Sunday, August 18, 2019
Essay on Homers Odyssey: Foreshadowing the Homecoming -- Homer Odysse
The Odyssey: Foreshadowing the Homecoming The majority of the Odyssey is an account of Odysseusââ¬â¢ adventures trying to reach his homeland of Ithaka. Several of these adventures are false homecomings, the most prominent of which is his imprisonment on Kalypsoââ¬â¢s island. This false homecoming is strikingly different from what one would expect of Odysseusââ¬â¢ real homecoming, but similar enough for parallels to be drawn between the two. Homer uses this false homecoming to foreshadow Odysseusââ¬â¢ true homecoming. Throughout the Odyssey, Homer presents the reader with certain clues about what Odysseus feels his homecoming should (but not neccessarily will) be like. First of all, Odysseus wants to return to Ithaka. Homer goes as far as having Odysseus describe Ithaka: "There is a mountain there that stands tall, leaf-trembling Neritos, and there are islands settled around it, lying one very close to another. There is Doulichion and Same, wooded Zakynthos, but my island lies low and away, last of all on the waterâ⬠¦" (Bk. 9, ln. 21-25). Kalypso lives on island, which may indeed resemble Ithaka. In this way, Homer begins to alert the reader that this scene may be a false homecoming. But, simply the fact that Kalypso lives on an island is not enough evidence to draw the conclusion that this may foreshadow Odysseusââ¬â¢s true homecoming. Other evidence is needed, and Homer provides it for us. Odysseus expects to return to his family and to the way of life which he is accustomed to. For the m ost part, Kalypso treats him as he is used to being treatedââ¬âthere is a certain sense of familiarity here. Returning from ten years of war with Troy and at least several years at sea, Odysseus wants to return to the comfort of home. Her cave has ... ...eople and customs that Odysseus expects to return home to, and Homer is only using Kalypsoââ¬â¢s fake family and home to foreshadow this. When Odysseus finally reaches Ithaka, all that Homer has foreshadowed using Kalypsoââ¬â¢s island as a false homecoming is realized, and subsequently all of Odysseusââ¬â¢s expectations are achieved. Odysseus returns to an island, but it is Ithaka. He is greeted with the inhospitality of the suitors (as Homer foreshadowed), but soon restores order and his own sense of civilization. Odysseus and Penelope (rather than Kalypsoââ¬â¢s perfect image of a wife) are reunited. Recognized by his son, his wife, and his people, Odysseusââ¬â¢s homecoming is completely. No matter how desirable the world Kalypso created for Odysseus appeared, it was only a false homecoming used by Homer for itââ¬â¢s generalities to foreshadow the specifics of Odysseusââ¬â¢s true homecoming.
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