Comparing the divine world in the Iliad and the Odyssey, Wolfgang Kullmann emphasizes that unlike in the Iliad, in the latter, "men themselves, not the gods, are responsible for their sufferings beyond their destined share. Gods, on the contrary, guarantee "poetic justice" when they warn men against doing evil."
As Kullmann points out, the mortals in the Odyssey are less likely to act as mere objects of higher powers that manipulate them as they wish, but their actions, although still coordinated by gods at times, are more inclined to be the result of their own actions. Kullmann places Zeus' introductory discourse that reveals the basic principle he is using when leading the world at the origin of the whole development of the epic. Injustice, in this case, is not tolerated in the human world and the repercussions are pointed out by Zeus as merciless towards those who dare to disobey this rule.
In both human and godly world, no one appears to be perfect, except for the place where gods dwell, which as noted before, it is described as a place of perfection. Although many mortals are indicate in the Odyssey as "godlike," including Odysseus, they have their weaknesses which sometimes lead them to foolish doings. At times, they need the guidance of gods in order to regain their strength or faith or simply come back on the path they started on in the first place.
Rutherford notices that the presence of the gods in the Odyssey is less consistent than in the Iliad. In the Odyssey, "the gods are less well-known to us; and their characters are obscure to the characters of the poem. They move in disguise among men (esp. xvii 482-7). Although they are said ad sometimes seem to uphold justice, there are disturbing exceptions (in particular the punishment of the Phanicians by Poseidon, endorsed or at least condoned by Zeus himself hardly corresponds to any human canons of justice)."
Reconsidering the principle laid down by Zeus in his speech to the other gods, at the...
If another god should ask him his assistance in his revenge, he may as well give it, even if it involves an act of injustice. Thus, although far more superior in powers and perceptions than all the humans together, gods are in the Odyssey still tributary to what makes the world below them human: they can still be revengeful, blind or simply indifferent to human sufferings. Good and evil resides in them just as it resides in the human world and it dictates their actions in respect to their assistance or ruling of the mortals.
Gods themselves characterize their own as easy pray to feelings such as envy or jealousy Even the battle between the sexes is present in the less perfect gods' world. The dialogue between Calypso, "the heavenly goddess" and Hermes revels such indicators of characterizations borrowed from humanity: "Hard are you god and envious beyond all to grudge that goddesses should mate with men and take without disguise mortals for lovers."
Works Cited:
Homer, The Odyssey, Houghton Mifflin, 1921. Original from the University of Virginia, available at: http://books.google.com/books?id=ezJJAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Rutherford, R.B. The Philosophy of the Odyssey. The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 106 (1986), pp. 145-162. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/629649
Kullmann, W. Gods and Men in the Iliad and the Odyssey. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, Vol. 89 (1985), pp. 1-23. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/311265
Clay, J.S. The Wrath of Athena: gods and men in the Odyssey. Rowman & Littlefield, 1997
Rutherford, R.B. The Philosophy of the Odyssey, p. 148
Homer. Odyssey. p. 88
Kullmann, W. Gods and Men in the Iliad and Odyssey. p. 5
Rutherford, R.B. The Philosophy of the Odyssey. p. 148
Homer, Odyssey. p. 74
