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Short Paper on the Odyssey
The Odyssey by Homer is one of the most celebrated Greek myths in the world. The story revolves around King Odysseus’s struggle to go back home in a ten year period after the Trojan War. In that time, Penelope, Odysseus’s wife and his son Telemachus entertain guests who await his return back to his throne in Ithaca. However, the suitors led by Antinous secretly hope that he does not return so that they have a chance to marry the queen and ascend to the throne. Odysseus also encounters several challenges along the way that make it impossible for him to go back home. Among the challenges, include Calypso, a goddess who wanted to stop Odysseus from ever leaving her. Homer in this work observes the crude manner in which guests and hosts alike behave, and instances in which hosts and guests behave graciously toward each other as is expected as is expected in the civil world (Sawyer 39).
The guests in the house of Odysseus are rude and ungrateful for the hospitality offered to them by Queen Penelope. The men in the palace courtyard insist that it is their right to remain their as guests despite the fact that they are inconveniencing their host. Customs dictates that a queen chooses among men a single man to be king when the current one is dead. However, Penelope believes that the king is not dead and will not choose a man to take up his throne. The men of Ithaca do not share in her opinions and force their company on the host. Telemachus observes, “these suitor-maggots who freely devour another man’s livelihood” (Homer 5). This account exemplifies what the present day civilization is all about, where people take advantage of the demise of others (Esolen 47).
In a conversation with Telemachus, Athene, daughter of Zeus, “ A mannered man now, entering by chance, might well forget himself with disgust at seeing how outrageously they make free with your house” (Homer 7). The reader feels as though Telemachus and his mother have no care for whatever happens to their house. The truth however, is that they are fearful of what the men will do if they are to chase them away. In any case, they may force the queen to select a suitor and Odysseus will be forgotten. Odysseus meanwhile is imprisoned by Calypso the nymph who has fallen in love with him. Proteus the first minister to Poseidon tells Menelaus about Odysseus, “I saw him in an island, letting fall great tears throughout the domain of the nymph Calypso who there holds him in constraint” (Homer, 60). While Odysseus is lost, he finds himself on Calypso’s island and forces him as her guest. Zeus makes it possible for Odysseus to escape by asking Calypso to let him go.
Homer also shows us how guests should be treated when he writes about the visit of Telemachus and Mentor (Athene in disguise) to Odysseus’s old friend King Agamemnon. Menelaus graciously accepts his guests by offering food and later a place to sleep. Homer writes that Menelaus “waved them to his bounty” (Homer, 45) that had been brought in by the butler. Menelaus offers food even without knowledge of who the visitors were. The guest on the other hand also behaved graciously and with respect to their host. They do not rush to announce their purpose but wait for Menelaus to ask when he is ready. Such is the example of hospitality Homer suggests to the reader. Homer in this case portrays civility, the basis of Western cultural norms.
Greek philosophy is believed to be the mushroom of Western civilization (Noble 83). However, civilization is not perfect as has been shown by Homer in the Odyssey. Homer has shown the expectations of people and gods with regard to how guests and hosts should behave. He shows the sympathy Zeus, the king of Olympus feels about imprisoning guests as was seen in the case of Calypso. More importantly, Homer shows the relationship between host and guest need to have. The example of Menelaus and Telemachus is what is expected and not what was seen in the house of Odysseus in Ithaca.
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