The Arguement Regarding Odysseus free essay sample

# 8217 ; Fate Essay, Research Paper The Argument Regarding Odysseus Fate The narrative is known worldwide. Odysseus, the great heroic poem hero, leaves his beautiful Ithaca, spends 10 old ages of his life contending courageously against Troy, and so spends another ten old ages making place. At this point he leaves Troy once more. He leaves his household and loyal topics to travel researching and questing to fulfill the roamer inside him. Everyone agrees of the facts, but they do non hold of what to do of Odysseus. Pindar, said to be the greatest of Grecian poets, makes Odysseus into a fallacious scoundrel. Philoctetes of Sophocles portrays Odysseus as a rogue who believes in stating the truth merely when he can afford to. Odysseus is besides seen as an uncaring, icy adult male as he justifies his sacrificing of Hecuba s girl in Euripides Hecuba. I am non certain of the grounds for these portraitures, but the ideas and logical thinking of Kazantzakis, Tennyson, and Dante are heartbreakingly clear. The plants of these three work forces bring up some inquiries. Does aspiration warrant his go forthing Ithaca once more? Should he be damned to the Inferno, or does his actions prove to be his redemption? Kazantzakis believes that his 2nd journey signifier Ithaca is his redemption and that he grows in spirit from the experience. Tennyson and Dante do non portion this thought with Kazantzakis. In fact, they believe Odysseus is damned. Therefore, the statement begins. Nikos Kazantzakis presents Odysseus as a wise and spiritually dominant adult male in his heroic poem verse form Odyssey: A Modern Sequel. The escapades of Ulysses that begin after his return to Ithaca are parallel to Odysseus religious growing. Nikos says there are seven phases in adult male s promotion from being a barbarian to obtaining a pure psyche. One of the names Kazantzakis uses in his heroic poem is seven -souled. Not merely is this heroic poem about the modern adult male in hunt of a psyche, but besides it is an geographic expedition of the significance of freedom. In Odyssey: A Modern Sequel, Odysseus is seen as being out of topographic point in Ithaca. Ulysses male parent and his boy are strong trusters of subject and order, but Odysseus will profess no boundaries. It is profoundly rooted in Odysseus to roll under the stars, to see and seek and happen until he meets his decease. Kazantzakis believes this was in him and it was merely natural to make what comes of course. H e doesn t darn Odysseus for his rovings, but praises him on turning spiritually and following his fate. For Dante, every bit good every bit Tennyson as you will shortly see, misrepresentation is the cardinal word. Dante believes Ulysses to be delusory. One of his worst misrepresentations was the usage of the Trojan Horse, which brought about the autumn of Troy. Besides, he came back to Ithaca for the incorrect grounds. He didn t leave Circe s island for Penelope and his place, but for his ain hoggishness. He wanted the ultimate pursuit and to travel beyond the boundaries and bounds of the universe. In the verse form, it read When I left Circe, it said, who more than a/ year/ detained me new Gaeta long before/ Aeneas came and gave the topographic point that name, / Not fondness for my boy, nor reverence/ For my ages father, nor Penelope s claim. Dante damns him for his pretermiting his ties of household. Ulysses is disenchanted and his young person and escapade is the past. It is clip for him to take his topographic point in life and nature. Alternatively, he gives in to his lecherousness to see the widespread universe. Tennyson developed his feelings about Odysseus from Dante. Tennyson s poem Ulysses is a diabolic, dramatic soliloquy. For Tennyson, Odysseus is depicted as a fallacious character. He avoids the worlds of his state of affairs. Tennyson believes that Ulysses is seeking to regenerate the yesteryear. He was untrue to himself, his household, and nature. For the same grounds Kazantzakis says Ulysses is natural, Tennyson damns him as unnatural. In Ulysses, the roamer goes away for cognition, but seems to love no 1 and to contemn his married woman and boy. He thinks he is better than his people and speaks on them distantly, about indifferently. What make the verse form genuinely diabolic and dark are the last words of Odysseus: Made weak by clip and destiny, but strong in will/ To endeavor, to seek, to happen, and non to give. These words echo the words of Satan in Paradise Lost, in which Satan declares, And bravery neer to subject or yield/ And what is else non to be overcome? Odysseus, har monizing to Tennyson, is taking and conquest, without giving anything and without sorrow for anyone he hurts. The first line of the verse form besides shows Ulysses as a bounder. It small net incomes him to remain at that place in Ithaca with his elderly married woman. To his Apostles, Christ said For what is a adult male profited, if he shall derive the whole universe, and lose his ain psyche ( Matthew 16:21 ) Is Odysseus damned or saved? Is at that place anything incorrect with his aspiration and desire to roll and seek? Kazantzakis feels that Ulysses is finishing himself by his changeless rovings. Tennyson and Dante feel that he s making things for the incorrect grounds, is delusory, and non taking his topographic point in nature. Who is right? Who has the most convincing statement? It all depends on how one looks at it and what one believes. Plants Cited Odysseus/ Ulysses. Chelsea House Publishers. New York: Main Line Book Co, 1991.