Examples Of Diction In The Odyssey

The Odyssey has many stylistic choices that change the story in many different ways to improve it and make the reader better understand the text they are reading.

The example of Odysseus’ raid on the city of the Cicones—and the loss of six men from his ships that results from it—shows a starting point in Odysseus’ evolution of humility by showing a a pre-suffering few of Odysseus—that of a man who encourages the sacking of a city—and a post initial dose suffering view of the same man—a man who blames his crew for the aforementioned suffering instead of taking responsibility himself. On his path home from the Trojan War, the fighter Odysseus—still filled with the greed and seeming invincibility of a victor came across a set of bystanders to the war known as the Cicones “There [he] sacked the[ir] city, killed the[ir] men, but as for the[ir]

Again, the gods’ warned of revenge if Odysseus’ men did not obey them in not eating the cattle. Yet, while Odysseus was sleeping, Eurylochus convinced Odysseus’ men to eat the cattle (Homer 408). When the Sun god Helios found that Odysseus’ men had slaughtered his cattle, he rallied to the gods to strike revenge on them. Helios sought out revenge by asking Zeus, “’Father Zeus! The rest of you blissful gods who never die-punish them all, that crew of Laertes’ son Odysseus…’”(Homer 409). Zeus responded with vengeance by striking Odysseus’ boat with a lightening bolt and killing his men (Homer 410). By Zeus striking Odysseus’ boat with a lightening bolt and killing his men, the reader is definitely aware of the severity of revenge associated with disobeying a god; especially the most powerful of all gods. This severity greatly shows the important role that revenge plays in the poem and the affect revenge has on Odysseus.

The Odyssey, by Homer, is a story about a hero from the Trojan war named Odysseus, who throughout his story, has to overcome many different challenges that test his strength and reveal many things about himself. In this excerpt, Odysseus and his men travel to a land where they discover the Kyklopes. In the excerpt from the heroic poem The Odyssey, Homer alludes that Odysseus and his men believe that they are better than the Kyklopes by using various connotations. Throughout the story, Odysseus and his men call the Kyklopes “ignorant” and claims that their society is more developed than the Kyklopes.

Secondly, Homer uses violence as a plot device in The Odyssey to create nuances to his characters. Although some of the atrocities committed in Homer’s epic were executed by the gods, the behaviors that reveal elements of Homer’s characters were most often displayed by mortals. For instance, after Odysseus returns to Ithaca and is seated at the fountain with Eumaeus, Melanthius, a pompous suitor, “[lurches] out with a heel and [kicks

Odysseus’ arrival in Ithaca is quite anti-climatic: although he is “overjoyed” and kisses the earth, Homer does not linger on the moment but relates how Athene and Odysseus proceed to make a plan. The killing of the

Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain largely an allusion to Homer’s The Odyssey through the character's traits and hero’s journey. Although the characters have similar elements, the ending of each story is different.

Focus on the descriptions of the palaces of Nestor and Menelaus. Find quotations that describe their virtues:

Context and quote- Henry makes an allusion to Homer’s Odyssey during his speech in the Virginia Convention. “We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts” (81).

This quote is from the time Odysseus is trapped on an island by the nymph Calypso for nine years. These powerful words portray clearly the pain that Odysseus bears within him thus giving the reader a fuller understanding of the story and his character.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, diction means choice of words especially with regard to clearness or effectiveness. With this being said, many writers use certain words to emphasize the tone of a story; including Homer, a legendary author to ancient Greeks. In his epic, the Odyssey, Homer uses diction to create a callous and candid tone when writing about the journey of a man, Odysseus, and his troubles returning home. While struggling through the rough sea, Odysseus, the protagonist, encounters a Cyclops. In this story, Polyphemus, the Cyclops, imprisons Odysseus and his crew.

Therefore to restore order Homer uses this symbolic reverse of the sexes. This in part disrupts the norm in order for peace to be restored. Without Odysseus experiencing the limitations of his masculinity, order within Ithaca and his family would not be restored. On his journey back to his native land, Odysseus experiences many cultures who’s social order is a complete reversal of his own. This includes variations of where women are placed within their society as well as their communal, sexual and political roles. In book 10 when Odysseus is on Circe’s island, his men flock around him like calves about their mother. This symbolically makes the men feel like they have regained Ithaca, however Odysseus is not Ithaca. When Odysseus journeys to the underworld he realizes that his masculine identity depends not only on his heroic duties and warlike actions, but also on the people who surround him like his wife, son, mother and father. When talking to Achilles in the underworld, Odysseus learns that because these warrior’s identity is directly associated with their masculinity their identity basically disappears in death. Death is therefore the emasculating form of loss of oneself to these characters. Since his masculinity is gone while he resides in the underworld, he learns that his brave and heroic actions and everything he fought for does not hold any significance in this

After many heroic deeds and much danger and peril Odysseus journeys to the underworld and back, escaped the sirens, evades Charybdis and Scyylla, and loses all of his men. His men eat the sungod’s cattle even after promising Odysseus that they wouldn’t, so Zeus kills all of his men by striking their ship with a bolt of lighting (Odyssey 11-13:1-452).

Throughout The Odyssey and The Illiad, heroes use the heroic code as an influence when making their decisions throughout the story. Homer intertwines the events that occur in both poems, with his ideas of the heroic code to demonstrate how each heroic character develops throughout the story. Homer pays close attention to each character’s perception of the code, as the perception is different in each character. In book ten of The Odyssey, Odysseus demonstrates his heroic nature when Circe transformed his men into pigs. As a result, Odysseus confronted her. "I drew my sharpened sword and in one bound held it against her throat"(Homer 10, lines 54-55). Odysseus is not reluctant to confront people with control like Circe's to ensure his men. He knew about Circe's mysterious capacities, yet he chose that sparing his men be worth taking a chance with her fierceness. In this circumstance, Odysseus' bravery enabled him to spare his men from Circe and demonstrate his heroism. This relates to my overall argument because he puts the respect of his men before his own by

(Back on the road, Milo and Tock talked to each other and became friends on the journey to Dictionopolis.)