Warnings in The Odyssey by Homer Essay Example
Throughout life, people receive statements that indicate an impending danger, problem, or unpleasant situation, known as a warning. This can simply be your mother saying, “Don’t take candy from strangers” or your shin guards reading, “Shin pads cannot protect any part of the body they do not cover.” Warnings are set in place to protect people from an arising danger. While reading Homers’ poem, the Odyssey, there were many warnings directed to Odysseus all of which resulted in consequences. Throughout Odysseus’ journey home, he encounters many warnings given to him by Polyphemus in the Land of the Cyclops, Tiresias’ insight about the cattle of Hyperion, and King Agamemnon’ alerts towards Odysseus regarding his wife Penelope, as he returns home. Odysseus takes note of many warnings, while ignoring the others, meanwhile learning and developing from the benefits and consequences that come.
A warning is an advance notice of something that is going to happen in the near future, often something unpleasant or dangerous. Odysseus’ journey home begins at Troy, where he shows a very self-centered attitude due to his previous accomplishments in war. This sense of pride and confidence is shown when Odysseus and his crew arrive at the Land of the Cyclops. He is soon captured by Polyphemus, who eats many of his men, while capturing the rest. Odysseus, longing for his crew, generates a plan to escape with them. While Polyphemus was in a deep sleep, Odysseus stabbed his eye with a wooden rod, preventing him from seeing. Odysseus, his clever self, made Polyphemus drunk with wine, causing him to be oblivious, like a pedestrian running through moving traffic. While he was drunk, Odysseus convinced Polyphemus that his name was, ‘Noman’. When Polyphemus was under attack, he hollered, “Noman is killing me by some kind of trick” (Odyssey 9.407). Although Odysseus presents a very competent attitude in his approach to this plan, he presents a sense of idiocy, when he reveals his true name to the cyclops, Polyphemus. His crew, sending warning after warning eventually crie out, “Don’t do it, man! The rock that hit the water/ pushed us in and we thought we were done for./ If he hears any sound of us, he’ll heave/ Half a cliff at us and crush our ship and our skulls/ With one throw” (Odyssey 9.493-7). However, Odysseus disregarded the advice from his crew, explaining how his “hero’s heart” had decided for him, and would take no notice of suggestions from his crew (Odyssey 9.498). As a result, Odysseus would have been better off taking his crew up on the advice, for Polyphemus progressively damaged the ships by launching boulder rocks. Once word got out of Odysseus’ true name, the cyclops communed with Poesidon, asking for Odysseus to face a consequence. “May never reach his home in Ithaca./ But if he is fated to see his family again … May he come late, having lost all companions… finding trouble at home” (Odyssey 9.529-33). Polyphemus’ wish is granted, for Poseidon made his utmost efforts to fend off Odysseus’ arrival home. Progressing further into the story, the more upset Odysseus makes Polyphemus, the worse the consequences are becoming. Although Odysseus successfully completed his journey home to Ithaca, he is left to suffer alone, facing the suitors’ harsh conditions.
If Odysseus continues to show a sense of arrogance, the consequences to come will cause him to suffer. Odysseus sets the scene in the Underworld, in search for the blind prophet, Tireases. Odysseus is eventually reunited with the prophet, however, he is reminded of Polyphemus’ curse. Following this reminder comes yet another warning from Tireases concerning his crewmen. Odysseus was informed that progressing throughout his journey, he will end up at the island of Thrinacia. Tiresias warns him that under any circumstance, the cattle are not to be eaten, or a consequence will be provided to him. Tiresias says, “You will be marooned on that island/ In the violet sea, and find there the cattle/ Of Helios the Sun, and his sheep, too, grazing./ Leave these unharmed…/But if you harm them, I foretell doom for you,/ Your ship, and your crew” (Odyssey 11.105-11). As shown in the quote, if Odysseus decides to once again disregard this request, he will be faced with harmful consequences for not only him, but his ship and crew. Not long after visiting the Underworld, Odysseus and his crew make it to Trinacria. Once they depart from the ship, Odysseus gathers the men to inform them of Tiresias’ request. Taking the warning seriously, Odysseus tells his crew, “Friends, there is food and drink in the ship./ Let’s play it safe and keep our hands/ Off those cattle, which belong to Helios,/ a dread god who hears and sees all” (Odyssey 12.328-31). However, the stomachs of the hungry crew men are in desire for food other than what is provided in the ship. One of the crew men, Eurylochus, decides there will be no harm done if they eat the cattle, and proceed to do so. Without long, Hyperion discovers the cattle had been eaten by the crew, and wishes for each one of them to be punished by Zeus. All except for Odysseus, who slept through the act of eating the cattle, were killed, leaving him to continue his journey home alone. As shown in the Underworld, accepting warnings provided to you will result in benefits, whereas disregarding and shutting out the warnings will result in severe consequences. Odysseus received a consequence, even though he followed the warning and chose not to eat the cattle. He was impacted by the warning because his crewmen did not abide by the caution.
After returning back to the Underworld, Odysseus receives another warning that eventually resulted in a consequence. Shortly after his reuniting with Tiresias, Odysseus came across one of his past dear friends, King Agamemnon. These two characters are foils to one another, for they both are kings of important kingdoms. As well as their ruling over Ithaca and Greece, they both abandoned their kingdoms, families, and wives, to fight in the Trojan War. However, their wives response drastically differs upon their arrival home. Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, waits true heartedly for his husband to arrive home, whereas Agamemnon’ wife, Clytemnestra, had planned to kill him, having her lover, Aegisthus kill him. Hence, Aggamenmon provides the following advice to Odysseus in hope for his safety: “But let me tell you something, Odysseus:/ Beach your ship secretly when you come home./ Women just can’t be trusted anymore” (Odyssey 11.472-74). With great concern for Odysseus, Agamemnon advises him not to trust anyone in his household upon his arrival home, not even his, to say, loyal wife. This way, Odysseus will be able to figure out who in his home is loyal and faithful. Upon Odysseus’ arrival home, he recalls Agamemnon’s advice, and decides to disguise himself as a beggar. When Odysseus came across the suitors, he remained undercover as a beggar, not allowing for his actions to give his true identity away. Essentially, “And as he passed Odysseus, the fool kicked him/ On the hip trying to shove him off the path./ Odysseus absorbed the blow… he controlled himself and just took it” (Odyssey 17.254-60). If Odysseus’ pattern of disregarding warnings were to take place once again, his true identity would have been shared, and his attempt to kill the suitors would not have worked. Taking what Odysseus had been through in the past, urged him to think about his decisions, and regard the advice of Agamenmon, leading them to victory over the suitors.
As displayed throughout the Odyssey, it is shown that Odysseus advanced from having a very arrogant and haughty personality, to having a more self-assertive and unassertive personality. The warnings and consequences that Odysseus receives on his journey home to Ithaca, play a huge role in why his personality drastically developed throughout the story. For instance, in the case of his crew eating the cattle, Odysseus ignored the warning, whereas in the case of the warnings sent from Tiresias and Agamemnon, he carefully made sure to abide by them. The few warnings and consequences provided, show the importance, and severity.
