In Tennyson's "Ulysses," we meet an aged Ulysses struggling against the effects of time, mortality, and old age. In stark contrast to the dashing hero who led armies in the Trojan War and beguiled monsters during his travels back to Ithaca, Ulysses is now an old man who resents his responsibilities to his subjects and family. Ulysses says "I am become a name" (11), thus illustrating the dissolution of his heroic status and his alienation from his own identity. To remedy this problem, Ulysses vows to set forth on new adventures "Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods" (53).

Overall, Ulysses wants his listeners (us, the readers/audience of the poem) to show defiance in the face of old age and mortality. While Tennyson's iteration of Ulysses is far from perfect (at times he seems more like a whiny narcissist than a regal king), his gritty determination to continue living life is admirable. Indeed, rather than wallowing in his misery, Ulysses is determined to move forward and fight for his dignity. Thus, we can assume that the king of Ithaca wants his listeners to defy their own inevitable mortality and continue living life to the fullest.