Free Essays on Homer's Odyssey: Scylla and Charybdis

The Odyssey - Scylla and Charybdis

One of the most difficult tasks as a parent is to teach your child lifes lessons. Many have tried, and many have failed. But over the ages most successful ideas have come in a form of story or tale. Aesops Fables, nursery rhymes, and other tales of caution are used even today to teach this common knowledge one must have. In the Greek civilization, thousands of years ago, many children were taught through these fun and interesting stories. The Odyssey is one of these tales. Through the many episodes telling the adventures of one man, Odysseus, numerous life lessons and morals were taught to the reader. One valuable episode in The Odyssey is Scylla and Charybdis. Not only does it provide excitement and interest for the reader, but it is an effective part of The Odyssey because of its superb insight to Odysseus character, and the clear life lesson that is taught. Especially in todays' world, one key to making a story interesting or exciting is to include action. For example many recent blockbuster hits are action packed.

Titanic, Independence Day, and Terminator 2, all are examples of these hits. The Odyssey is no exception to this trick or technique. In the episode Scylla and Charybdis the plot is filled with intense confrontations, a heroic leader, and more. Some of this can be easily identified, for example, when Homer writes;

"... scarcely had that island

faded in the blue air than I saw smoke

and white water with waves in tumult-

a sound the men heard, and it terrified them.

Oars flew from their hands; the blades went

knocking wild alongside till the ship lost way..." (756-763)

What the author is doing is letting the reader foreshadow. A technique which creates suspense, a vital element in any action story. The author then explained what was being hinted at;

"... we rowed into the strait- Scylla to our port

and on our starboard beam Charybdis, dire

gorge of the salt-sea tide. By heaven when she

vomited all the sea was like a cauldron

seething over intense fire..." (796-800)

"... [The] dark sand raged on the bottom far below.