Essay One, The Odyssey
Steven Botello
ENGL 2315: Great Works of Literature I
September 16, 2012 Imagine a life without television, no internet, no cell phones, no radio, no movies, and no video games. This was the life during the Odyssey. The storytelling in the Odyssey gave Greek society a way of entertainment. Men, woman, and children would listen to these stories with attentiveness and would then share them throughout their lives. These stories were told in many ways such as in poems, songs, and tales. If not for storytelling in the Odyssey, the story of Odysseus would be a lot shorter, as well as insignificant to Greek society. The storytelling in the Odyssey knitted the life of Odysseus together, and gave many moral lessons and
Odysseus then devises a plan to escape. This plan shows that not only is Odysseus is a physically strong man but displays his keen sense of leadership by trying to save his men and get them back to their ship and escape death from the Cyclops. Here he demonstrates again his skillful use of words by convincing the Cyclops to drink the wine and allow Odysseus and his brave four to escape. The “One Eyed Giant” cannot see and Odysseus and what’s left of his men escape. Odysseus displays his leadership skills by getting his men out of the cave and escape death but, he brags to the Cyclops and tells the Cyclops his real name so that the Cyclops can tell of his name but this back fires and Cyclops tells his father Poseidon about what had happened. The moral lesson in this story that Odysseus tells is that one should not brag about his accomplishments to get fame. Even the wise and strong like Odysseus should not brag because that could over shadow a man’s strengths. In another story Odysseus fails to stay true to his instinct and gives in to his men’s desires of landing on land to rest and eat. Instead of staying strong and standing up to his men, he tries to make his crew happy, therefore landing so they can eat and drink and rest but his men do not stay true to their word and slaughtered the cattle of the Sun. In this epic moral lesson many men die because of their desire for something that they were told could and should not be obtained. Here Odysseus shows