Customer center

We are a boutique essay service, not a mass production custom writing factory. Let us create a perfect paper for you today!

Example research essay topic: Return Home Journey Home - 1,563 words

NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote

... s that Dionysus rescues Ariadne and marries her however Homer claims in book X 1 her fate is death at the hands of Artemis because of her witness to Dionysus. The basic principle is that Ariadne was abandoned by the man she loved whatever her final fate. COMPARISON FOR THE MYTH Likewise we can take the myth of Aeneas and Dido. Virgil wrote a poignant and sorrowful account in The Aneaid. It is said that he pays homage to Homer by using Aeneas as his hero the wondered similar to Odysseus.

Theseus journey brings him to the land of Carthage where he falls in love with Queen Dido. Just as Odysseus reveals himself eventually to the Phaeacian's so does Aeneas to the Carthaginians. Dido falls hopelessly in love with Aeneas and they are married. However things are not as they seem. Once more we have the gods interfering with man.

This time it is Hera (juno) wife of Zeus (Jupiter) who concocts a plan with the help of Aphrodite (Venus) goddess of love all because Dido would not marry whom the gods initially wished. In book 1 V of The Aneaid by Virgil the schemes that ultimately destroy Dido are revealed when Hera says to Aphrodite listen and I shall explain in a few words how the first part of the plan may be carried out. At this point Aeneas and Dido are preparing themselves to go out hunting. Hera goes on with her plan I shall pour down a dark storm of rain and hail on them and shake the whole sky with thunder. It appears obvious that Hera wants the two to be left completely along together possible compromising them both. Hera continues Dido and the leader of the Trojans will both take refuge in the same cave.

I shall join them in lasting marriage and make her his. This will be their wedding. This is a terrible trick because Dido believed this was her marriage and saw no shame in proclaiming her love for Aeneas but her people thought otherwise and did not believe she was married to Aeneas, which spoiled her reputation. Dido was crazed with love at this stage and saw only her future with Aeneas as important. Virgil goes on with this tragic story, which ends in Aeneas abandoning Dido because the gods remind him of his proposed journey and obligations. Dido feeling bereft at such cruel behaviour from her beloved builds a funeral pyre and kills herself as she sees Aeneas sail out of the harbour after he abandons her.

Tragic as this maybe Nausicaa isnt thankfully as tormented but nonetheless is disappointed at the outcome of her meeting with Odysseus. THE PREPARATION FOR THE VOYAGE HOME The view that Nausicaa takes when Odysseus is finally to return home does not appear at all natural given the women in Greek Tragedy we have just looked at. One may have expected Homer here to offer a sense of outrage or horror of feeling used but a rather week episode follows. Firstly Odysseus does not even seek out Nausicaa to say goodbye, he happens upon her on his way to the second feast he attends. Odysseus is now known throughout the Odyssey to be a cunning liar and a clever speaker so surly it would not be a surprise to the audience to hear him greet Nausicaa with flattery and supplication once more. As mentioned earlier this is only a chance meeting for Odysseus and Nausicaa.

Our clever and cunning Odysseus does not go out of his way to see the princess before his departure but is ever ready with his silvery tongue when he meets her again. She greets him warmly friend from afar off, all good go with you, so that when hereafter you are in your own land you may remember me, and how to me before any other you owe the ransoming of your life. Perhaps this is her youth or her infatuation with Odysseus that prompts such a forward and blatant claim from her. Perhaps if she cannot have Odysseus for her husband she at least wishes to have some recognition in his life. The audience of such a story in ancient Greece is mostly men so maybe Homer didnt want to show such a feminine emotion as hurt and disappointment. However this may be in contrast to his other great masterpiece The Iliad which Homer presents as a tale of tragedy but offers The Odyssey as a supposed more romantic tale.

One may wonder here why Nausicaa wasnt in floods of tears at the outcome. Athena seems to have duped her, her father would gladly give her hand to a stranger and Odysseus does not especially come to seek her out to say goodbye or thank her. In examining the other two tales of Ariadne and Theseus and Dido and Aeneas being tragic but gripping love stories. It is shoddy ending to Nausicaa because she is not mentioned again further in the Odyssey Moreover Nausicaa seems content with Odysseus reply which she obviously has faith in Nausicaa, daughter of great Alcinous, may Zeus the Thunderer, Hera's husband, bring all to pass that you wish me thus; may he grant me return to my own land, grant me sight of the day of homecoming; and then there also, through all my days, your name on my lips will be like a gods because you gave me my life, Nausicaa. This is the last we here of the princess from now on. One thing that cannot be denied is that if Odysseus had not have been found by Nausicaa and had she not devised the plan to get him into the palace then the poem would not continue.

