Social Structure in Homer's Odyssey

Ancient Greeks’ history consisted of monsters, creatures, gods, goddesses, fights, and battles. It shows that Ancient Greeks were very imaginative and creative. There were three main archetypes that were used in Homer’s epic ,The Odyssey, which show different aspects of Ancient Greek culture. Those three archetypes were: the hero/father figure archetype, the monster archetypes, and the search for love. The hero archetype explained the Ancient Greeks’ love for thrill and adventure; Odysseus went on many thrilling adventures while on his journey. The monster archetypes represented the Greeks’ love of horror; Odysseus’ men have died due to the monsters and creatures. There were also love stories that show the Greeks’ passionate and emotional

The Odyssey is an epic poem attributed to the now-famous Greek poet, Homer, written approximately in the early sixth century B.C.E. The poem shares the tale of the wily adventuring solider, Odysseus', return from the Trojan war to his wife and home in Ithaca. The poem details his misadventures, the efforts of his son, Telemachus, to find him, and revenge on his wife's suitors. While many themes run through this poem, the most prevalent is that of hospitality. The Host-Guest relationship is significant in the Odyssey as it acts as one of the main thematic devices used by Homer and examples of good hospitality versus bad hospitality and their results serve as the main plot elements throughout the tale.

Homer’s The Odyssey is very much an epic tale of a man’s heroic quest. The protagonist, Odysseus, is a cunning, brave, strong, and tenacious character who is given the title of a hero. This “hero”, however, does not always show characteristics of a hero, which leads many to believe that Odysseus, is not a true hero after all. In fact, Odysseus cheats on his wife multiple times, is willing to sacrifice his men in order to get home, and slaughters all his maids even though he did not have to. In The Odyssey, Homer attempts to create a complex portrait of a hero, but fails at his attempt when making Odysseus unforgiving, self absorbed, and a philanderer.

In "The Odyssey" by Homer, Odysseus was gone from his home for about twenty years. During these years, he faced many challenges and obstaclesduring his epic journey. While he was trying to get back home to his wife and family, there was trouble at his house. There were many wooers trying to marry his wife. They abused the hospitality offered to them.

In the story, “The Odyssey,” it is about a man known as Odysseus, he was away from home for 20 years. He was away from home for that long due to being in war, being kidnapped, all of his men and his ships being destroyed. When he does return to Ithaca he finds out that his house is full of men trying to take his wife away from him. After he heard about this he plotted to get them and knowing all this his actions were justified. They were justified because, the wooers are trying to take his wife, they threatened to kill his son, Telemachus, and when he was dressed as a beggar they were rude and unpleasant towards him.

The suitors deserve punishment because they dishonor Odysseus’ family. Also, they try to push Penelope into marriage, even though she is already married to Odysseus. The suitors abuse the hospitality that is given to them.

Odysseus talks about the suitors saying, “they’d no regard for any man on earth--good or bad/thanks to their reckless work, they met this shameful fate” (22.439--440,441-442) arguing that they deserved what they got because they were

Odysseus killing the suitors and the unfaithful maids is justifiable during the time period in which Homer wrote the Odyssey. It is justifiable for all of the suitors for three reasons. First off they were barbaric when it came to the way the suitor overstayed their welcome. Second, eating and drink all of Penelope, Odysseus’ wife, and their servants food and alcohol. Also, at the end when Odysseus reveals himself after killing Antinous and later killing all of Antinous’ “followers”, they said how Antinous was planning on killing Telemachus which is Odysseus’ son. Homer wrote that Odysseus stated, “‘You yellow dogs, you thought I’d never make it home from the land of Troy. You took my house to plunder’” ( Homer page 45). Then Homer wrote

Not only does Odysseus’s thought through plans shadow his shallow actions, but also his terrific skill to assess social situations and to think of the social consequence ahead of time. As an illustration, Odysseus decides to be kind and considerate and analyze the social situation and customs when he first meets Nausicaa, the young princess. He is washed up on an unplanned island, when he sees a bunch of young girls playing by the river. In that social situation, you won’t walk right up to those girls, demanding goods or directions, since you don’t know where you landed and what the customs are. Odysseus was astute and decided to be gracious and gentle towards the land, customs, and the girls. Odysseus’s politeness pleased the princess and she brought him into town and into her palace, where Odysseus’s could meet the King and Queen. Respectfully, Odysseus was cautious as he speaked and did and said things that only pleased the rulers.

