Themes All Themes. Symbols All Symbols. Theme Wheel. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive. LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Odyssey , which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. Homer begins by asking the Muse, the goddess of poetry and music, to sing to him about Odysseus and his travels.
Odysseus and his crew have seen many strange lands and have suffered many trials. Their careless behavior has sometimes angered the gods, who have prevented their safe return to Ithaca. Like The Iliad, The Odyssey begins with a prayer to the Muse: the poet is a vessel for the goddess's song. We learn that some combination of human error and divine will has delayed Odysseus's and his crew's homecoming.
Active Themes. Fate, the Gods, and Free Will. The nymph Calypso has held Odysseus captive for seven years on the island Ogygia, and the goddess Athena has come before an assembly of the gods to plead for his release. Odysseus angered the sea god Poseidon , who has been hindering Odysseus's return to his home in Ithaca.
Zeus declares that Poseidon must forget his grievance and agrees to send the messenger god Hermes to Ogygia to ensure Odysseus's release from captivity. We learn that Athena favors Odysseus, for some reason, and has made it her mission to ensure his safe return. Odysseus's fate hangs on Zeus's decision — will Zeus respect Poseidon's anger or overrule it? Zeus decides to spare Odysseus and sends Hermes to order Calypso to release Odysseus from captivity: here, the gods interfere directly with Odysseus's life.
Related Quotes with Explanations. Meanwhile, Athena flies to Ithaca to speak to Odysseus's son Telemachus. Droves of men courting Odysseus's wife Penelope have been feasting for years in Odysseus's court, pestering Penelope and depleting the resources of the estate.
Athena takes the shape of Mentes , a friend of Odysseus's father Laertes. She finds Telemachus sitting idly in the midst of the festivities, dreaming of routing the insolent suitors from the estate. Athena usually takes human form in her interactions with Telemachus, perhaps in order to make her divine interventions less conspicuous. Odysseus has incurred the wrath of Poseidon, god of the sea, by blinding his son Polyphemus the Cyclops. Meanwhile, Odysseus' wife, Penelope, is besieged by suitors at his home in Ithaca.
At a divine council on Mount Olympus, Athena pleads with her father, Zeus, to take pity on Odysseus and allow him to return home. Disguised as Mentes, an old friend of Odysseus, Athena counsels Telemachus. She predicts that his father will return and insists that the prince must stand up to the suitors and seek more information about Odysseus. Homer uses the epic's opening to introduce the plot, the theme, and the characters of the work.
Almost immediately, he delineates two plots that eventually will merge. One is the story of Odysseus who is held captive on Ogygia by Calypso. The other is centered in Ithaca where Odysseus' wife, Penelope, struggles to ward off a number of suitors and hopes for reliable word from or about her husband.
Homer also introduces several themes that will recur throughout the epic. These include hospitality, reputation, revenge, and power.
Throughout, people are responsible for their choices but always susceptible to intervention by the gods. In the world of Odysseus, one's most treasured possession is his good reputation. One's reputation is determined by how others view him, assessing his character, values, and behavior according to the prevailing social standards and mores. Zeus himself affirms Odysseus' character 1.
Apparently all the gods, except for vengeful Poseidon, hold Odysseus in high regard. Which apparently matters. And when he's done with this, he should think about how to kill all these suitors, because by then it will probably be about time for some sweet revenge. As Mentes leaves, Telemachos tries to offer him gifts, as well as a bath and bed for the night, but Mentes politely declines. Then, Athene fills Telemachos with a vision of his father.
He realizes that he was in the presence of a divine spirit, but he still doesn't know it was Athene. Now it's about time for some music, so Phemios the bard sings about the Trojan War. This is rather an insensitive choice of subject matter, since the elephant in the room is that Odysseus' absence is probably the result of his dying in the Trojan War. Penelope, who obviously agrees with our "insensitive" label, comes down from her room to politely request that he sing another song, preferably not one about her most likely dead husband.
Telemachos reproaches his mother and allows Phemios to keep singing. Actually, Telemachos quite rationally explains that it's not the poet's fault Odysseus hasn't come home.
Obviously it's Zeus' fault. Besides, lots of other families lost their men in the war, and you don't see them running around crying their heads off.
Penelope is struck by Telemachos' wisdom callousness? Take that, mom! Telemachos, flush from victory over his grieving mom and still high with courage from his visit with the divine, tells the suitors that they have to leave at dawn. He claims that Ithaka needs a king like maybe … Telemachos? Eurymachos, another suitor, asks who the stranger was and if he brought any news of Odysseus.
Telemachos lies and says that the visitor was Mentes and then heads up to bed, where the nurse Eurykleia, who was the servant of Laertes, Odysseus' father, takes care of him. He falls asleep considering Athene's advice. Tired of ads? Join today and never see them again. Get started.
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