Analysis Of Homer 's ' The Odyssey '

Brains over brawn, who will win this battle?Homer's tale of Odysseus' adventures in “The Odyssey” show that being intelligent and cunning can be far better than having physical strength. Being physically strong certainly has its advantages, but not in all circumstances. Strength in intelligence shows new meaning of strength. Odysseus is amused with himself when he defeats Polyphemus. His great skills with a bow outweigh the others abilities. Knowledge of the placement of his bed win his beloveds heart.

A hero isn’t shaped by his strengths but by the values he possesses. Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, reveals the moral and ethical constitution of the ancient Greeks. Over time, certain cultures have grown to value a number of human characteristics. Those who acquire such values become respected heroes. After the fall of Troy, the protagonist of the epic, Odysseus, set sail for his home, Ithaca, where his faithful wife and son were waiting for him. Over the course of his journey, Odysseus faced some of the most ferocious opponents known to the Greeks. Even through this formidable journey, Odysseus and his family have stayed true to the diverse aspects of the ancient Greeks. The Odyssey exemplifies the human ideals of hospitality, loyalty and

Children taunting each other on the playground. A fast paced action adventure movie. A family crossing the street when a person of color walks by. They can be found everywhere within society, and yet rarely are recognized for what they truly are; scenes of violence. The children are using linguistic violence. The movie shows physical violence. The person of color endures societal violence. From the time a person is born to the time they die, they are subjected everyday to violence, even if it comes in forms that we do not immediately recognize as being violent in nature. It is possible that this complacency with violence exists because it can also be found in Western Cultures’ most treasured works, specifically those that are accredited for shaping the view of society as the world knows it. In Homer’s masterful work of The Iliad, the reader is confronted with all sorts of violence on many different occasion;, however, a few specific ones contribute more than the rest to the overall themes of the text.

The first way that violence is utilized by Homer in The Odyssey, is as plot device that conveys an important

For example, as Achilles chases Hector around the walls of Troy in Book Twenty-two, Athena appears disguised as one of his companions and convinces him to stop running and to fight Achilles together. Hector falls for the trick and turns to fight Achilles before realizing his betrayal by the Gods and perishes from Achilles’ rage. Another example is in Book Eight when Zeus forbids the gods to take part in the day’s fighting, then the battle begins, and Zeus disregards his own command and supports the Trojans so that they are winning. Then, Diomedes restores the Greeks to a superior position. Zeus retaliates by helping the Trojans again. Hera, who always seems to try and mediate, is unsuccessful in her intervention and the Greeks start losing badly. Next, Teukros restores the Greeks to a higher position. Zeus becomes angered by this action, so he helps the Trojans begin to take the lead in the war. Then, Hera attempts to intervene again and is unsuccessful. Night arrives, and the Trojans are so happy with their victory. This almost ludicrous battle among the God’s represents the theme of anger as they experience strong emotions as well as the humans. Ultimately, the humans do not have control over their lives as the God’s quarrel over the sake of humans.

If you think about it there isn’t a day in your life that goes by without facing some kind of temptation. Temptation can be our biggest weakness, and I think that in Odysseus’s case it was his. In The Odyssey, Homer uses the siren scene to symbolize temptation in different ways. It represents how temptation can come in many different ways; and it can control us no matter how much we know that it is wrong to give in. In The Odyssey, temptation came to Odysseus and his crew from the sirens. This scene displays how temptation looks, sounds, and how it makes you act.

Viciousness is displayed very early in the book by the suitors, when they threaten Irus by speaking of the “Mainland King”, a man who will “lop your nose and ears off with his ruthless blade.”(18.99). This shows the viciousness of man; not only would this man kill his enemies, but slowly torture them first by cutting off limbs. The Odyssey gives us insight into the viciousness of all people and is applicable even today, as many people (while not to this extreme) still behave in such a merciless manner as the “Mainland King”. Another example of this is when the suitors are attempting to claim innocence and push the blame onto Antinous after his death; Odysseus replies: “No, Eurymachus! Not if you paid me all of your wealth – all you possess now, and all that you could pour in from the world’s end – no, not even then would I stay my hands from slaughter.”(22.65-69). This shows the viciousness through Odysseus’ decision that death is the only feasible punishment for the suitors. This accurately portrays not only how viciousness, in some people, can outweigh even greed, but also how the viciousness of death as a punishment, even for terrible crimes, is immoral. A third and final example of this is when, despite the priest begging for his life, Odysseus disagrees with “Only a priest… you say? How hard you must have prayed … that … my dear wife would be yours … for that, there’s no escape from grueling death – you die!”(22.337-341) and kills him anyways. Because Odysseus kills the priest, who has apologized for his wrongdoing, begged for mercy, and humbled himself to Odysseus’ feet, Odysseus acts as a perfect example of viciousness. The viciousness of Odysseus is The Odyssey’s way of showing that despite genuine shows of emotion and regret, some people will still be horribly vicious. In the end, The Odyssey show the readers that viciousness is even stronger a temptation than

