Is Odysseus a Godlike Hero or Simply Human in The Odyssey by Homer

Categories: Odyssey

Essay, Pages 4 (917 words)

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Stories are often told about the great Odysseus, especially with his cleverness during the fall of Troy. People say he is a man of cunning and military prowess; a man who fights as a champion on the battlefield. His intellect compares to even of the gods themselves. Or at least that is what ancient people of Greece knows about him from rumors in Homer's The Odyssey. They say no man matched his cunning, and that even the gods favor him. However, is Odysseus truly godlike? If so, how can an assumed godly being like Odysseus be stranded away from home for ten years, leaving his wife and only son to fend for themselves against a horde of greedy suitors? Despite the supposed likeness to a god, Odysseus presents for the reader instead the emotional trials and tribulations of what it means to be human, demonstrating from his helplessness with Calypso, as well to the primal vengeance over the suitors.

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Trapped on an island for seven years away from home, even the famed warrior-king Odysseus himself is not able to return home with his own strength nor wit alone.

Calypso, the lovely nymph that rescues Odysseus from sea and brings him back to health, keeps him on the island, tempting him with immortality and loving companionship.

Refusing even the opportunity to live forever, Odysseus weeps instead for never seeing his family again, as well as the missed opportunity to die gloriously in battle, "Three, four times blessed, my friends-in-arms who died on the plains of Troy.

..Would to god I'd died there too and met my fate that day the Trojans...hurled at me with bronze spears... a hero's funeral then, my glory spread by comrades--now what a wretched death I'm doomed to die!"" The notion of a godlike Odysseus does not appear from this scene, one of the first introductions of Odysseus himself in the novel. Here instead Odysseus is displayed as weak and helpless, only to be at the whim of the gods.

It is only when seeing the troubled Odysseus weep for his native land of Ithaca, wise daughter of Zeus Athena pleads for assistance to come to Odysseus, which leads Zeus to send Hermes to free him. If Athena did not show mercy for him, Odysseus would have never been able to start his journey, forever to suffer. A great warrior may be supported by his battle experience at Troy, but the sentiment that he is godlike would more likely be refuted. Odysseus is often recognized as a man like the gods, however it is he who depends on the gods to accomplish his tasks. Speaking of tasks, it is the ultimate task of slaying the suitors that Odysseus takes upon whose action rings for generations to come.

A long journey at sea comes to an end, and Odysseus finally on native soil seeks vengeance for the heinous behavior of the suitors in his house. Disguised by Athena as a poor beggar, Odysseus walks among the unknowing suitors, witnessing their foul appetites be satisfied, as well as seeking those still loyal to him, including his own wife Penelope. After revealing his true self to the suitors with his ability to string the bow that would dictate Penelope's chosen husband, he begins to slay the suitors out of a sense of just rage and justification, "You dogs! you never imagined I'd return from Troy--so cocksure that you bled my house to death, ravished my serving women--wooed my wife behind my back while I was still alive! No fear of the gods who rule the skies up there, no fear that men's revenge might arrive someday--now all your necks are in the noose--your doom is sealed!"" (22.36-42) Odysseus is renowned for being a veteran in battle, exercised in the way of the sword and death.

It is suggested that such qualities are associated with being a man. In such a way, Odysseus's rage that ends in utter bloodshed and murder makes him more of a man than god. In a rampage of death, Odysseus slayed the suitors and women, sparing only those that were faithful to him, as well as the herald and bard due to Telemachus's forgiveness and mercy. Clearly Odysseus is not godlike; he is only a simple man who wants to return to his family and seek vengeance, although his cunning and dealings with the gods are noteworthy. Giving sacrifices to the gods after the restoration of the household only furthers position him as just a human; a human who must submit and act with humility towards the gods.

Much can be said about Odysseus, a successful journeyman who finally makes it back home after decade at sea and returns honor back to his home in Ithaca. A man of cleverness and fighting spirit, Odysseus proves himself to be a great hero, although the claim of being godlike seems to be stretched. For in every obstacle Odysseus faced, he always had to turn to a higher power for help, whether it was Hermes to escape the clutches of Calypso, Prophet Tiresias to successfully return home, and finally Athena to ultimately take vengeance against the suitors. The Odyssey lives on as book of the ages not for its plot alone, but the assurance that though someone may be praised as godlike, it is really embracing human nature that make a person rival that to a god.