Odysseus Of The Odyssey Essay, Research Paper

Pursuits for Self-knowledge In Homer s the Odyssey, there are two major pursuits. One pursuit is that of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and the other is that of Prince Telemakhos, boy of Odysseus. Both pursuits are likewise in that both work forces search for self-knowledge and eventual felicity in Ithaca. In the pursuits of the King and Prince, both of the two undergo a great metabolism. Odysseus goes from a great warrior who lacks self-denial to a great mature adult male whose apprehension of life is far superior to most work forces. Telemakhos goes from a male child without aspirations to a manful prince who additions self-knowledge along the manner. Telemakhos, the boy of the great Odysseus, was a simple male child at the beginning of the heroic poem who used his pursuit as a metempsychosis to turn into a great adult male like his male parent. The chief ground of Telemakhos pursuit was to happen his male parent who he had ne’er met. However, the quest would for good alter the immature male child s life. Telemakhos traveled to the Island of Pylos so to Sparta, where King Menelaos lives. Here, Telemakhos learned that his male parent was so alive. Near the terminal of prince Telmakhos quest Athena comes and tells the male monarch s boy that he must return for he is the lone 1 that can salvage his male parent s belongings, both his land and his lady, Penelope. Telemakhos so rushes to talk to Menelaos. Lord Marshal Menelaos, royal boy of Atreus, I must return to my ain fireplace. I left No 1 buttocks as defender of my belongings. This traveling abroad for intelligence of my great father- Heaven forbid it be my ain undoing, Or any cherished thing be lost at place. ( p.270 lines 115-120 ) It is about as if Telemakhos grows right before the reader s eyes in this transition into the great adult male he is destined to be. He instantly realizes how of import he is to the destiny of Ithaca. The quest of Odysseus is similar to that of Telemakhos in that the King of Ithaca must rebirth into a more mature adult male who additions self-knowledge. Odysseus pursuit is far more ambitious than that of his prince boy. Odysseus must digest obstructions that most work forces would non even dream possible in his hunt for place. On one island that Odysseus visits he must conflict a elephantine Kyklops who is the boy of Poseidon. After Odysseus blinds the monster he shows his immatureness by shouting at the Kylops and perpetrating hubris. Kyklops, if of all time mortal adult male ask How you were put to dishonor and blinded, tell him Odysseus, plunderer of metropoliss, took your oculus: Laertes so, World Health Organization

vitamin E place s on Ithaka! ( p.160 lines 549-552 )

Odysseus is punished subsequently by the God Poseidon for this, which serves as a acquisition experience for the great King. Odysseus learns that a great adult male, who he is to be, should non be chesty in such a state of affairs. When Telemakhos returns place to Ithaka he realizes that he must move like the mature adult male he has become and protect his place and his female parent, the married woman of Odysseus. Telemakhos instantly takes action in protecting his male parent s land by stating his nurse he is traveling to recover Odysseus armour. Nurse, travel shut the adult females in their quarters while I shift Father s armour back to the interior rooms- these beautiful weaponries unburnished, caked with black carbon black in his old ages abroad. I was a kid so. Well, I am non now.I want them shielded from the draft and fume. ( p.353-54 lines 21-26 ) Telemakhos, for the first clip, announces that he is a adult male in these lines. This is proof that he has so gone through a metempsychosis from a male child to a manful prince. Telemakhos continues to take charge of fixing for a conflict, as a true adult male would. The boy of Odysseus concluding illustration of adulthood is shown when Penelope learns from her amah that her boy had been maintaining the great secret of Odysseus return to Ithaka a secret from everybody for yearss. It is true, true, as I tell you, he has come! That alien they were teasing was Odysseus. Telemakhos knew it yearss ago- Cool caput, ne’er to give his male parent away- Till he paid off those conceited Canis familiariss! ( p.430 lines 28-32 ) In this transition the amah of Penelope refers to Telemakhos as staying cool headed by non adverting to a psyche the biggest event of the prince s life, the return of his male parent. When Odysseus returns place to Ithaka, he is non the same adult male he was when he left. Odysseus learned much about himself in his quest place. He learned that he every bit good as the remainder of world is non unbeatable: Of person animals, all that breathe and move, earth bears none frailer than world. What adult male believes in suffering to come, so long as heroism and tough articulatio genuss are supplied to him by the Gods? Bt when the Gods in bliss bring misseries on, Then randomly, blindly, he endures. Our heads are as the yearss are, dark or bright, Blown over by the male parent of Gods and work forces. ( p.340 lines 165-171 ) Odysseus, in these lines, eventually begins to understand that his life, every bit good as all persons, is really delicate and cherished. Odysseus realizes that the Gods can make as they please with his life.

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