Free Will In Homer's The Odyssey

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Essay Assignment: The Odyssey
In The Odyssey, the gods and humans are faced with decisions that will shape their destiny. Gods, the most powerful beings in existence, are the nature that shapes the humans’ surroundings. Unlike the humans, the gods have complete control over their actions and are only influenced by emotion and each other. The humans rarely have anything that they are in complete control of other than their individuality. Their surroundings, encounters, and journeys are the gods’ interventions in their lives. While the gods manipulate the situations the humans are in, the humans’ choices prove to be of their own free will. The actions of the gods influence the people's’ fate, but ultimately, humans are responsible for their …show more content…
free will. Fate is the destiny that the gods influence, but free will is when the humans have their own decision to make. The gods control the physical situations the humans are in, but do not directly control the humans’ choices. “Temptation had its way with my companions, and they untied the bag. Then every wind roared into hurricane; the ships went pitching west with many cries; our land was lost.” It might have been fate that led to Odysseus receiving the winds from Aiolos, but the greed of his companions is what caused their downfall. It was of their own free will they decided to open Odysseus’s bag, not fate. “Son of Laertes, versatile Odysseus, after these years with me, you still desire your old home? Even so, I wish you well.” (p87) Kalypso is giving Odysseus the choice to leave or stay, which is free will. The gods controlled the situations that led up to his choice, but ultimately it is his decision to stay or leave. “‘Come, we’ll cut out the noblest of these cattle and once at home, in the old country of Ithaka, if ever that day comes - we’ll build a costly temple and adorn it with every beauty for the Lord of Noon. But if he flares up over his heifers lost, wishing our ship destroyed, and if the gods make cause with him, why, then I say: Better open your lungs to a big sea once for all than waste to skin and bones on a lonely island!’”(p221) Odysseus’s crew is desperate for food, so they decide to eat Helios’ cattle. They know that there will be possible consequences and Odysseus has warned them against it, but they do it anyway by their own free will. This was not controlled by the gods, because it was their own decision to sacrifice the cattle when Odysseus wasn’t there to stop them. Many events influenced by the gods lead up to human actions, but their choices are never directly affected by the gods, and are always made of their own free
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