The Role Of Gods In The Odyssey Free Essay Example

Have you ever questioned why everything is the way it is? That is an ongoing question that everyone tends to ponder, particularly the writers of The Odyssey. As a result, the gods were used in place of their question. In The Odyssey, Odysseus constantly struggled with different events throughout the story. However, this does not mean that it was Odysseus who caused his problems. Odysseus was a good man who just got himself into many difficult situations due to his luck. Therefore, the gods in The Odyssey are another name for events that happen outside the control of human beings.

First, in the time period The Odyssey takes place, there was no scientific reasoning for why certain events occurred. Consequently, the gods were used in place of the lack of reasoning. While the story made it seem that the gods were in control, the whole story was just based on Odysseus’ luck. An example of this was when a storm occurred while Odysseus was out in the middle of the sea. It states in the text, "As he spoke a sea broke over him with such terrific fury that the raft reeled again, and he was carried overboard a long way off. He let go the helm, and the force of the hurricane was so great that it broke the mast half way up, and both sail and yard went over into the sea" (Homer 5). The book included how Poseidon was angry about how Odysseus stabbed his son’s eye and caused the storm. However, Odysseus was in the middle of the ocean, and this could have easily occurred to any person in the ocean. The story being in this time was not able to name what caused the storm, so they named the god to have caused it. Odysseus could have been the most astounding person to exist, and still be caught up in the storm. The author used Poseidon to justify the reasoning for the storm, certifying that Odysseus had no control over this.

Next, there was a meeting to discuss Odysseus’ situation. The author reveals how the gods had gathered together to consider different possibilities for Odysseus. This meeting, however, is used to foreshadow what happens to Odysseus next. For example, in the text, Jupiter had said, “Mercury, you are our messenger, go therefore and tell Calypso we have decreed that poor Ulysses is to return home.” (Homer 5). The gods represent Odysseus’ luck, and as a result, foreshadows how Odysseus would eventually get home. Just as how the gods were used to name outside events that occurred, whatever they discussed was used to show the change in Odysseus’ luck. There were many meetings throughout the story, and each time showed the change in Odysseus’ luck. All in all, the author used the meeting to show that Odysseus had no control over what happened to him. 

On the other hand, some people say that it was because Odysseus constantly angered the gods that he went through all his hardships. They may argue how Odysseus had stabbed Polyphemus in the eye, so Poseidon caused the storm, or how he disobeyed Helios and ended up in the underworld. While these are reasonable claims, there is also the idea that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. The events listed above still could have happened to Odysseus even if he hadn’t caused any harm. Odysseus could have completely avoided the punishments, but he just happened to get stuck in all those situations. The gods were needed in these situations for the story to make sense, and just further displayed Odysseus’ bad luck. Therefore, Odysseus’ struggles were unavoidable, and could not change anything, even if he wanted to. 

To sum up, the author used the gods in The Odyssey as another name for events humans have no control over. No matter what Odysseus did, he would have still ended up in the same cycle every time. In the end, luck was the one thing that caused Odysseus’ struggles but was also the one thing that allowed him to get home.