-pity that he shows little, if no respect for those close to him and to those he is supposed to be ruling. Ulysses has put his own self-gratification above everything else. The reader is shown that however great Ulysses once was, he possesses many of the same faults that most other men possess. Toward the end of the poem, Ulysses prepares to go on the voyage that he and his aging crew will embark on. The reader also finds out that he has finally accepted the fact that he is growing old. Nevertheless, Ulysses is determined to bring honor to himself no matter his age. He is convinced that his work is not yet completed and that there are still newer lands to discover. Ulysses is convinced that if he sails beyond the sunset he can, “touch the Happy Isles, / And see the great Achilles”(63-64). In other words, Ulysses wants to find, and enter their version of utopia so that he can dwell as one of the favorites of the gods, thereby enjoying life after death. By the time the reader has completed the poem, and it is not hard to see that Ulysses is searching for the same thing a lot of other men have searched for, a way to cheat and/or escape death. However, the reader also sees a man that is throwing away what he has gained, in the hopes of finding a small glimpse of his past or even the proverbial "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow known as immortality. Nevertheless, the readers now have a different viewpoint of a once great legend; they find that he was more human than before and prone to the same kinds of weaknesses that most men are vulnerable to. For Crockett 3even the great Ulysses, toward the end of his life, was trying to escape the fate that all men face during the winter of their years. ...
