Similes In The Odyssey

Odysseus's wife, Penelope plays a crucial role in Homer's ‘The Odyssey’, with not only providing the motivation for Odysseus's return to Ithaca, but she is also the center of the plot involving the suitors and the fate of Telemakos and Ithaca itself.  Therefore the objective of this essay is to analyze the importance of Penelope’s role in ‘The Odyssey’.

While traditional readers of Homer’s, The Odyssey, view Odysseus as a hero, they often reduce Penelope to Odysseus’s helpless wife, but Penelope is more than just a damsel-in-distress. Penelope proves to be Odysseus’s heroic equal, as through her resilient, witty and strategic actions she ensures Odysseus fighting advantages over the suitors.

Odysseus goes through experiences where justice prevails over hardship. For example, Odysseus loses many of his men during the trip, but he still survives. At one island, some of his men are killed and before he would get killed too, Odysseus starts sailing away with his remaining men. After finding out his men have been killed, Odysseus says, “From that place we sailed on, glad enough to have come off with our lives, but sad to lose our companions” (114-115). Even though Odysseus loses some of his companions, he is able to continue along with his journey. Shortly after, Odysseus came to the underworld and got to talk to the dead and hear their stories. While speaking to the dead, his mom appears and Odysseus realizes she is dead. She wants to talk to him because Odysseus did not see or hear from her since the start of his journey. Odysseus asks his mom how everyone is doing at home. Odysseus says, “‘But do tell me, really and truly, what was the cause of youth death? how did you die? Was it a long disease? or did Artemis Archeress kill you with her gentle shafts? And tell me about my father and the son I left behind me: do they still hold my honours and my possessions, or have they passed to some other man because people think I will never return? And tell me of my wedded wife, what she thinks and what she means to do. Does she remain with the boy and keep all safe, or has she already married the best man who offered?’ My beloved mother answered (127). Although Odysseus is very sad his mom isn’t alive anymore, he is very happy to hear how his family is doing at home. Getting the updates on his family, helps Odysseus deal the grieving he has because of his mother's death.Odysseus is able to overcome hardships, which help him develop into more of a hero.

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.

In contrast to Odysseus, Everett's view on faith is remarkably different from Odysseus' view. In "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?", Tommy tells the " Chain Gang" that for him to learn how to play the guitar, he sold his soul to the devil. Furthermore, Everett lets Tommy know that Delmar and Pete had just been baptized but he is the only one who is apart from any religious group or figure. This shows that no God, religion, or miracles are believed by Everett. Now in contrast to Everett, Odysseus believes in many Gods and relies on them to help him stay alive throughout his journey and reach home in one piece.

The power of nature had unleashed the ocean and winds against Odysseus, blowing him to an island that would test his body. Odysseus covets his return home, and the embrace of his wife, but he is incapable of achieving either. The intoxicating lotus-eater Circe trapped him for a year and the beautiful Calypso for seven years. During that time, Odysseus partakes in temptations of the flesh of which he has no will power to control. He is no match for the will of the supernatural entities of which caused him great suffering. Odysseus became a prisoner to Circe, poisoned by the false reality of the lotus flower. Odysseus's body was also weak in the face of Calypso. Despite the profound love of which Odysseus had for his wife Penelope, he was unable to resist Calypso's advances. Her beauty is as hypnotic as the poison of the lotus flower. Odysseus was no longer a prisoner of any substance, but he had now fallen on the clutches of Calypso's temptation. Calypso's beauty was divine, and her grasp was tight around Odysseus's lust. At times, individuals seek to end the suffering of a broken heart by plunging into the arms of another. Having no method of escape, Odysseus became a prisoner on Calypso's island, a prisoner whose sole purpose was to please Calypso. Odysseus succumbs to the sexual enslavement of Calypso. What to him felt like days of sexual slavery, in reality were many

Home is a place of comfort, clarity, and relaxation. In The Odyssey, Odysseus uses a reverse metaphor in order to prove that one is truly at home in the presence of family and loved ones. When separated from this amenity, the emotional toll can cause a change of identity. In this particular passage, Odysseus morphs into the image of a distraught woman. This dramatic change represents the effect of Odysseus’ lack of contentment within his body and soul while away from home, which is represented by his wife, Penelope.

