Free Essays on Homer's Odyssey: Odysseus and Medea “Let me not hear you speak softly of death, Odysseus, light of counsel . Better, I say, to break the turf like a “Just before the agitated Odysseus leaves Circe, she tells him that he must descend into Hades to visit the shadow of Teiresias, the blind prophet who advises. Ulysses on his return (the Wanderings). He then goes to meet the shadows of the queens and the lovers of the dead heroes and finally the heroes themselves. In the quoted quote, Odysseus converses with Achilles, the greatest hero of the Trojan War. Achilles, while alive, was fully aware of his choice between a long life spent in obscurity or a short life filled with glory. He chose the latter option. I guess Achilles quickly realized after his death that fame no longer had any meaning for you after you died. In retrospect, he understood that death gives meaning and fulfills the passion of life. Every action, no matter how mundane, is filled with the miracle of life and is completed when interacting with others. This is what Achilles meant when he asked Odysseus about his son and his ancient kingdom: who cares about the dead, what do the living do? Achilles longs to return among the living. This theme of death which gives meaning to life is present throughout the Odyssey. Hell is death, heaven is now, in life, in the realm of time and action. Odysseus nearly died of homesickness (or boredom) when Kalypso kept him on her island, hoping to make him her immortal husband. Odysseus knew that if he drank this ambrosia, life would be eternal, one would have a beautiful home and a baby for a wife, but things would become terribly tasteless after a certain point. Immortality is death, in this sense. Ultimately, it is Athena (thought, action) who convinces the gods (who are, I think, jealous of us mortals) to let Odysseus leave the island and come back into her life. Interestingly, even Hermes was eager to leave Kalypso's island: "who would willingly come here?" There is no man's town nearby. . . . Ultimately, Odysseus' journey to Ithaca is about embracing his life. , accept challenges, dangers, pitfalls and joys, with courage, tenacity and a keen sense of what it takes to maintain balance in one's life.