Odyssey

Destiny or Determination?

In The Odyssey, is seems as if fate plays a bigger part than free will. The gods practically control the Greek's lives! If they do something to anger the gods, the gods will retaliate. For example, Zeus is very harsh to Odysseus which doesn't help him with his journey. In book five, Odysseus needs help escaping from Calypso. His escape doesn't go smoothly until Hermes shows up with a message from Zeus. In the italics on page 1208 it says "Hermes explains that he has brought with an order form Zeus that Calypso must not detain Odysseus any longer but send him on his way home." Later, in lines 56-59 it says "O forlorn man, be still. Here you need grieve no more; you need not feel your life consumed here; I have pondered it, and I shall help you go…" (Homer 1208). During another obstacle in The Odyssey, the homecoming, Athena helps to turn Odysseus into a beggar. If Odysseus was to return home as himself, he would have been killed. In book 16 it says "But there were two men in the mountain hut- Odysseus and the swineherd." (Homer 1242). During this time, Odysseus was disguised as the old beggar, because Telemachus didn't recognize his own father. At the end of book 16, Athena helps Odysseus turn back into a man. In lines 61-65 it says "she tipped her golden wand upon the man making his cloak pure white and the knit tunic fresh around him. Lithe and young she made him ruddy with sun, his jawline clean, the beard no longer grew upon his chin. And she withdrew when she had done." Overall, its quite evident that predestination plays a bigger part than free will. Without Athena, Odysseus probably would have been killed a while back in the story. All in all, the Greeks couldn't control they're destiny, it was all apart of fate.