The Odyssey Essay Example for Free

The Odyssey EssayHunger, whether a literal aridity or a hungriness for occasion has eer been a d experiencefall for humankind. In the Odyssey thirst destroys the lives of umpteen hands. Even though the Odyssey is just an heroic poem it reflects in many ways how hunger merchantman ruin and sometimes even destroy someones life. In history, hunger has shown itself in many different and unique ways. For example Hitlers hunger for power destroyed millions of lives. It obligate millions of volume to move their homes and change their lives or to even lose their lives. Hunger has caused people and even entire nations to be decimated.If people could control on that point hunger the world and its people would be a safer and happier place. In this epic hunger overtops all. In the Odyssey Odysseus shows several types of hunger. One that stands out higher up others is Odysseus hunger for knowledge. Odysseus is forever and a day on a quest for knowledge. To him knowledge is mor e powerful than anything else. No other weapon can stand up to knowledge. This has arrogate Odysseus and even his ring in much danger and trouble in The Odyssey. Odysseus shows his hunger for knowledge in the Lotus Eaters when he sends his men to scout the shoot when they get to the land of the Lotus Eaters.If he would concur never done that he would not have lost two of his men to the mind dull effects of the Lotus plans. One of Odysseuss other crazy acts to learn knowledge was in the Cyclops. In the epic Odysseus led himself and his men into a Cyclops cave. This caused several of his men to be eaten by the Cyclops. Many of Odysseuss men have died because of his hunger for knowledge. Odysseus shows his hunger again when he ventures into the land of the exsanguineThe man is so crazy to even try to go to the Underworld. Odysseus lives for wisdom and something that shows knowledge is everything to him is that the Goddess f Wisdom, genus Athene has taken Odysseus under her protec tion. scarce even with Athena as his protector Odysseus will face many troubles because of his hunger. Many of his men will suffer for his many errors. Odysseus also has a hunger for self glorification. He is incessantly trying to make himself be in the spotlight. Odysseus tries to make himself a figure of the perfect hero that everybody should bow down to. An example of this is in the set active of the story that Odysseus is so self-glorified is he even tempts Poseidon by saying that he does not need the gods and that he only needs himself.If Odysseus never did this he would have gotten home without having to make the long journey which is told in The Odyssey. But since Odysseus thinks he does not need the gods it forced him to face many dangers and to lose his crew. His wife has been forced to wait several years because of Odysseuss insolence. Another example is when Odysseus goes back to Ithaca disguised as a beggar he tells his swineherd that he has seen Odysseus and that O dysseus is strong, perfect, and amazing. He is always trying to make himself seem like the close to amazing person.Odysseus is a famishful man. He is a man that is not faithful to his wife. But if his wife would so much as dare think about another man it would be the end of the world. In Odysseuss mind everything is about Odysseus. In the story Odysseus first becomes unfaithful with Circe and then later with Calypso. He is the perfect example of someone that says one thing and does another (a hypocrite). But because of his lust many hassles have been unearthed and left unchecked for many years in the Odyssey. It has caused that his wife Penelope has to wait several extra years for Odysseus.It has also brought the problem of the suitors upon Ithaca. The reason being is that if Odysseus would have arrived home earlier the suitors would not have tried to make a move on Odysseuss throne. Odysseus also has a hunger for power. He always asks to be the leader. He wants to be the person that everyone is looking up to. This caused him to go with great grief and sorrow many times throughout the Odyssey. The first of these incidents was when the Cyclops took away(predicate) several of his men and ate and killed them.Also when Scylla and Charybdis took away more of his men Odysseus felt responsible for their deaths and went through a depression like state. In the Lotus Eaters Odysseus lost some his men to the Lotus plant. This hurt him as well. But the one that affected him the most was when Zeus cast his lightning at their ship and killed everyone eject Odysseus himself. Odysseus is not the only one with a hunger for knowledge in this story. His crew also has the equivalent hunger. They have taken after Odysseus in many ways but this one above all has shown itself.There are several examples showing where there hunger has gotten them into trouble or placed into the face of danger. One time above all where this has affected them was when the crew opened the bag of winds that Odysseus would not permit them open. This caused the ship to come into view of Ithaca but then be pushed far out to sea away from their home and ultimately to their own deaths. The crew always wants to know whats going on. If they come across a new land they automatically want to explore it. An example of this is in the Lotus Eaters.The crew wanted to know about this new land and because of this curiosity they lost two men. The crew also has a great hunger for the taste of fare for thought and drink. They indulge themselves whenever they can. One example of this is in Circes hall. The crew ate her food and drank her wine which ultimately had them turned into pigs. If they had never taken the food right away and had thought about their situation they would have never been turned into pigs. But the mens hunger for drink and food overpowered their other thoughts. The crews mind is always on the thoughts of food and drink.If food and drink werent in the world the crew woul d no longer love life as they do. They are always indulging themselves. Another instance of where the crews hunger for food overpowers all other thoughts is on the island of Helios, The Sun God. The crew was shipwrecked on this island with no food or water supply but there are a lot of cattle there so the crew wonders why. Odysseus specifically tells them they cant eat the cattle, but Odysseus makes the mistake of not telling the crew why they cannot eat the cattle. The crew not knowing why they cannot eat the cattle and dying from starvation takes a feel by eating the cattle.They believed they would rather die by drowning then by starvation. This angers the Sun God Helios. Helios makes Zeus kill every one of the crew except Odysseus. The suitors also have a great hunger for many things. They have a hunger for Odysseus wealth and all his lands. They want to be the king of the land. They want to be the ones in control the ones with the power. They want this so bad that they try to take his wife. This hunger did them no good when Odysseus returned home to find them eating his food and drinking his wine. This brought the wrath of Odysseus down upon them all.This led to the suitors deaths. But that wasnt the own thing that brought Odysseuss wrath. The suitors want to be king of Ithaca. The reason being is because Ithaca is a wealthy and powerful nation. They want to have all the power and all the wealth. These men let their or hunger for power rules their lives. Since they let this hunger rule their deaths came a lot earlier than it would have if they wouldnt have let that same hunger rule. The thing that angered Odysseus the most was that they were trying to take Odysseuss wife Penelope as their own.This angered Odysseus so much that he killed them all for the mens insolence. If the men would have just stayed in their own land they would have never faced their own demise and would have lived to be old and happy. But the suitors greed drove the men to their own demise. The suitors are another perfect example of mans greed. Man is a species that always wants more. Nothing can ever stop man from wanting. The Odyssey shows perfectly how hunger in a man or in several men can ruin someones life. In The Odyssey a man and his crews hunger ruin the lives of themselves and many others.It forces the men to go on a journey that could have been easily avoided. This hunger causes their own lives and the lives they meet to experience the mens hunger. These men are a perfect example of the hunger men can have in the real world. Even though Odyssey is just an epic it shows perfectly how hunger can destroy someones life. Hunger, whether a literal hunger or a hunger for power has always and will always rule peoples thoughts. If you dont control your hunger it will destroy you and everything you love.