Once Odysseus and his men arrive at the world of the dead, they dig a trench and offer sacrifices as Circle command they do. When the sacrifices were offered up, countless ghosts appeared. He asked Odysseus to give him a proper burial when the crew returned to Aeaea, which Odysseus eagerly agreed to do. Anticleia, Odysseus's mother, was the next ghost that appeared, but Odysseus did not let her come near the blood. Ghosts in the land of the dead are concerned with one custom: Elpenor cares that he is laid to rest at a proper burial site. When Odysseus meets the ghost of his mother, we see the degree to which he is willing to sacrifice personal feeling and devotion when he disobeys his own mother in order to follow Circe's commands.
Tiresias …show more content…
Tiresias prophecies that the men will return home if they leave the Cattle of the Sun unharmed. (279) If they kill the cattle, Odysseus will come home by himself. But before settling down, he will have to make one more journey far away from any body of water and offer sacrifices to Poseidon. It is then that all his traveling comes to an end. In Tiresias's prophecy, we see divine justice: the men have harmed something sacred to the gods, and to save themselves they must refrain from harming something else dear to the gods, no matter what. Odysseus asked Tiresias how to speak to his mother’s ghost and Tiresias explained that a ghost would speak only if it drank the animals' blood. When Odysseus let his mother drink the blood, she instantly recognized him. She told him that Penelope was still grieving and waited for him, that Telemachus still had his estate, and that his father was lonely and poor. She herself died of …show more content…
His wife's behavior, he said, stained all women everywhere. He advised Odysseus to not tell his wife what he knows, and to arrive home in secret. Speaking with his mother makes Odysseus miss his family but talking to Agamemnon has the opposite effect on him. Though Odysseus loves his family, he must treat them with suspicion: he must employ cunning in dealing with friends and enemies both. One must always keep oneself partially
Tiresias …show more content…
Tiresias prophecies that the men will return home if they leave the Cattle of the Sun unharmed. (279) If they kill the cattle, Odysseus will come home by himself. But before settling down, he will have to make one more journey far away from any body of water and offer sacrifices to Poseidon. It is then that all his traveling comes to an end. In Tiresias's prophecy, we see divine justice: the men have harmed something sacred to the gods, and to save themselves they must refrain from harming something else dear to the gods, no matter what. Odysseus asked Tiresias how to speak to his mother’s ghost and Tiresias explained that a ghost would speak only if it drank the animals' blood. When Odysseus let his mother drink the blood, she instantly recognized him. She told him that Penelope was still grieving and waited for him, that Telemachus still had his estate, and that his father was lonely and poor. She herself died of …show more content…
His wife's behavior, he said, stained all women everywhere. He advised Odysseus to not tell his wife what he knows, and to arrive home in secret. Speaking with his mother makes Odysseus miss his family but talking to Agamemnon has the opposite effect on him. Though Odysseus loves his family, he must treat them with suspicion: he must employ cunning in dealing with friends and enemies both. One must always keep oneself partially