Odysseus's Fate In The Odyssey

In the epic poem, The Odyssey it is Zeus’s job to keep the gods at peace. Poseidon wants to punish Odysseus for his wrongdoings, whereas Athena wants him to have a safe journey home. This leaves Zeus in a difficult position. In Book five Zeus decides on the fate of Odysseus. As a result of Zeus’s decision he is able to please both of the gods, but also is able to test Odysseus and what he is willing to sacrifice in order to return back home. Odysseus’s fate is determined by Zeus and produces a structure for the epic poem. Athena, in Book five of The Odyssey attempts to convince her father Zeus to permit Odysseus safe passage home. She tells her father what has happened to both Odysseus and his son since the war in Troy. Athena’s plea to Zeus is sufficient enough to convince him to permit her to use her skills grant Odysseus passage home. In Book five Odysseus is being help captive by Calypso. Zeus sends the messenger god Hermes to direct Calypso to release Odysseus. What Zeus does next is genius; he never guaranteed to his daughter that Odysseus’s journey home would be easy. In order to satisfy both Poseidon and Athena, Zeus decides Odysseus’s fate: no, on a lashed, makeshift raft wrung with pains, on the twentieth day he will make his landfall, fertile Scheria, the land of the Pheacians, close kin to the gods themselves, …show more content…
He is allowing Odysseus to land in a place where he will be treated like a god. Odysseus will be given more riches than he ever would have earned from the war in Troy. He has to be willing to leave all of this, get on a ship and return to his wife and child. It is only if Odysseus is able to leave Scheria, and make it back to Ithaca intact with his fair share, will he be able to see his family again. Odysseus must be willing to put his family and his home, ahead of his desire for fame and