Comparing Odyssey And Oedipus The King

In both Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid, the heroes make the dauntless adventure into the underworld. Both of theses visits occur around the middle of the stories, and they bring information about the lives of heroes ' loved ones. The heroes also get very important information from these loved ones; information that they require to continue on their journeys. However these are not the only things that are similar about the heroes visits. The influence of the Homeric writings of the Iliad and the Odyssey on Virgil’s writings is clear - especially in Book VI of the Aeneid. Throughout this paper we will talk about the similarities that occur throughout the two poems, and how the two authors beliefs shine through. These beliefs are two very different views on the idea of death. Homer’s Iliad depicts death as something that is something souls do not enjoy. Whereas Virgil’s Aeneid depict it more as a final rest for souls – something that relieves them of the troubles of life.

Odysseus survives many trials and tribulations in order to fulfill his one wish; to return home to his wife and son and re-assimilate into his erstwhile life back home in Ithaca. Why would Homer, the author of “The Odyssey,” choose to paint his hero as someone who spends his life in misfortune? It is to teach us that no matter how close we are to the Gods, we have little control over fate, but we can control how we respond to the trials and tribulations that fate or human experience, puts into

Tragedy can either be the darkest part of life for one person or it can be a learning opportunity for the other person. Of all the tragedies written in the literate, “Oedipus the King” written by ‘Sophocles’ is one of the oldest and the most prominent tragedy written till date. It is the story of the king, who is brutally left to die by his own parents, luckily survived, unknowingly killed his own father and married his mother. Although this story was written 2000 years ago, but it still has a great significance in the modern world. Of the most powerful tragedies of the time, “Oedipus the king” discloses such values and situations as parental aggression, child abandonment, self-confidence, ability to handle trauma, and parent-child intimate relationship that people are struggling with in today’s world. Sophocles reveals these behaviours and incidents through the actions of Oedipus.

In the epic poem the Odyssey by Homer, a hero named Odysseus struggles to return home from war. On his journey, He loses all his men and spends many years stranded on an island, but his hope to see his wife and son again pushes him through the struggles he faced on his journey. Although Odysseus’s travels required a lot of strength and hope, he is not the only character driven by hope, but many more like his son and wife were too. The theme of the Odyssey is “hope brings success in the end”. The literary elements supporting this theme are conflict, characterization, and setting.

We are constantly reminded of the classical world by way of references we find in our everyday media. Basic nouns that relate to the classical world have become synonymously used to draw connections. For example, the Oedipus complex refers to a child’s subconscious desire to have sexual relations to their parent of the opposite sex. When we describe an odyssey, we are reminded of Homer’s epic telling of a great man’s journey back home. These references make you wish you had actually paid attention to those lectures during your college years just to keep up. When we turn to a figure like Croesus, what connections can we make? The New York Times describes a Croesus-like figure as one who has a large amount of wealth. This is usually has a negative

Both The Odyssey and Oedipus the King demonstrate different extremes of the kinds of relationships and abilities that still exist in our society today. Our lives are determined by the people who influence us as well as the choices that we make, which are influenced by our individual talents and abilities. In both works, the correlation between personal bonds and individual abilities appears in the protagonists and their families. Father and son relationships and the triumphs and downfalls that occur because of the unequal distribution of strength and intellect between individuals are two representational ideas that correlate between both works and attempt to demonstrate how our lives develop and the outcome of our destiny.

In conclusion, “Oedipus the King” is a mysterious Greek tragedy that incorporates pity and fear. Sophocles presents to readers a tragic flaw, tragic fall and tragic realization to illustrate

The major theme of this work is fate. Oedipus is cursed with knowing his fate and takes every possible measure to avoid it. Despite moving to another country and avoiding his adoptive parents until they died, he was unable to escape his destiny. This is an example of how mankind is powerless against the will of the gods and that despite all of our actions our fate is

Oedipus the King, Sophocles’ classical Greek tragedy, presents tragic flaw(s) as the cause of  the near-total destruction of the life of the protagonist. This essay examines that flaw.

A man should live only for the present day.” (Soph. 1. 3. 65. 56.), the irony of his words is that had Oedipus or even his father Laios followed such ideals, then would they have shared such a fate, given the ideas that fate is inescapable.

“I need a poet who can really write. Nowadays it seems like 'many are gone, and those that live are bad” (Aristophanes’ Frogs lines 65-72).

Oedipus’ self reflection on his fall from glory and fame serves to illustrate the consistently unfortunate fate that many mortals are subject to. Before

In both Homer’s Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid, the main characters of each poem, Odysseus and Aeneas, travel to the underworld in search of guidance and the foretelling of fate. In the Odyssey, this scene is being retold by Odysseus to the Phaiakians, while in the Aeneid, the reader is told the scene from a third person point of view. Each poet’s depiction of the underworld has different purposes within the text. I argue that Homer’s depiction is meant for Odysseus to entertain the Phaiakians, while Virgil’s depiction is meant to instate values within Aeneas. Although both texts contain many of the same scenes within the underworld, the differing methods of narration between the texts, and the added details within the Aeneid, greatly change the effects of the scene on characters within the poems. These differences are important because Odysseus must gain favor from the Phaiakians, and Aeneas must fulfill his destiny. To support this argument, I will first discuss each character’s journey in the underworld, the descriptions of the underworld, and finally the purpose within each text.

Tragedy has always been considered the highest form of literature; Oedipus the King is written by Sophocles who is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians, it fully represents the enduring charm of the ancient Greek tragedy, leaving the reader endless thinking. Through Oedipus’ misfortune, Sophocles tries to reveal the cause of their tragedy is ubiquitous and ever-present fate, rather than people themselves, dominates that people’s destiny. This essay aims to analyze the characteristics and the root causes of Oedipus’s misery to discover the fatalism the playwright want to state. To investigate the characteristics and the root causes of the tragedy Oedipus is beneficial for us to have more in-depth, objective insight to ancient Greek culture and understand the essence of tragedy correctly, leads us to think of the ultimate fate of life. In the face of powerful forces of fate, humans are too weak. In spite of this, human never stop struggling with limited strength, challenging fate in their ways.

Most ancient writers addressed this question, attempting to answer it within the scope of how, according to their philosophies, judgement/justice is fulfilled in death. But, being writers they also attempted to sojourn any reader to live according to the knowledge of death. To examine the transformation of ideas four works will be examined: Myth of Er, “The Odyssey”, “The Aeneid”, and On the Nature of Things.