External Forces Odysseus Faces

In the book, The Odyssey by Homer , there are many internal and external conflicts that affect Odysseus from getting back home to Ithaca. Odysseus struggles with several external conflicts more because most of the Gods have grudges against him. Some of the Gods are giving him great harm, mostly poseidon, to try and keep him from reaching home because they know that's his one and only desire. For example, Polyphemus ( son of Poseidon ), traps Odysseus and some of his men in a cave, and then he eats two of Odysseus's men. To be able to escape, Odysseus gets Polyphemus drunk and stabs him in the eye with a piece of burned wood. This is an external conflict, because he uses things other than what he can control such as being sober or not to lure Polyphemus to becoming drunk. By blinding poseidon's son, this creates a huge problem against Poseidon. Poseidon gains a lot of anger and delays Odysseus's journey to 10 years. Since Poseidon delayed his journey back home this is a major external force throughout the whole book that Odysseus struggles going through in order to get back home to Ithaca. Secondly, when Odysseus and his men travel to Aeaea ( home of a goddess names Circe ), Circe drugs some of Odysseus's men and turns them into pigs. Soon Odysseus becomes Circe's lover and him and his men stay with her for a year. He asks Circe to help him get back home but then she says he can't unless he visits the land of the dead to meet with Teiresias for more guidance on getting back home. This external force affects Odysseus by getting him to travel even more and holding him back yet another year from getting back home. If Odysseus meets with new people and they just keep suggesting that the next person will have directions on getting home, then the cycle just repeats and Odysseus never gets home.

Cite this page