In the Odyssey, book 5, Poseidon, also known as the Lord of Earthquakes, sees Odyseeus on the raft to his home, is engraged by this sight and causes a horrific storm for Odyssseus. Poseidon has a deep, vengeful, and aggressive behavior toward Odysseus, due to him being the cause of Cyclops’s blindness. Poseidon’s anger also originated from the gods’ change in decision during his absence in the meeting of deciding Odysseus’ fate. After causing this storm Poseidon states, “At last you are in pain! Go drift across the sea, till you meet people blessed by Zeus, the Sky Lord. But even then, I think you will not lack for suffering.” The size of this wave, and the pure anger behind it truly reflects the gods emotions, and his embedded hate for Odysseus. This overall passage gives the reader a true idea of how powerful and relentless a god can be, and how punishments are treated very seriously. Even after Odysseus’s long imprisonment on the island, Poseidon cannot shed any sympathy for Odysseus because of the attack against his son. 

Up to this point Poseidon is the main antagonist in this scenario due to his hindrance in Odysseus’ return home. The tone of this god has been mainly filled with anger or with vengeful intentions. After Poseidon’s unforgiving attack towards the hero, a White Goddess interacts with Odysseus, then stating “Poor man! Why does enraged Poseidon create an Odyssey for you? But his hostility will not destroy you.” I believe that this goddess uses the word Odyssey to foreshadow the name of this book, also implying that more is to come in this journey. This goddess also clearly feels bad for this hero, which also reflects how godly this attack was. Poseidon’s relation to his mentality and actions are similar due to their intensity. This god very much acts upon intrusive thoughts, and his willingness to cause pain against others is a reflection of this. How I understand Poseidon in this situation is similar to King Trident in the story of the Little Mermaid, who is also said to be inspired by Neptune from Roman religion. Ariel’s father is shown filled with rage which causes him to create tortuous storms, which is coincidentally very similar to the Sea God in this book. This similarity is interesting due to their relation to water, and powerful status above others. Their anger is represented in the size of their storms, and the damage left behind. Water is meant to represent purity of life and peace, which constantly contradicts with the characteristics of these gods of water. The social norms of Gods of the Sea contain many rageful characteristics, with lack of control over their actions. The narrator in this book conveys Poseidon as a hot headed god, which further fits in with many stereotypes between water gods and their anger. 

Poseidon up to this point is a very resentful presence, and continues to show his anger through his actions and behaviors. This character has vast mood swings resulting in others’ pain, for example Odyssus. Poseidon’s actions could be seen as selfless; and his unforgiving behavior towards Odysseus are seen as extensive, mainly because of his social status and powerful role. Poseidon is meant to be a god intertwined with the role of leadership in this book, which his actions are not supporting. Poseidon’s anger, although relentless, has an origin that many others would also share in the same scenario.