Theme of Hospitality in The Odyssey Essay Example

The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer during the late eighteenth century, and the story is about a hero and the celebration of his deeds. The protagonist, Odysseus, fights and struggles to get back to his home after the Trojan war ends. The war had lasted for ten years, and that is when the protagonist's journey began. His struggle includes fighting scary beings and terrifying monsters and escape from scary situations along his way back home. In the end, he manages to reach his home of Ithaca. Odysseus is a perfect example of a modern enlightened man who even battles with the gods to ensure that his family gets reestablished, a situation with leads to the formation of powerful dynastic families in the west. The primary purpose of this paper is to comprehensively discuss the theme of hospitality as depicted in the book.

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To a modern reader, the theme of hospitality might not seem to be an excellent theme to establish a literary work. However, Homer wanted to explain the importance of hospitality in ancient Greek society. Generosity is associated with the deeds of the person being visited and the manner in which visitors were treated when they came by. In the Greek norms, how one treated strangers or even friends when they visited talked a lot about their morals. Throughout the poem, the theme of hospitality has reoccurred, and there are different types of hosts and guests. While other people are welcoming, others like Calypso are not for she held the protagonist hostage for some years.

One of the characters who were hospitable in the tale was Penelope who was the wife to Odysseus. After ten years since the Trojan war ended, Penelope strongly believes that her husband must be dead since he has not yet come back home. Many suitors are interested in her hand in marriage, and they continuously visit her home to try their luck. Although Penelope still believes that her husband will return home one day, she welcomes the suitors to her house and urges them to feel comfortable. Having good morals was one of the essential qualities she possessed, and chasing them away would be against her moral code. Furthermore, the suitors in the tale are much more potent than Penelope and her son (Griffin 317-325).

Secondly, during his journey home, Odysseus receives a lot of help from different people. Some of the most famous people in Greece for hospitality, the Phaeacians, assist the protagonist in sailing and also taking care of him even if he is a stranger. Furthermore, Circe who is a sorceress does not turn Odysseus into a pig as she usually does to strangers. Shockingly, her servants receive him warmly, serve him food, and give him comfort due to the belief that being kind and generous to visitors leads to be gifted by the gods. However, even if Circe is not eating her guests, she is doing another evil thing, serving them with poisoned food by adding malignant drugs to their meal to make them forget their country (Griffin, 229-241)

Thirdly, another instance of hospitality occurs when Telemachus secretly goes away in search of Nestor who is missing. Telemachus meets with Athene, and on first sight, the latter welcomes him even without inquiring about his identity. Telemachus is invited to join the rest of the guests at the banquet that is in progress. It is only after he has had enough food and drinks that he is asked about his identity and where he comes from. From the scenario explained above, it is clear that it was a Greek's culture to offer food and entertainment to guests and strangers before attending to anything else (Griffin 118-124, 130-134).

Menelaus, brother to Agamemnon and husband to Helen, is a leader in the Trojan war. At one point in the tale, the warrior offers to grant assistance to Telemachus as he is in his journey to find his father. In the story, Menelaus confesses that he and his men received a lot of warmth from others in the past and that he leaves them in Zeus' hands to bless them. He also instructed that the people who helped him before to be invited over to his place to feast. On this note, Menelaus gives the reader insights on why the rules of hospitality are crucial. He treats his guests in the best way possible because they once hosted him appropriately in the past (Griffin 33-36).

At one moment in book six, Nausicaa meets Odysseus at Scherie shores, and the first impression of the protagonist to the former character is intimidation. Even if Nausicaa feels fearful after this encounter with the protagonist, Nausicaa thinks that it is his duty to help the stranger. In the tale, she tells Odysseus that since he has arrived in their land, he will not lack anything. However, the Phaiakians were fond of treating people in the right manner, not because they are generally good, but because it makes them look nice (Griffin 191-193).

However, some of the people depicted in the poem are not welcoming, therefore going against the culture of the Greek society which strongly advocates for hospitality. For instance, Polyphemus shows no concern about guests and even goes ahead to insult the gods. In the end, he is punished and becomes blind to teach him a lesson.

Conclusion

In his book, Homer uses the theme of hospitality to aid the readers in differentiating the protagonist and the antagonists. The Greek had a unique name, Xenia, which they used to refer to the act of hospitality and they have a leader referred to as Zeus, the king of the gods. On this note, the culture of gift giving and generosity plays a significant role in Greek society and is essential. Those who do not practice it face the wrath and this theme was the most prominent in the entire book. The primary lesson taught by this virtue is that every society is obligated to assist others when they are in need. Only the poor and the less fortunate in the community were allowed not to accommodate guests.

On the other hand, the wealthiest members of society gave the best food and gifts to strangers. Practicing the virtue was the best way to impress the gods in the Greek culture. Learning from such norms of societies such as Greece, we can better our modern ideological situations through welcoming and helping others when they are in need even when we do not know them or where they come from.

Works Cited

Griffin, Jasper. "Homer: The Odyssey." 2003.