Allusions: The Odyssey

For my allusion presentation in AP lit I have to research the Odyssey. The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus who is a great Greek hero and his journey home after the Trojan War. The story starts ten years later and suitors have already overrun his kingdom and tried to marry his wife. His Son Telemachus is not confident enough to get rid of the suitors, but is sent on a journey to find his missing father. Meanwhile Odysseus is held captive by the goddess Calypso who has fallen in love with him. He is freed by the gods and eventually reaches Scheria, the island of the Phaeacians, where he asks the king and queen for help. They promise to help him but first wish him to tell his story. So he tells them of his travels.

When Odysseus left troy the wind swept him and his men to Ismarus, city of the Cicones, they plundered the land but were attacked before they could leave and lost 6 men per ship. A storm sent by Zeus then sweeps them along for 9 days until they end up in the land of the Lotus eaters. Here some of his men ate intoxicating fruit that made them want to stay but they eventually dragged them off the island. They then sailed to the land of the Cyclops, where when trying to steal sheep, milk, and cheese from Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon all his men are captured and 2 are eaten. To escape Odysseus devises a plan and gets Polyphemus drunk and tells him that his name is “nobody”. When Polyphemus falls asleep they stab him in the eye and he yells out “nobody is killing me”. In the morning they escape the cave on the belly of sheep and once safe on their ship Odysseus reveals his true identity. Polyphemus then prays to Poseidon for revenge.

From there they sail to Aeolus, ruler of the wind, and he gives Odysseus a bag of wind and then provides him with winds that will guide him home. When they are in sight of Ithaca the men open the bag thinking that it is filled with secret gold and the winds take them all the way back to Aeolus who refuses to help them this time. Without wind they row to land of the Laestrygonians, a race of giants who eat Odysseus’s scouts. The rest of the men flee towards their ships but the giants throw boulders and sink all the ships except Odysseus’. They then travel to Aeaea the home of Circes, a witch-goddess, who turns a bunch of the men into pigs. Hermes comes to Odysseus and gives him an herb that will protect him from her spells and he is able to overpower her and makes her turn all his men back. Odysseus then falls in love with Circe and they live in luxury for a year before continuing their journey home. When he asks Circe how to get home she says he must travel to the underworld and speak with the spirit of Tiresias.

                Odysseus travels to the River of Ocean and performs a sacrifice as instructed, and dead souls begin to appear. He talks with Tiresias who tells him that he is being punished by Poseidon, and also says that he will return home, but must make a trip to a distant land to appease Poseidon. He warns Odysseus not to touch the flocks of the sun. After seeing many other souls he becomes frightened and sails away. He sails back to Aeaea where Circe tells him of the obstacles he will face and says to plug his ears with beeswax when they approach the island of the Sirens. Once they pass the Sirens they must navigate directly through Scylla, a six headed monster, and Charybdis, an enormous whirlpool. He chooses to go closer to Scylla who eats six men. Odysseus comes to Thrinacia, the island of the Sun and is stuck there for a month. His crew disobeys his orders not to touch the cattle on the island, and Zeus punishes sending a storm that kills all of them except Odysseus and sends him back to Charybdis which he narrowly escapes and floats to Ogygia, Calypso’s island. Odysseus stops his story here.

In the morning he returns to his kingdom and plots to slaughter all of the suitors who took over his kingdom while he was gone. He and Telemachus hide all of their weapons why they are sleeping. The next day Penelope promises to marry whoever can shoot an arrow through 12 axes. All the suitors try and fail, but then Odysseus tries and succeeds and follows with a second arrow through one of the suitors throats. At this point an entire battle breaks out, but Athena joins and it ends quickly. The disloyal servants are executed. Odysseus then proves his true identity to Penelope by telling her that their bed is immovable. And finally a mob of the suitors parents attempt to kill Odysseus but Athena makes them forget everything and peace is restored.