Free Literature Review On Love In Odyssey

The Odyssey is a novel by Homer. It is based on a love story which describes the adventures of Odysseus. It tells of Odysseus encounter of hardships as he struggles to get back home after the war to the people he loved and his family who thought he died during the war. One of the major themes in the Odyssey is the theme of love. The theme of love is very strong and powerful as it becomes a major driving force for Odysseus as he embarks on his journey through hardships back home to his family after the Trojan War.
In the Odyssey, Odysseus and Penelope’s lasting relationship is an apparent presentation of love. The bond between the husband and wife is seen to be very strong as they fight just to end up together again. Odysseus was gone for twenty years but he never forgot about his faithful wife Penelope back at home in Ithaca. The love he had for his wife made him endure a lot of hardships just to get back home and be with her. This can be seen when he refused the choice offered by Calypso whereby he was to be protected from immortality and future foes if he chose to stay with her. Because of the love Odysseus had for Penelope, he rejected the offer and opted to go through the hard way as long as he is not unfaithful to his wife. This act by Odysseus proves that nothing could stop the love he felt for Penelope and his returning home to his family even if it meant suffering.
Odysseus’ wife Penelope exemplifies the same kind of love for her husband. While back at home alone for twenty years in Ithaca, Penelope remained loyal and faithful to her husband. She delayed the marriages planned for her with the many unruly suitors who wanted to marry her because she loved her husband and had hopes that he was to come back some day. Despite people believing that Odysseus was dead, she had hopes that he was still alive and that one day, he was going to show up and they be together again. The love she felt for Odysseus made her strong and that is why she turned down all marriage proposals since she believed he was alive and that he will show up some day. Everybody else thought that Odysseus was dead but she never gave up, she always hoped that he was still alive and this was because of the strong love between the two of them. The love she had for him made her strong and could not be broken by anyone.
The Odyssey also illustrates other relationships where love is depicted. There is father and son relationship which is between Odysseus and his son Telemachus. They were separated from each other for twenty years but they both longed to meet each other one day. While the husband and wife relationship in the Odyssey was very strong, the father-son relationship between Odysseus and Telemachus was incredibly strong and in a very unique way. Two people who have never seen each other but they just love each other and hope to meet and be together. Even though Telemachus grew up without his father and never got to develop a close bond with him, he grew up being fond of a father he had never seen and loved him in his absence. They both never got to meet each other and share in their lives but they grew fond of each other and cared for each other too. This can be seen whereby Telemachus escapes from home in Ithaca to go get more information on his father who he had never seen; he was just curious if he was dead or still alive for he longed to meet him because he missed the fatherly love. He desperately needed a father figure for help and guidance in his life and this made him go find information about his father for he longed to meet him and share his life with him. Telemachus longed for his father to come home to them as they needed his love and protection. His mother was being lured into getting married again yet she loved Odysseus and he was the only one who could come and rescue her from the unruly suitors. The love Telemachus had for his father kept him strong as it gave him the strength to carry on despite life issues and his absence. The love between father and son is seen when they meet and even though they do not know each other, they bond very well in a tearful emotion.
The theme of love is also shown between father and son and this time between Odysseus and his father Laertes. The father-son relationship between Odysseus and Laertes was shockingly touching and strong. When Odysseus arrived home, he decided to go see his father but in disguise as he had believed that he was dead. He pretended to be Odysseus’s friend but could not do it any longer as he could not stand the sadness in his father’s eyes. Laertes cried with lots of pain because he loved his son and this made Odysseus tell the truth that he was his son. He could not hide his identity any more because of the love he had his father and he could not stand his pain over him. The strong love between them is seen when Odysseus reveals to his father that he was indeed his son, Laertes anguish and sorrow turned into an immeasurable happiness as Odysseus was assumed dead.
The anguish that Laertes felt when Odysseus pretended shows how much a father loved his son and could not stop crying for confirming that he was indeed dead. When his anguish turned into an overwhelming happiness, it proves that love cures grief and pain as the love between them was able to heal Laertes suffering over a dead son who was still alive.
In conclusion, love is a very powerful theme in the novel Odyssey. The story is an adventure of Odysseus and how he struggles to be with the people he loves. It is the love between a husband and wife, father and son that gave the characters in the novel the strength to carry on. Love is an emotional theme in the Odyssey as evidenced by the relationship between Odysseus and his wife Penelope, Odysseus and his son Telemachus as well as the relationship between Odysseus and his father Laertes. If it was not for love, Odysseus would have died as there could be nothing to fight for but he did fight all the obstacles just to go back home to Penelope, his son and his father as they are the people he loved. Also, Penelope would have remarried any suitor if not for the love he had for his husband Odysseus. She never gave up on her love for him despite everyone else believing that he was dead. The theme of love is very evident in this novel and their lives prove that love cannot be broken.