Loneliness in Odyssey, Article Review Example

The Odyssey is perhaps one of the greatest epic stories ever told.  The reader is taken on the adventures of Odysseus as he encounters many creatures, adventures and difficulties along his epic journey.  Many of these stories have captured audiences worldwide for centuries because of the admiration and entertainment that these stories provide.  The Odysseyallows the audience to escape from their everyday lives into a long lost world.  While many of the events in the epic involve action and suspense, one of the main themes of the story involves loneliness.  Without this theme of loneliness, many of the characters are not compelled to act in many of the ways that they do throughout the story.

The first sign of loneliness comes from the first time that Odysseus is introduced to the audience.  He is alone on Kalypso’s beach as he experiences a sense of languish away from home.  The hero shows no sign of panic although he continues to think much about his home that he longs to return to.  His loneliness is heightened when he loses his brother-in-arms and his sole shipmate in the Trojan War.  Odysseus’ loneliness was so great that he even agreed to become the lover of the gorgeous goddess and commit adultery against his wife.  Homer emphasizes this factor to the audience because the loneliness theme forces many of the characters to engage in behaviors they may not otherwise perform simply to avoid or escape from loneliness.  Many of the problems that Odysseus encounters are direct tests of his loneliness and how the loneliness may impact his decision-making and morals.  For instance, even though Odysseus is plagued by the fear that his wife may be committing adultery against him in his absence, he performs the same acts with the goddess to avoid loneliness in his own journey.

In addition to the problems that plague Odysseus, many of the other characters within the epic also experience much loneliness which impact their own decision-making and actions.  For instance, the character Telemakhos was never able to see his father and he spends much time worrying about this because he is afraid of spending the rest of his life alone without having any close family members in his life.  The situation influences Telemakhos and forces him to experience loneliness.  Within the story, he says “Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something” (Thalmann 16).  This statement is meant to suggest that loneliness should not be kept within and forced to cause pain to the individual.  Instead, the individual must use loneliness to act accordingly and spur that person to “finding something” to fill the void in their life.

Penelope also experiences much loneliness in the absence of her husband.  Due to the older culture, the woman was meant to be the servant for the man while the husband was the sole provider for the family.  Penelope’s loneliness forces her to question her security and experiences a scenario where she has doubt that her husband will ever return to her.  These unknown circumstances and experiences impact much of her personal psyche along with that of the rest of the characters. Homer’s intention of loneliness as the main theme again is illustrated by forcing the ego and the psychological health of the individual to be harmed.  This is an inherent message that the purpose of human life is not to be spent alone but to encounter, interact and live with other people.  For this reason, one of the greatest punishments that a man or woman can experience for any crime or action is being banished to a solitary land.  This is exactly what happens to Odysseus for his decision to behave immorally as the lover of the goddess.  Odysseus sums up the pain of loneliness by stating that “we’re born alone, we live alone, and we die alone.  Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re not alone” (Thalmann 26).  It is clear that if this illusion is fulfilled by many of the characters in The Odyssey, it is unlikely that many of the poor decisions that are made by these characters would ever actually have occurred.  Homer would state that loneliness is the greatest pain and punishment that a human being can encounter.

Work Cited

Thalmann, William G. The Odyssey: An Epic of Return. New York: Twayne Publishers,  (1992).