The face of adversity humbles a man in the quickest and easiest way. Hardships and continual punishment for a person’s faults often are the best way to teach them a lesson and relieve them off their effected airs. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is the courageous yet faulty hero who significantly changes to a more humble person by the end of the epic. Homer wants to show through his poem that the gods value and eventually reward humility and humbleness, but also punish arrogance and impudence. As Odysseus is sailing back to
Ithaka, his beloved home, Odysseus’s hubris often gets the better of him, and unwisely offending the gods, brings forth misfortune upon his men and himself in the form of different obstacles sent by the gods. Through the innumerable problems he encounters and overcomes by the end of the epic, Odysseus is noticeably humbled, and is rewarded by victory and glory, peace, and longawaited happy reunion with his family after he listens to goddess Athena’s wise judgment and warnings.
To begin with, at the start of the poem Odysseus early in his journey rashly offends the gods and spurs their wrath. He starts out as a prodigious hero of the Trojan War, basking in the glory of his brilliance, and beginning his journey home full of self-satisfaction. As he and his men arrive on the island where the Cyclops, a great one-eyed monster lives, Odysseus shrewdly tells him that his name is “Nohbody” rather than reveal his true identity. But then as the crew are about to set sail from the island after cunningly escaping the Cyclops, and gruesomely taking out his one and only eye, Odysseus reveals his true identity.
Kyklops,

if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him
Odysseus, raider of cities, took you eye. (IX. 548-52)
Odysseus’ impertinent temperament is evident, and despite his men’s cries to not utter a word, he still cannot hide the achievement from the gods of outwitting such a monster so much greater than him. It’s clear that Odysseus feels himself an equal to the gods in some sense, as he is not afraid of the great power they hold and fury they can unleash. If he did truly understand the difference, and see the meekness of himself compared to the gods, he’d be more weary and careful for the actions he took to provoke them. Odysseus outrages the Cyclops by the news, and the giant appeals to his father, Poseidon, the god of the sea
Should destiny intend that he shall see his roof again among his family in his father land, far be that day, and dark the years between.
Let him lose all companions, and return under strange sail to bitter days at home.
(IX. 578-85)
Odysseus is thus punished by Poseidon, who grants his son what he feels Odysseus only justly deserves. His journey hereafter takes on a different toll as the crew face numerous sea perils and narrowly escape death, Poseidon sparing nothing or no one. The gods well acknowledge Odysseus’s insolence, and punish him and his men bitterly for this. They do not tolerate or forgive any arrogance on the humans’ side, especially not Odysseus’s brazen attitude towards them as he boasts of his feat.

Secondly, Odysseus defies the gods and is almost killed by this when his men slaughter and eat the sheep on the island of Helios’s island. He is specifically warned by the goddess Circe to not touch the sheep on the island or “Rough years then lie between/ you and your homecoming, alone and old/ the one survivor, all companions lost”( XII. 167-170). Odysseus and his men are forced to remain on the island for an elongated amount of time due to storms at sea. But Odysseus, though warning his men of not touching the cattle, wanders off alone on the island and falls into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, the men, stomachs full of emptiness, are still undecided if they should listen to their leader’s heeding, or satisfy their hunger. One of the crew,
Eurylokhos, speaks up “ Come, we’ll cut out the noblest of these cattle/ for sacrifice to the gods who own the sky” (XII. 443-44), to which all the men agree. So by the time Odysseus returns it is too late to stop them; he finds the crew in the middle of feasting and loud merrymaking.
Odysseus once again defies the gods but this time in an indirect way. If he had been more careful, he would not have left his men behind so flippantly, and instead keep closer watch on them. Earlier in the epic, the crew does not believe Odysseus and open the bag of wind, thinking inside it is gold, and are blown back across the sea. In a similar situation on Helios’s island,
Odysseus should have learnt his lesson and kept closer watch. But because of his absence, the men are easily swayed by the convincing words of Eurylokhos, who would not be even listened to if Odysseus had been there in the first place. Odysseus does not encourage the men to eat the sheep, but him not being there to influence the men’s decisions is tempting or leading them in the wrong direction, and they are once again punished for it by the gods. As a result Lord Helios, offended greatly, pleads to the almighty Zeus “Restitution or penalty they shall pay--/ and pay in full—or I go down forever to light the dead men in the underworld.”( XII . 480-91). With the threat to Zeus of not providing any more light on earth, Zeus kills the mortal crew, throwing a

thunderbolt at the ship and breaking it up into splinters. Odysseus’s inability to control his men’s actions and lack of vigilance lead them to all perish in the shipwreck, not a mere accident, but a punishment from the gods for Odysseus’ defiance of offending Helios. As the sole survivor, left without a crew, ship, or land in sight, the hardships put in Odysseus’ way are another cruel way of the gods punishing him once again for his impudence .
Odysseus though, when he finally arrives at home in Ithaka, disguised as an old beggar man by Athena to hide his identity, becomes a more humble person. When Telemachus sees how
Odysseus changes from a withered, bony old man to a younger and stronger self, he declares
Stranger,
you are no longer what you were just now!
Your cloak is new; even your skin! You are one of the gods who rule the sweep of heaven! (XVI. 213-18)
Odysseus ardently replies to this “No god. Why take me for a god? No, no./ I am that father whom you boyhood lacked/ and suffered pain for lack of. I am he.” (XVI. 220-23), and just the way he ardently denies being the god, but his father, shows how he has learned his lesson, and is offended by being mistaken for such a great deity. Without any smugness or sign of complacence of being mistaken for such, it’s clear that Odysseus is happy with who he is; just finally able to arrive on his beloved homeland is enough happiness and satisfaction for the moment. It shows that he doesn’t have any pretentions on having more power or influence compared to the great gods, understanding the great difference between them and himself, a mighty but helpless mortal in the face of the gods as he has experienced.

Furthermore, Odysseus’s humbled character— and reward for this by the gods— is seen in the very last part of the epic poem when in the final battle Odysseus, father, son and small gathering of supporters fight off the relatives of the suitors who have come to avenge themselves of their loved one’s deaths. Athena, witnessing the scene, finally shouts for them to end the battle before they all kill each other off. The adversaries run off, and Odysseus begins to pursue them when Zeus throws down a thunderbolt at Athena’s feet, a sign to stop him. Athena warns
Odysseus to “Call off this battle now,/ or Zeus who views the wide world may be angry”( XXIV.
608-09). Odysseus, who’s had enough share of the God’s interference to know of their punishments, submits to Zeus’s will. Knowing his pride and hubris, and want of revenge, it is hard for him to let go of the people who wanted to kill him for killing their useless and worthless relatives. Though very tempting to completely finish his revenge, Odysseus has learned his place and obeys the great gods. And all ends well as “Both parties later swore to terms of peace/ set by their arbiter, Athena” (XXIV 611-12). Homer wants to show us that when Odysseus is wise enough to listen to his superiors and submit to their power, he is blessed by the gods, and through
Athena’s secret help, easily wins the battle.
Homer is trying to teach us the Greek god’s ruthless punishment for defiance, but at the same time how rewarding they can be when humans humbly listen and submit to their power.
Once Odysseus acknowledges the superiority of others higher than him and his role, it’s evident he is much better off showing respect to the gods, like listening to Athena and Zeus in the battle, than going against them on Cyclops’s island and Helios’. Though the bad and ignorant are not always punished in the real world, nor the honest and humble always acknowledged, in The
Odyssey the gods take note of this and rightfully give their punishments to the mortals, something that is nearly impossible in our world and society today.