The main plot of the series revolves around Odysseus’ return home after the Trojan War. God Poseidon set up a terrible sea storm, and the few survivors were scattered worldwide. The protagonist has the most challenging part, wandering for ten years and trying to return home, overcoming more difficult trials. In his native kingdom of Ithaca, his wife Penelope is waiting for him. The main leitmotifs of the series are hospitality, loyalty, and retribution, revealed by the characters during the story. Odysseus appears before the viewer as a new type of hero. Unlike their predecessors, who used only brute force to defeat the enemy, the protagonist relies on cunning intelligence to achieve the goal.
Hospitality is one of the characteristic features of the entire ancient Greek culture. In one of the episodes, Odysseus’s wife Penelope was forced, according to the rules and ancient customs of hospitality, to feed, water, and entertain a whole group of guests, claiming her hand as the groom. Guests misbehave, but their behavior and demands become rude, annoying, and burdensome for the hostess. The groom’s guests behaved in an ungrateful and impolite way, in full confidence that the house owner, Odysseus, died in distant lands and could not protect his wife, Penelope. One of the most beautiful women of her time, she deftly dodged the tricks of all suitors to remain faithful to her husband.
Penelope did not recognize her husband because he looked like an older man. Only after making sure of his wife’s loyalty, does Odysseus remove the veils from his personality and reunited with his family. The subsequent episode is the primary embodiment of revenge in the entire work since the main character deals with all the suitors of his wife in a rather cruel form. His rage and retribution for his actions come from the fact that his former allies believed in their king’s death.
The main character of the series is Odysseus – the king of Ithaca. Strange as it may seem, the main traits of his character are not heroism and courage but intelligence, cunning, and resourcefulness. His only desire is to return home to his beloved wife and son, whom he has not seen for about 20 years. Throughout the story, the hero is patronized by the goddess of wisdom – Athena. Odysseus appears before the viewer in different roles: a navigator, a robber, a brave warrior, a beggar wanderer. However, whoever he is, he still longs to return home, and sincerely suffers for his fallen friends.
Hubris is associated with Ulysses because the protagonist puts himself on one level with the celestials, great and immortal creatures who can command the elements. Despite all his bravery and greatness, Odysseus remains a man, and putting himself on a par with the gods, in this case, is an example of pride. Under the phrase ‘The man of twists and turns, the author describes the main character as a person who has a deep personality (De Fina et al. 75).
There were many contradictions inside Odysseus, however, he always found a way to overcome all difficulties to get home. In addition, the protagonist does not always use physical strength to achieve his own goals. Together with open fights, the hero prefers to use intelligence and cunning to defeat his opponents. Internal contradictions and the rich inner world of the protagonist and the way he uses his thoughts allow us to call Poseidon ‘The man of twists and turns.
The antagonist of the work is the god Poseidon, the sea lord. He does not like Odysseus’s arrogance and his belief that he can be equal to other gods. For this, Poseidon directs many difficulties to the hero, does not allow him to leave the seas, and directs his allies to create additional tests. Given Homer’s poem’s original plot, in which the central conflict lies in the opposition of man and divine forces, the series retains this theme. However, Poseidon was chosen as the main antagonist to give more drama and cinematic structure to work. It should be noted that in the literary work, there was no such emphasis on the antagonist.
Work Cited
De Fina, Anna, Giuseppe Paternostro, and Marcello Amoruso. (2020) “Odysseus the traveler: Appropriation of a chronotope in a community of practice.” Language & Communication, vol. 70, pp. 71-81. Web.