Odysseus: from Naked Stranger to Honored Guest
In Homer’s The Odyssey , after ten years of battle in Troy, the Archaeans, lead by Menelaus king
of Sparta, finally triumph over the Trojans. Now a renowned war hero known for his cunning, Odysseus
desires to return home to Ithaca and reap the benefits of kleos; however, unpleasant deviations prompt
him to stray from his path home and reach Phaeacia instead. Concerned that his reputation casts him as
god-like to the Phaeacians, Odysseus tells the stories of the House of Death and the Sirens to depict
himself as a relatable hero. As an admirable equal, he attempts to demonstrate a sense of humanity and
vulnerability to gain sympathy from the Phaeacians and acquire their aid to return to and reclaim his
kingdom, Ithaca.
Once Odysseus and his men regain their strength on Circe’s island, Circe tells Odysseus that he
alone must journey to the House of Death to gain knowledge of his fate by confronting the ghost of the
great Theban prophet, Tiresias. As Odysseus tells this story, he and his Phaeacian audience know that
few mortals are allowed to enter Hades and even fewer return. By informing his audience of his journey
to Hades and back, Odysseus attains a transcendent status. However, to ensure that the Phaeacians
perceive him as a relatable hero and not an untouchable God, Odysseus reveals how he grapples with
humanity throughout his journey to the Underworld. In the beginning, Odysseus describes the journey
that he and his men embark on, “a fresh following wind ruffling up in [their] wake/ … [they] sat back/
while the wind and helmsman kept her true on course”; the phrases “fresh” and “true” denote a voyage
of ease and security (11.9). Suddenly, his tone shifts as “the sun sank and the roads of the world grew
dark,” connoting a loss of direction and of Circe’s aegis (11.14). Odysseus abruptly shifts his tone from
bliss to apprehension to convey fear to his audience. Down in the underworld, Odysseus, unaware of her
death, encounters the ghost of his mother and reveals, “I broke into tears to see her here, but filled with
pity,/ even throbbing with grief, I would not let her ghost/ approach the blood till I had questioned
Tiresias myself” (11.97-99). While “tears,” “pity,” and “grief” overcome Odysseus, by sacrificing an
emotional reunion with his deceased mother, he makes the conscientious decision to abandon human
impulse and instead prioritize Circe’s orders, to find Tiresias. Although it is human nature to grieve for a
loved one, Odysseus displays his strength as he buries intense human emotion and instead follows
through with his mission as a true leader. Eventually, Odysseus meets Tiresias who foresees,
‘you’ll come home late
and a broken man-- all shipmates lost,
alone in a stranger’s ship--
you will find a world of pain at home,
crude, arrogant men devouring all of your goods’ (11.129-132).
Odysseus emphasizes the sharp sequence of “world of pa...