Nothing positive ever comes out of violence. In the epic poem, the Odyssey, by Homer and translated by Robert Fagles, the main character, Odysseus is a man who commits many violent acts and makes decisions that end in violence for others. His actions also show that he can be a careless person. Odysseus is off to war in Troy and it takes him twenty years before returning home to his loyal wife, Penelope and his loyal son, Telemachus. He committed many violent acts along the way and he made many decisions that led to violence. Some of them were by choice and some of them were from carelessness. One may say that he was forced to commit these acts in order to return home but there were many decisions he could have made differently that would have

Through the many trials and tribulations of the everyday life of the ancient Greeks, we learn about the societies values in Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Two significant values that occur in everyday life are Loyalty and Vengeance. “The Odyssey” is a story passed down from generation to generation long before it was written down. These are values that hold true in our society today. It depicts how little society has changed from thousands of years ago. Part II of “The Odyssey” has many examples of loyalty and vengeance.

Revenge is a reoccurring theme throughout the Odyssey. Nearly every motivation for conflict within the Odyssey is because one of the characters is craving revenge. The three main areas of revenge in the first twelve books are as follows. Initially, Zeus prevents Odysseus and his men from returning home. Poseidon also continually chastises Odysseus throughout the entire story. Finally, the key account of revenge the reader sees in the story is from Telemachus in that he feels the need to make the suitors compensate for their impudence to his house as well as his mother. Therefore, each of the characters in the story is put through many hardships which pushes them to seek revenge.

Its used by them to right their wrong, its relation to morality turns their violent acts into the correct thing they feel they must do and it makes violence a means by which to achieve justice. This is the case in other parts of The Odyssey. Violent actions have to be taken by Odysseus to survive and at the end, the resolution to this story is that he must use violence to punish those who were disloyal and wished he never returned (he massacres almost all the suitors and certain servants). (Odyssey

As Odysseus travels from one Greek city to the next, the native citizens inquire about his identity and family. Although Odysseus has not seen his native land in twenty years, he defines himself as the product of family: either the son of Laertes or the father of Telemachus. Odysseus is treated like family in the foreign lands he visits. Telemachus embarks on an adventure of his own and is accepted by Nestor and Menelaus, especially because his father suffered through the Trojan War along with the two kings. Family is at the heart of decisions, central in society, creates a frame of reference for individual members of society, and is a source of learning. Family, the central theme in The Odyssey, connects individuals, cities, and gods to one another and is a driving force in decisions and emotional reactions.

In several classical literary works, violence fills the pages to help the author portray an important message to the audience. It is very seldom that one will find a novel without mention of violence. Humans are violent beings, and violence can be found in many shapes and sizes. Most often, physical violence is seen throughout texts, but emotional, spiritual, sexual, familial, and mental violence are a few of many more types of violence. Violence, as defined by Merriam-Webster, is an “ intense, turbulent, or furious and often destructive action or force.” Clearly, violence is not just the action of physical damage to something or someone. One scene of violence in The Iliad by Homer, is in Book 22: The Death of Hector. The Death of Hector portrays three different kinds of violence that all aid in the overall message that violence often starts from the attempt to protect one’s honor.

Tamar has a very distinctive story that makes her the best representation of a hero in Genesis. Heroism in Genesis can be best defined as obeying God’s commands, as all characters that obey God live, and any who disobey God are immediately killed or plagued with barrenness. Consequently, if a character does not receive punishment from God, their actions must be deemed righteous in the eyes of God. This lays the foundation for describing Tamar as a hero. Because of her relentlessness Genesis 38, she has followed His orders to the letter more so than any other character. It is her act of obeying God’s command to his people to procreate that makes Tamar one of the greatest heroes in Genesis.

During the time of Greek drama there was also no real showing of violence as they did this stuff on the side. The violence of Oedipus self-blinding and Jocasta