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Examples Of Epiphany In The Odyssey

Decent Essays

The present essay is a description of the sustained engagement with the epiphany theme in Homer’s Odyssey. Within the own narrative of the poem, the central epiphany moment is the scene of recognition between the character of Odysseus and the character of Achilles, which powerfully resonates with a sequence of other such epiphany moments throughout this poem. Epiphany refers to a sudden appearance of a god in a more manifest form, mostly after appearing in disguise initially. Majority of the epiphany scenes beginning with the main one within the poem mostly involve human characters and their self-realization of mortality. These scenes are essentially equivalent to epiphany scenes because there is an underlying functional and structural affinity …show more content…

In the journey that he undertakes throughout the underworld, he had been privy to many stories. All these stories as demonstrated in the poem are connected through the thread of recognizing that mortality had been extinguished. For the central character of Odysseus, his admiration of the powerful nature as well as the power of Achilles who is now an underworld member, triggers him to explore his personal self-awareness regarding mortality and specifically its nature (Sowa 241). In an exchange which can be pointed out in the poem, the self-realization of the character of Odysseus is very self-evident and it underlines epiphany of his character- “O shining Odysseus, never try to console me for dying. I would rather follow the plow as thrall to another man…than be a king over all the perished dead” (Davis …show more content…

The story revolves around the main character and a wondering hero who comes back home at the eleventh hour after his community has suffered an agricultural crisis. He restores proper order within the community and his domain after the self-realization in his journey to the underworld (Sowa 241). The return of this hero as such underwrites the theodicy underlined in the particular divine assembly at the beginning of the story. As he himself tells Penelope, he was determined to restore many of the flocks he had lost through piracy, and that the “Akhaians will give others until they fill up all my folds” (Davis 690). Epiphany in the poem is therefore marked by the miraculous and sometimes sudden appearance of Odysseus in the nature that was truly his, as well as the revelation of his true identity following his newly acquired knowledge regarding

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