Symbol of Water in Odyssey (Essay Sample)

Name: Name of Professor: Course Title: Date: Symbol of Water in Odyssey The Odyssey, by Hommer, has used many literary devices to represent ideas. The book uses symbolism to help the reader to look beyond the story into the deeper meaning the various elements in the story represent. One of the main ideas in Odyssey is the mention of water. It has the power of giving life but still hold the potential of killing you. As Odysseus travels through his voyages, he encounters water at many places. Water has been used to symbolize the troublesome times in the life that can and do come to human beings. This paper will look at the various aspects of water in Odysseus that make it symbolic. Water is symbolic of destruction. Although water is essential for one to live it brings much harm to Odysseus as he constantly mentions of water as an agent of death. Water brings death to many and he nearly drowns. The ocean swallows him down then belches him up the shore. In Chapter 10, Odysseus encounters a storm that ravages the city. Odysseus thinks to himself, “the rain must stop. The storm should cease. Let the directions be clear and sea calm.”. After the storm, it is evident the storm has sunk the raft they had built from scratch and everything in it. In many of his conflicting thought, he always wonders how the sky pour and the sea can be that violent. He accidentally gets to Orgia after the sea becomes violent sinking his ship and killing his crew except for him-who washes ashore. This experience is destructive of his spirit and Odysseus feels like he is draining like the sea. When Eurylochus disobey Odysseus command and persuades the crew to slaughter the cattle of the sun he faces the god’s wrath. Zeus punishes Odysseus and his men by kicking up a storm that destroys the ship and sends the entire crew to its death beneath the waves. As predicted only Odysseus survives. Here water is used by gods as a destruction to those who disobey. Numerous traditions around the world can concur that the sea can destroy life and good deed. The Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh tells of a flood. This story is almost similar to that of Bible in the Old Testament, in Noah story where God uses water to destroy wicked and evil doers. In Moby Dick, there is mention of the legendary sea monster that Captain Ahab strives to kill. The water is symbolic of the obscureness of the sea. It represents a world that is silent and calm but has cruel people ready to harm others. The sea teems with voracious monsters. Scylla who yelp like a dog has six frightful mouths, with three rows of teeth in each. Charybdis, the whirlpool sucks black water down three times per day and three times daily spews it again. When confronted by the two monsters, he has two chose between Charybdis and the Sycylla. Though he chooses Circa advice and steer closer to Scylla, he still loses six of his men when she came out of her cave and took them. The presence of monsters in a sea that appears calm and offers beautiful and cooling breezes is a sharp contrast. Tradition around the world also talk of sea monsters in the sea symbolizing hidden threat. In the Hebrew book of the Bible, the story of Jonah is descriptive of this obscureness of water. When he disobeys God by boarding a ship to Tarshish instead of Nineveh, he is punished by being swallowed by a giant fish. However, the monster vomits him in Nineveh. In Moby Dick, the writer says, “Scarcely had we proceeded two days on the sea when about sunrise a great many whales and other monsters of the sea appeared (p.xii)”. In Babylonian mythology, Tiamat the sea monster threatens to overthrow the gods. The multiheaded sea serpent Leviathan is mentioned in Psalms 74:14. However, it is killed by God and fed to the Hebrews in the wilderness. Sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis, are two irresistible females at the Strait of Messina. Water is symbolic of separation. When all the Greeks have travelled back from Troy, it emerges that Odysseus is missing. When a search is done, he is nowhere to be found. Telemarko bitterly wails of his father’s missing. He says, “if he were dead, I would not grieve for him so much. If the army had killed him at Troy the Greeks would have made a tomb for him”. The symbolism is by the sea making his father invisible by separating them from each other. To lose a parent is disorienting especially if we are young like Telemarkhos. The confusion it arouses changes our sense of who we are. ThoughTough with time we can move on, the young man is unable. Unbeknown to him Odysseus is travelling and having a rough time in his voyage through the sea. The twenty years that have passed overwhelm his emotion and yearns to meet him. In the Greek’s customs, it was always a taboo to leave someone unaccounted for. Water is also a distractor. When the sea turns tumultuous, Odysseus loses the ship and men. Odysseus washes ashore ate the island of Orgia. Here, he is held captive for more than seven years by a beautiful sea nymph, Calypso. Calypso rules the island. Calypso refuses to help him go back home but instead offers him everything from sex to immortality. However, she offers these options to persuade him from forgetting Penelope and his family in Ithaca. The Island is described as having luxurious fruits and vegetation and covered with lush fields and meadows. Caves on the island are for shelter. Here the sea is symbolic as having led Odysseus to his distraction. Distraction can be a great copi...