The Odyssey is a famous ancient Greek epic poem which is still eagerly read by those who are interested in literature. One of the reasons of such success is a story lying in the plot. Even though the story involves lots of mythical characters such as Greek gods and lots of the events are obviously unrealistic, it is still valued due to the behavior of people in this story. It is the psychology of a human what attracts a reader in a good piece of literature, and in the poem “The Odyssey” the actions of main characters may be understood and interpreted even by the modern readers which gives a wonderful sense of connection with people who lived so many centuries ago. This poem proves that human’s faults and virtues were the same in all times.
The image of Odyssey, the main character of the poem is particularly worth mentioning in terms of the discussion of this piece of literature. It is interesting to mention that Odyssey possesses all the main qualities which the main heroes of following literature works were destined to possess. Cleverness, ready wit, bravery and courage are the features which are indispensable from an attractive image of the male main character in any literary genre. And the poem provides vivid proofs of the fact that Odyssey possessed these qualities. As an example one may take his behavior in the episode when giants attacked the ships from Odyssey’s squadron. Fortunately for the main character, Odyssey was clever enough no to live his ship too close to the shore and the giants did not notice him at once. He showed himself as a really good leader at that moment, as despite the danger he managed to retain self possession and quickly gave commands to his shipmates: “I pulled the sword from beside my hip and hacked away at the ropes that moored my blue-proved ship of war and shouted rapid orders to my shipmates: “Put your backs in the oars – now row or die!” (Homer, 218). Some people may judge him for not having tried to help those who had been attacked by giants, but it should be pointed that the situation was really hopeless and the only wise decision which a good leader could have made was to save those who could be saved – which Odyssey in fact did.
The fact that the same qualities are valued in a real man and a good leader even nowadays is really amazing. It shows that some moral values do not change over the centuries and modern people and ancient Greeks had quite a lot in common, despite certain differences in worldview predetermined in many ways by the achievements of the technological progress. This poem will remain popular for many subsequent generations due to the eternal issues that it raises.
Works Cited:
Homer, Robert Fagles. The Odyssey. London: Penguin Group, 1997. Print.
