Glory, Death, and the Gods in Homer’s Epic Poem The Odyssey Essay Example
“Ah, how shameless- the way these mortals blame the gods. From us alone, they say come all their miseries yes but they themselves with their own reckless ways compound their pains through their proper share” This quote by Homer articulates about how people accuse the gods of their sufferings whereas, in reality, it is solely themselves that cause it and that there will be individuals along the way to help them. The Odyssey, written by Homer, tells the story of an Epic hero named Odysseus who spends 20 years pushing to get back to his home Ithaca. He has numerous problems along the way and overcomes them with help of friends and the gods. Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey highlights many universal issues such as glory, death, and the gods. These universal issues shape our society and world into what it is and how we respond to different subjects.
One of the themes present in the Odyssey is the search for glory; modern readers can relate to this as an aspiration to be known. Odysseus, the main character of the Odyssey, is in a dire search for glory. It is one of the most important things in his life and he goes out and hunts for fame and glory. Odysseus says, “I am Laertes' son, Odysseus. Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the sky's rim” (9.7-9). This shows us that fame is one of the main parts of Odysseus’s life. He says that men hold him “formidable for guile in peace and war”, which tells us that he is also cunning and sly. This connects to modern times because many of the youth today yearn to be known to everyone in the world, just like Odysseus craves illustriousness. Teens today want to become famous and it doesn't matter to them what it's for. They desire their names to be in bright lights and everyone cheering their name, and to exhibit a big reputation. Odysseus goes to great lengths just to get the glory because it was thought that if you had glory, you would have a good place in the afterlife. He goes to war in Troy because he has in mind how much glory he would be handed over by his people and that he would be this great epic hero to everyone surrounding him. This matters because everyone wants to be “that person”; it feeds into the ego of everyone. Odysseus acts upon his ego. He thinks he can do these amazing things or acts because he has such a big ego; he thinks he is “the man everyone looks at as he walks past”. Almost everyone today wants to be in the same place; it matters because fame makes up a big amount of how people act today. Everyone has one goal to get their glory, and a plan to get there; Odysseus thinks to get to the glory he has to do all these amazing things in life; in modern times, not everyone has a plan to get their glory. All they care about is getting it. People want what other people above them have; it's an endless cycle of the chase for fame in today's world. In addition to glory being a big part of today's modern world, so is death.
Another theme present in the Odyssey is the inevitability of death and loss, something unavoidable in the human experience. Odysseus goes to the land of the dead to get his men back; while he is there, he sees his mother. She was alive when he left for Troy, so seeing her there is very saddening for him. He tries to hug her but is unable to because she is a ghost. Homer writes, “with longing to embrace her, and tried three times, putting my arms around her, but she went sifting through my hands, impalpable as shadows are, and wavering like a dream now this embittered all the pain I bore and I cried in the darkness” (11. 18-23). This shows us that Odysseus is struggling with the sudden information that his mother has passed. He tries to hug her three times in refusal that he couldn't because she is a ghost. Connecting this to modern times, so many people today deal with the death of friends and family. So many people across the world have dealt with loss and it affects their life profoundly. The loss of someone can change your life for the better or worse, when Odysseus meets his mother in the land of the dead she changes the way he thinks and acts upon things because he realizes he is running out of time and his family won't be around for much longer. From there, he changes his tactics and how he gets home. He fights for his family instead of for glory and fame because he knows family is more important to him. A big part of people today would do anything to see someone they lost, no matter the cost, because they mean so much to them. Everyone is obsessed with life or death and what it means, it's a never-ending cycle. They deal with it, then rise above it like a phoenix in the ashes rising. This matters because no matter how long ago the Odyssey took place, we still have the same issues with death; we all still struggle with it. It doesn’t matter who you are or how strong you are, death is an issue for everyone and has been since the begging of time, and it doesn't matter who you are or what you have done in your life, or how great you are; when you are dead, everyone is a whole, and no one is above anyone. It also teaches us to respect the dead in how we treat them. But death is not the opposite in life and the goal isn't to live forever, it's to create something that will live forever; just like Odysseus in the Odyssey, it’s lived for hundreds of years and still is. Odysseus shows us that he, a strong warrior figure, still can be weak and have feelings. It shows us that it's okay to not be okay. Further, into universal issues, the gods were also an issue Odysseus is facing on his journey home.
The gods along the way in the Odyssey challenge Odysseus in many ways. He finds people along the way that help him with his troubles, like King Alcinous. Odysseus spent 20 years following a prophecy made by the gods and he went through many challenges. He goes through many monsters and gods like the enchantress Circe, who turned all his men into pigs, which caused him to have to go to the land of the dead. Odysseus says, “What shall I say first? What shall I keep until the end? The gods have tried me in a thousand ways. But first my name: let that be known to you, and if I pull away from pitiless death, friendship will bind us, though my land lies far” (9.1-6). Odysseus explains that he has been challenged by the gods in so many ways he doesn't know how to start and what to keep until the end. He mentions that the gods have challenged him along his journey to getting home, and they have helped. This shapes the whole story of Odysseus because without the gods there wouldn't be an Epic Hero.
This connects to modern times because everyone has their challenges in life and they have people and things along the way that help them. The gods shape Odysseus’s journey and how he gets home. Along with how we live our lives; in the Odyssey, they all respect the gods, or else there are consequences. The gods in the Odyssey symbolize spiritual guides and guides for the mortals, and like something, the people base their life on; they are the ideals of their society. It sends us a universal message that we all have our troubles in life and that there are people to help. The gods hold a symbol that yes, no human is perfect; but there are certain things to follow. Like to respect the gods and others, which is one rule to life today; is to respect others to get the same respect back. The gods in the Odyssey teach us simple respect for the universe and everything in it, and if we are not, there could be consequences for it. One of the most famous concepts today is “treat others the way you would like to be treated”, it shows us that the message of the Odyssey is still being carried out today and that we have so much to learn from the characters in the book. The bigger picture is that for every one of your actions there will be equal opposite reactions, so you have to be careful about what you put out into the world, and when you are given those challenges like Odysseus there is going to be people out there to help you overcome those challenges. The Odyssey confronts us with so many universal issues that can be connected to today's society and how we react to things.
In conclusion, the Epic poem The Odyssey calls our attention to many universal issues that connect to modern times; like gory, death, and the gods. Glory is one of the things in the Odyssey that many people believe that if you have it then you get a special place in the afterlife. Death in the Odyssey connects to us showing a sense of mortality in the book filled with gods and that you can be weak and that there is no need to be strong all the time. The gods shaping the whole book and how everything plays out and the journey that is filled out is connecting to today's youth by showing the reader that Odysseus also has people to help him with his challenges. These essential messages keep the meaning and the character, Odysseus, alive for hundreds of years. They are tiny thoughts to keep in the back of the reader's mind to live life to the expectations of the reader and no one else but to also not be too disrespectful to everyone around you. It's for the reader to remember to stay humble and that there is no need to be this big person in the world. Some might argue that it has no relation in today's life but there is more than meets the eye in the Odyssey. If we all paid just a little bit of attention to this hundred of year old book about an Epic hero also finding himself in the world and what its universal issues are and what they are trying to teach, the world just might be a better place than it is today in modern times.
