The Odyssey, Phaedra and Things Fall Appart: Similarities

1749 Words4 Pages

The Odyssey, Phaedra and Things Fall Apart are works of art that have a common and important theme. These works have a single hero who is characterized by a personal strength, respect and highest moral obligations and ethics. As such, the theme of a hero is still attributable to the modern times because people value morality, ethics and individual strength. Another major theme is the burden that these heroes have to carry and in some cases, they have to take it without complaining to others of fate which has made them who they are. Those with strong principles in life will always stay heroes, even if they do not survive, their memory and legacy will be their mark to remember.

In the Odyssey, Odysseus shows immovable character and will. He has the ability to change many things the way he personally wants, but he chooses a path of greatest morality. Since the beginning of time, personal principles based on highest morality and ethics played an important role in the lives of people. Morality is a building unit of a hero who becomes a leader of society and any civilization. In Homer’s Odyssey, the hero of the ancient times is described in great detail and can be seen as one of the major points or ideas in the story. Throughout the poem it is obvious that there is great value and honor in the quality of such a person and more importantly the relationship between a strong person, their family and society since it is emphasized as something sacred and divine. There are traces of this in Odyssey which can be connected to modern morality and respect for others, which is specifically and purposefully illustrated in detail.

The story of Odysseus describes the ventures of a brave warrior who has many hardships reaching...

... middle of paper ...

...teristics of a proper citizen and a human being. People are meant to learn that life’s perturbations are sometimes very cruel and unfair, but it is the responsibility of every person to make sense of what is taking place, learn from the lesson and do anything possible to carry the message to others.

Works Cited

Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1995. Print.

Henry, Brian. “The Odyssey revisited.” The Virginia Quarterly Review 74(3) (1998): 57-69. Print.

Homer. Trans. Bryant William. The Odyssey of Homer. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1872. Print.

Racine, Jean. Phaedra. Alexandria: Library of Alexandria, 1979. Print.

Okpewho, Isidore. Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: A Casebook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.

Sayer, John. Jean Racine: Life and Legend. Bern: Peter Lang, 2006. Print.

Open Document