An Exploration of the Motif of Fate in "The Odyssey"

On the very first page of the epic poem, The Odyssey, Homer, the author, claims that it was "the recklessness of [Odysseus's crew's] ways destroyed them all." The men in the Odyssey have free will; their fate is not controlled by the gods alone. The men's encounters with the Cyclops, Scyla and Charybdis, and Helios's cattle all prove that humans determine their own fate.

Odysseus ultimately establishes his own fate while on the Cyclopes' island through his choices and traits. First, the only reason the men stay on the island longer than necessary is because "[Odysseus] would not give way" to his crew's wishes of leaving the island as soon as possible. He wants to find out what kind of spoils he can get from the owners of the gigantic cave. Although his men want to leave, he fervently makes the decision to stay. Later on, it is Odysseus's cleverness that leads him out of the cave, not the gods: "If any man... should ask you who blinded you - say Odysseus..." He uses a thorough plan that involves skill and tactfulness to safely escape. Odysseus uses his skill to blind Polyphemos, the Cyclops, and then takes advantage of the situation with his cleverness. Lastly, on the Cyclopes' island Odysseus seals his fate with his hubris attitude. Tactful Odysseus yells his name out to Polyphemos and the Cyclops immediately curses him. The rest of Odysseus's problems could have been avoided if he did not lose his cool while leaving the island. Overall, Odysseus's attributes and choices while on the Cyclopes' island lay out what happens to him and his crew.

Odysseus also makes a few choices regarding the passage between Skyla and Charybdis. Odysseus had advice from Circe about which monster to sail closer to, but he made the decision to sail near Skyla by himself in the end for Circe "cannot advise [Odysseus] which [route] to take... [he] must decide for [himself]." Also, Odysseus chose not to tell his crew about Skyla "for fear the men would panic." Since the men did not know what was coming, they were blind-sided when six of them were devoured by Skyla. Odysseus's succeeded at his objective, for the main crew still passed safely. Lastly, "[Odysseus] held on" with no help from the gods when he drifted back to Charybdis after his crew died. He kept his body suspended from the fig tree above the whirlpool the whole time Charybdis swallowed the water even if just from sheer will power. Clearly the choices and abilities of Odysseus helped decide his fate without divine intervention.

The last proof of free will in the Odyssey is when the men all end their lives after encountering the sun god's cattle. After being warned twice about the dangers of harming the sun god's cattle, the men still convince Odysseus to land on the island where the sun god, Helios, keeps his herds: "[Odysseus is] only one against all [of his crew]." If Odysseus didn't land on the island at all the entire destruction of the crew could have been avoided. When they landed it was again the decision of men that lead to demise. Eurylochus, a crewman, rallied the other crewmen into thinking that the best way to die was to decide their own death saying "[he] would rather die at sea, with one deep gulp of death, than die by inches." He decided dying a fast death was much better than dying a slow and painful death by means of starvation. All the men feasted on the sun god's cattle to quench their hunger and then were killed soon after. The crew wanted so much to be in control of how they died that Odysseus's constant reminders did not even sway their logic in the end. Overall, the men's encounter with Helios's cattle further proves that man is in control of his fate.

In total, the men of The Odyssey are in control of their own fate when they come face to face with the Cyclops, Skyla and Charybdis, and Helios's cattle. Each time the gods still play a part in what happens but the ultimate determinant comes directly from the people. It is what choices a person makes, skills a person has, and will a person exhibits that decide how far they will go in their life.