The Odyssey: the Devil (or not) on your shoulders

Since humans first learned to observe their own behaviour and convey it through writing, art, and other mediums, we have struggled to determine how our own actions line up with our values of what is right or wrong. In the Odyssey, while the great hero Odysseus is portrayed as, well, a hero, a deeper look into his own actions, his relationships to and compared with the gods, as well as the cultural values he exhibits shine light onto the grey area of the question at hand: are humans inherently good, or evil?


Throughout the entire epic, Odysseus’ name is paired with epithets that proclaim his sature: godlike, great, tactful, many-minded, great hearted. However, while every epithet is intended to in some way bolster his heroic image, many of them come with more negative connotations, at least for those of us living in the modern age. Lets consider a few: Lord of the lies, the city sacker, man of exploits, and mastermind of war. The first one clearly refers to Odysseus’ clever wit and cunning mind, something that the epic largely focuses on as a clear asset, and something making him near comparable to the gods. However, it could be argued that while his cunning does benefit him, it causes a lot of external fallout. For example, when he finally returns to Ithaca, he keeps his identity secret to those he loves in order to “test” them. Even though he witnesses the sorrow from Eumaus over his loss, and the sheer pain and grief plaguing his own wife, he chooses not to end that suffering by revealing his identity and chooses instead to prolong it intentionally to test their loyalty.


The other three epithets largely have to do with his actions in the Trojan war. While we only get vague recollections of certain events from the time, Odysseus clearly was instrumental in manipulating the situation, exploiting the Trojans, and burning their city to the ground. As heroic as this may seem on the part of the Greeks, viewed from the Trojans perspective, Odysseus quickly turns from a figure of godliness to a symbol of destruction, death, and hatred. The Odyssey clearly states how Odysseus and his men sacked the city, pillaged it, and raped and murdered its citizens with brutality.


Over the course of his journey home, we see many more of these paradoxical situations; the blinding of Polyphemus, the slaughtering of the suitors, his choice to hang the disloyal slave girls. Every time Odysseus has fair intentions, escaping death, vengeance, and asserting his rightful authority, but we only see them through the very limited view of Odysseus himself. I believe this is exactly what undermines the assumption that anyone is inherently good, or inherently bad; regardless of the action, there are always multiple perspectives that cast a heavy shadow over what is right versus what is wrong, and it all depends on whose eyes you're looking through. Regardless, it should be noticed that Odysseus, while harsh in some ways, shows incredible strength and character when facing the challenges of his journey home, and for the context within which he lived, I'd say he had good intentions and acted well on them. So the answer to the age old question?





Perspective