The Motivation Of Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

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In the epic poem “The Odyssey” written by the poet Homer, the main character, Odysseus, is accompanied by his crew to get to their homeland of Ithaca from Troy. The city that the Trojan War was fought at, on their way they encounter encounter many difficulties including Circe, a goddess of magic and they encounter Helios’s (god of the sun) kine (greek word for cattle). A particular crew member Eurylochus, is a striking mantis acting on the motivation of desperation and starvation.

One example of Eurylochus’s motivation of desperation is the instance where they are on Circe’s island. Odysseus’s men were tempted by the beauty of the island and Circe’s palace and she turned them into swine. Eurylochus, acting on the motivation of desperation, ran to Odysseus and told him that the men were swine. Odysseus made circe release the men. In the text it shows Eurylochus is a striking mantis because he acts fast in these situations. “The odyssey” says, “Down to the ship Eurylochus came running to cry alarm, foul magic doomed his men!” (Homer 774) This shows how fast Eurylochus reacted and why he’s a mantis. …show more content…
When Odysseus and his men ended up on the island with Helios’s kine they were starving. Eurylochus acted faster than a mantis when he chose to kill the sun god’s kine. “The Odyssey” Says, “Thus Eurylochus; and the crew murmered ‘Aye’. Trooping away at once to round up the heifers”. ( Homer 776) This shows how fast Eurylochus and the crew acted because they were starving. This decision lead to the crews demise because Helios was mad that they killed his kine. Odysseus was warned but didn’t tell the men, when they were on their voyage home their boat was struck by lightning and the crew

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