The Odyssey: Cultural Values Homer’s famed epic The Odyssey is a story of one man’s quest to return to his home after a long war, being faced with many perils that he must utilize his heroic qualities to get out of. Along the way Odysseus makes choices that have both positive and negative outcomes, but ultimately he returns home to his family and his kingdom, reclaiming it as his own. Throughout the epic it is shown that many cultural values are present in Ancient Greece, evident in a number of different stories, and it is also shown that characters who utilize these values will for the most part have a successful outcome. Throughout The Odyssey, Homer makes clear that there are many cultural values in this community, such as humility, showing

In the epic Greek home, the Odyssey, author Homer conveys a tale of a man, Odysseus, as he tries to get home after a ten-year Trojan war. The poem he has presented as the message of appealing to everyone's desire to make the painful and long journey home to be with their family. Homer depicts this message through his use of Homeric similes and it accomplishes his attempt of engaging into that desire of longing that everyone feels. The Author compares the subject of Odysseus and his son, Tele Maykus, meeting after Odysseus made the long journey home to a, "keen and fluttering as those of a great taloned hawk.

Human themes that dominate Homer’s The Odyssey is hubris. During his adventure with the Cyclops, Odysseus cleverly blinded the beast with a stake in his eye. He even went as far as saying that his name was Nobody so when the Cyclops would scream in pain and try to get help, nobody would help him for he would say “Nobody is hurting me”. However, Odysseus went to far when he escaped by not only yelling out his actual name but saying exactly who he is and where he can be located. I find this quite funny for Odysseus was not obligated to say anything to the beast and if he did, just saying his name ‘Odysseus’ is enough. But our hero proclaims;

Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey follows Odysseus on his long journey home. The Epic also includes the stories of Odysseus’ family left behind: the travels of his son, Telemachus, and how plenty, of what we would now call “home wreckers”, suitors pressured his wife, Penelope, into marrying one of them. The characters are beautifully crafted and the story is truly epic. All the elements presented can bring in any reader from any century, the Cyclops, the Gods, the trickery of Penelope, and the disguises of Odysseus, are all legendary literary hooks . There are many things to learn—about writing, about the world around us, the world ahead of us, and the past behind us—from The Odyssey. (26) It is undeniably evident that this ancient text has

At the beginning of The Odyssey, Homer tells of Odysseus’ struggle he faces to return home to his wife and son. Meanwhile, in Ithaca, his wife Penelope is pursued by many suitors trying to marry her and take over his kingdom. Athena then appears to Telemachus as Mentor to give him hope that his father will return and to convince him to set sail in search of his father. In book two, following Mentor’s visit, Telemachus gathers all the suitors and confronts them about their actions toward his mother. Antinous then tells Telemachus of how Penelope had led them on. Throughout The Odyssey, Homer emphasizes many important points with his use of symbolism. One of these points regarded Penelope’s loom. He emphasizes her loom as though to illustrate the ideas of faith, faithfulness, trust and betrayal, as well as the idea of karma.

Violence in Literature can take any form, whether it be natural disaster like and earthquake or a human based disaster like war (Campbell). In Homer’s The Odyssey both types are found… whether it’s Odysseus’s hardships like making it home or dealing with the wrath of the god Poseidon. Every violent scene has its own reasons, some are more reasonable than others. For instance, the gods were angered by the disobedience of the mortals, this is more reasonable than the killing of the Cyclops. While we always relate violence to men and the gods, women also had their moments of rage, but their initial violence wasn’t necessarily due to anger. Moreover, violence in The Odyssey is based on jealousy, territorial rights, and last getting revenge. Overall violence is what makes The Odyssey so intriguing.