Who Is To Blame In The Odyssey

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The Blame Game The Odyssey has many patterns and themes that become more prevalent as the story goes on. One pattern that seem to be repeated often was that the the gods felt that they were always being blamed by the mortal people. Some people in the Odyssey seem to just blame the gods when they don’t know who to blame, even when it isn’t the gods fault. On the other hand sometimes when the mortal people blame the gods it is the gods fault, but either way people still blame the gods.

The first example we see of a mortal person blaming the gods is with Telemachus at his house talking to Athena, who was in disguise. Telemachus said, “Now the gods have reserved our fortunes with a vengeance-”(Book I: Line 272). Telemachus blames the gods on behalf of the fact that Odysseus is gone. Odysseus has a feeling of “vengeance” towards the gods because he wants to meet his father, but he is unable to have that opportunity to so. Odysseus has no one to blame in this situation but the gods, because he feels that it is there fault. Secondly, a little later on in the story a similar comment comes from telemachus again. Telemachus said “Bards are not to blame- Zeus is to blame. He
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Although Odysseus doesn’t have a direct strait quote saying that he blames the gods, his actions tell otherwise. It started out at the beginning when Odysseus longed to get home and see his wife but faced Poseidon’s rage and ended up on an island with the lustrous goddess, Calypso. Later in the story Odysseus is seen “weeping...sobs and groans of anguish” (Book V: Line 94-95). Odysseus is angry about not being home and the only person he can blame is the gods, specifically Poseidon and Calypso, because they are the ones preventing him from going home and seeing his family. Odysseus’ actions show his anger and bitterness towards the gods for not allowing him to travel