see if there were treasures is the bad and then they opened the wind bag. Oops. Now the bad winds came pouring out and they were blown all the way off course and had to start their journey over.
4. Circe- the sorceress: Now the men found their way to shore on Circe's island. She uses her magic to turn men into animals, predominantly pigs. Odysseus' men were immediately turned to pigs. Luckily he got a charm from Hermes and this made him immune to her spell. Circe tried to turn Odysseus into an animal. When this didn't work, she summoned him to bed to be her lover. He couldn't refuse a goddess. She then promised to turn his men back to men so he could return home with his crew. However, time passed by much more quickly then he thought, and after a good year, his ship was buried in the rocks. Circe helped him get back on the seas. She then told Odysseus to go to the underworld to meet Tiresias, the blind prophet in the land of the dead so he could see the future and learn how to get back home.
5. Land of the Dead/Underworld: Tiresias the blind prophet shows Odysseus that he will face some villains. First, he tells him about the Sirens who sing an alluring, but deadly song. Then, Tiresias told him about the sea villains, Charybdis and Scylla. He told Odysseus not to tell his men about these villains so that they could sail safely past them without panicking. Then, Odysseus sees that his mother is dead. His mom tell Odysseus that his wife, Penelope is still alive and is waiting for him. She tells him that he needs to experience this journey in order to appreciate what he has waiting for him back home.
6. Sirens- Deadly bird-like creatures with the faces of women. They sing a deadly song in the waters so that men sailing in their territory listen and are drawn to them. The sirens are temptation incarnated. Like a beautiful woman whose charms can easily blind men into doing stupid things, the Sirens lure men until they crash their ships into the rocks and die. Pretty evil. Odysseus outsmarts them by plugging his men's ears with wax, and having them tie him to the ship's mast so he can hear the song but not steer the boat into them. They sail safely past these creatures blissfully unaware of the danger they bypassed.
7. Charybdis- Whirlpool in the ocean. Caused a sea storm that violently spewed water and drowned some men.
8. Scylla- a six-headed sea serpent that lurks in a cave in the ocean. The men weren't told about her danger by Odysseus. They sailed in the cave bravely because Odysseus gave them a pep-talk, but Scylla violently devoured the men like a fisherman casting his pole and reeling in squirming fish.
9. Helios' Island- After the Scylla ordeal, the men are tired and hungry. Eurolychus, a bold leader in Odysseus' crew, urges the men to disobey Odysseus so they can rest and eat on the island of the sun God, Helios. He managed to get the men to ignore Odysseus and told them to first sacrifice cattle to the gods and then eat a lot of cattle (cows) even though Odysseus told them that the cattle were forbidden to eat. After all, they are Helios' precious livestock!
*The men are punished by Zeus. Helios asks Zeus to punish the men. Zeus strikes a lightning bolt that destroys the ship and it goes up in flames. All of the men perish except Odysseus. He is left alone without a ship.
10. Calypso- A beautiful goddess (nymph) who keeps Odysseus as her captive on her island for 7 yrs. At this point, Odysseus doesn't have a crew of men anymore. He is outmatched, lonely, and tired. He has basically given up hope, except he still has it in his heart to return home to Penelope.