Temptation

Temptation is a prominent theme in The Odyssey. The reader sees evidence of Odysseus and his crew being tempted with greed, lust, jealousy, and anger. One is shown this when Odysseus’s crew becomes greedy over what might be in the bag King Aeolus gave to Odysseus only. They become so hot headed they argue that Odysseus is “so loved by the world…Heaps of lovely plunder he hauls home from Troy, / while we who went through slogging just as hard, / we go empty handed” (10:43-…47). The reader can see that Odysseus’s crew is angered by his prizes and gifts when they, the hard working crew, get nothing. The bag turns out to be a bag of winds that then blows their ship far off course from home all due to their greed and jealousy. One sees an example of Odysseus being tempted by greed at the island, Circe. Circe, a witch inhabiting the island, turns Odysseus’ scouting party into pigs. Thankfully, Odysseus gains her favor leading to his crew’s revival. However, he had forgotten his true mission of getting home and his greed causes him to stay on the island for a year. Odysseus’ crew reminds him by taking him “aside and prodded, ‘captain this is madness! / High time you thought of your own home at last, if it really is your fate to make it back alive’” (10:519-522). As one can see this event shows greed blocks Odysseus and his crew’s view to their real mission of getting home.