It is without doubt that Odysseus needs this vehicle in order to tell his tale. He needed the setting of the banquet to have an audience to tell his tale to. He did need to be rescued and received in the land of the Phaeacian's, as the stage had to be set for him with the promise of a return voyage assisted to reach his beloved Ithaca. This still begs the question as to why Nausicaa had to be led to believe this to be the promise of her husband to be. The Phaeacian's are known throughout the Odyssey as being a kindly hospitable race.

Would they have not received Odysseus anyway? They did not know that Nausicaa had already met him, indeed her father king Alcinous is extremely cross when he learns that the princess did not bring Odysseus directly to him. Homer tells us subtle Odysseus assured the king that his daughter had not been thoughtless, he takes the blame and says it was he who would not travel with the princess for fear of her reputation coming into question by other suitors. It is obvious that Odysseus found it necessary to keep the princess on his side but not encourage her too much as he is sure of his ultimate return to his faithful and beloved wife. Maybe this is why he gives a reassuring promise of remembrance to Nausicaa, safe in the knowledge that his voyage is agreed his ship is loaded and his journey home imminent. He had been cautious with Nausicaa but still gave her a hint of encouragement.

CONCLUSION The episode with the Phaeacian's and Nausicaa cannot be omitted from the Odyssey. It is the beginning and almost the end of our wanderers tale. It enables him clearly to reminisce over his many adventurers, his narrow escapes and his escapades. It draws out the poem beautifully to its final conclusion. It would have been disappointing had our hero never returned home after his long arduous 20 -year voyage. Perhaps had the ancient audience been women they would have forgiven Odysseus if he had stayed to marry the princess.

A male audience of Classical Greece would not find such sentiment sensible or fulfilling, they can accept his return home and not seem to mind that Odysseus abandons Nausicaa as told by Homer. This beautiful oral poem is awash with colour and adventure; it is easy to see how it may have held an audience spellbound. From a purely feminist point of view however Nausicaa seems to have been dealt a raw deal indeed. Homer leaves the sensitive reader of today feeling a little sorry for the young and naive princess even when willing our hero god speed home. Odysseus has a harmonious ending, but what of Nausicaa? There are several schools of thought on what happened to Nausicaa.

Some say she married Telemachus son of Odysseus. Some even think that perhaps he did indeed marry her (van leeuwen). The final suggestion to date is that Nausicaa never married and travelled the land telling her tale of Odysseus, however this looks the least likely as a Phaeacians princess with suitors already at the palace for choosing, she would definitely been expected to marry... It is an ironic ending to the tale of rescue by Nausicaa the Phaeacians princess because the Phaeacian's people who so kindly cared for Odysseus and prepared him for his final journey home are purported to be descendents of Poseidon who in turn is the very god who Odysseus fights with throughout his journey. He angers Poseidon many times thus delaying his return home by 20 years.


Free research essays on topics related to: return home, journey home, nausicaa, odysseus, dido

Research essay sample on Return Home Journey Home

Writing service prices per page

  • $18.85 - in 14 days
  • $19.95 - in 3 days
  • $23.95 - within 48 hours
  • $26.95 - within 24 hours
  • $29.95 - within 12 hours
  • $34.95 - within 6 hours
  • $39.95 - within 3 hours
  • Calculate total price

Our guarantee

  • 100% money back guarantee
  • plagiarism-free authentic works
  • completely confidential service
  • timely revisions until completely satisfied
  • 24/7 customer support
  • payments protected by PayPal

Secure payment

With EssayChief you get

  • Strict plagiarism detection regulations
  • 300+ words per page
  • Times New Roman font 12 pts, double-spaced
  • FREE abstract, outline, bibliography
  • Money back guarantee for missed deadline
  • Round-the-clock customer support
  • Complete anonymity of all our clients
  • Custom essays
  • Writing service

EssayChief can handle your

  • essays, term papers
  • book and movie reports
  • Power Point presentations
  • annotated bibliographies
  • theses, dissertations
  • exam preparations
  • editing and proofreading of your texts
  • academic ghostwriting of any kind

Free essay samples

Browse essays by topic:

Stay with EssayChief! We offer 10% discount to all our return customers. Once you place your order you will receive an email with the password. You can use this password for unlimited period and you can share it with your friends!

Academic ghostwriting

About us

© 2002-2024 EssayChief.com