The Oddyssey of Homer - Essay Example

World Literature March 3, Topic: The Odyssey of Homer –“But now Telemachos…….their eyes wept.” Homer, with the use of the simile, has the capacity to hold the readers spellbound. Odysseus was on his voyage of war for one decade and his sojourn was extended further for equal number of years for the fructification of his efforts to come home. Twenty years absence is fairly a long one in any type of relationship. Things are not good for him when he re-visits his royal abode Ithaca.

When ultimately he lands there, his sympathiser and helper goddess dresses him up as an aged individual. He reaches the cottage of his faithful swineherd Eumaios and learns about the conditions prevailing there. In the meanwhile Telemachos returns to Ithaca from his overseas errands to lookout for his father. The father-son duo had not met each other for about two decades as Telemachos was a breast-feeding infant in the tender care of Penelope. At an appropriate moment, when Eumaios departs, Odyessus tells his son about his real identity.

The immediate reaction of Telemachos to breaking of this news is one of disbelief. He has been craving to see his father and all these years he lives in disillusionment and concludes that he will never be fortunate enough to meet his father. In the end, when the reality dawns upon him that the old figure right in front of him is his father, he embraces Odysseus, recollecting the agony of their decades of separation. Paternal love is a universal theme that catches and appeals to the emotions of one and all.

In this epic Homer introduces this simile at the most unexpected juncture. When the father and son meet after such a big gap, both turn emotional and realise the depth of their losses. Telemachos is the great son of his famous warrior-father. To emphasise his stand on the parental love, Homer gives the example of birds not mammals. Avian parents, as intimate guards, are full of love for their offspring, but the fathers from the mammals do not help their offspring much. Ospreys or vultures mentioned by Homer are fearsome and strong birds.

Yet when they are separated from their offspring, they suffer intense anguish. Homer narrates the depth of suffering of Odysseus and Telemachos with this example and how intense are their feelings when being reunited. Telemachoss has not seen his father throughout his life and it is his first meeting. Introducing vulture’s heart to emphasise the joy of reunion is a unique literary credit brought by Homer. This is an uncommon comparison and with this simile Homer drives home his point hard and perfect.

This is a good comparison of the emotions of man and animal. He brings to the fore how parental love is important without which the life of an individual remains incomplete. A great warrior like Odysseus almost breaks down at the sight of his long-lost son. Telemachos is also unable to control his emotions and more than happy to receive the destined gift. “Such was their pitiful cry and the tears their eyes wept” (Ody.16.213-219) is aptly applicable to the mental condition of both the father and son.

Homer’s description of their plight, “But now Telemachos folded his great father in his arms and lamented, shedding tears, and desire for mourning rose in both of them,”(Ody.16.213-219) is the unique description of Greek civilisation which believes in the fated events over which human beings have no control . The stalemate of their destined separation is mended by another stroke of destiny, this time the benevolent one. The simile describing the reunion of father and son is the most heart-wrenching one.

A man of the stature of Odysseus crying is not an ordinary event. It takes the reader’s breath away. Works CitedHomer. The Odyssey. 8-6c bce. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin, 1996.