Throughout this passage, I believe that Mark was trying to teach us two different lessons. In the beginning of the passage, the message that is portrayed is that we should pay more attention to the word of God rather than other rules or traditions that we know of. We are taught so many different rules and life lessons over time that we are expected to follow, but in the end, it is most important that we always rely on God’s example to lead us through life. We also need to make sure that we are practicing what we preach and actually doing what God would want us to do, and not just speaking of it. This example is shown to us in the passage through this quote “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Mark 7:6).

Homer's epic simile in Book V of The Odyssey, comparing Odysseus hiding himself in a pile of leaves to the way a burning coal is buried in the embers of a fire, reveals his determination to survive and will power despite his feeble condition. Odysseus has survived a shipwreck, struggled at sea, and countless other near-death experiences until he finally washes up on a shore where he finds refuge for the night between two bushes with a pile of leaves on top of interweaving plants. Homer compares Odysseus to a “bed of embers [fueled by]... a fresh brand” (Homer V. 514). Near-death, scarcely breathing, crawling face down with exhaustion, Odysseus experiences the same fate as what a fire experiences every night; a fire is kept alive all night with

In both The Odyssey by Homer and The Aeneid by Virgil, epic similes are used to portray the last battle of each heroes’ journey home. Each hero must face his own set of trials in order to complete his journey home before facing off in one final battle. The epic similes by both Homer and Virgil represent the final battles from each epic. The similes represent parallel battles in the epics which causes them to have similar traits. For example, both Homer and Virgil use animals to portray the brutal nature of these battles. However, the similes represent different men, culture, and battles, which differ in many ways. For example, Homer represents Odysseus and the Greeks, and Virgil represents Aeneas and the Romans.

All heroes have unique aspects that make them special and considered heroic. These aspects can be anything from a role to a characteristic and are shown through many ways, such as descriptions and explanations. Most of these aspects are shown through symbolism, such as in the works of Alexandre Dumas, Homer, and Kenneth Branagh. Symbolism plays a key part in showing different aspects of a hero, such as the elixir in the book The Count of Monte Cristo, the hammer Mjölnir in the movie Thor, and Odysseus’s hunting bow in the book The Odyssey.

The islands of Circe and Calypso in Homer’s Odyssey are places where Odysseus’ most challenging problems occur. In contrast to battles with men, Cyclops, or animals, sexual battles with women are sometimes much more difficult to win. These two female characters are especially enticing to Odysseus because they are goddesses. Though it is evident that Odysseus longs to return to Penelope in Ithaka, it sometimes appears that he has lost vision of what life was like with a wife, a son, and with thousands of people who regard him as King. Although his experiences on the islands of these goddesses were similar in that he was retained from Ithaka for the longest periods of his adventure, these goddesses and the

This past week went by too fast. He has completed building his raft and his cargo is right beside it abound on the journey. Odysseus is surveying the horizon, planning his sail. My heart began to ache once more. I could not believe my eyes. Anger and frustration began to take control of me. Why does he have to leave? Why so soon? Curse the gods in Olympus! They do not know what true love is. Suddenly, I saw a lightning bolt in the far east and heard a clap of thunder at a distance. What am I saying? My gods, I

This quote makes Nausicaa pity Odysseus, and provokes her to want to assist him all the more because Odysseus uses descriptive words Such as “suffer”, “torments” and “escape” to truly get his point

In Edwin Muir’s, “The Return of Odysseus,” Muir lays out the chaos and destruction that is occurring in the home of Odysseus while he is still trying to return home after the war. The suitors have trashed palace of Odysseus while Penelope´s chamber is filled sorrow. Penelope sits alone and weaves a shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes with tears of sorrow for her husband while the anarchy surrounds her. Muir uses juxtaposition, imagery, metaphors, anaphora, and personification to describe Penelope as a depressed and loyal person create the melancholy and chaotic tone of the poem.