Propp's 7 Assequences Of Odysseus In The Odyssey

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The Odyssey’s protagonist, Odysseus, King of Ithica, husband of Penelope and father of Telemachus was reknown for his craftiness. When Helen is abducted and Menelaus calls upon his allies to honour their oaths and help him to retrieve her. Odysseus tries to avoid going to war by feigning lunacy and starts sowing his fields with salt, as an oracle had prophesied a long-delayed return home for him if he went. However, Palamedes, sent by Menelaus’s brother Agamemnon places his infant son Telemachus in front of his plow. Odysseus, rather than eviscerate his son with rudementary farm equipment, Odysseus reveals his deception and joins the Greeks in their conquest of Troy.
The version of Odysseus in the Illiad is much more flawed and realistic …show more content…

Odysseus literally goes to hell and back just so that he might see his wife and son again. Propp’s 9th motif pertains to the rewards the hero recieves for their efforts, but the reward Odysseus seeks is a simple one. Odysseus’s quest is not driven by a hunger for power or lust, but from Odysseus’s desire to get his old life back and to return to the family that he was torn away from. Kalypso offers Odysseus power and immortality which he rejects, instead choosing to leave Ogygia to reclaim his throne and family. Propp’s 10th motif knowledge through suffering, while present in both Homer’s work and the BBC series, is laid out quite clearly by his great grandfather Aeolus the god of wind in the BBC series. Aelous describes Odysseus as “the first mortal to think, you (Odysseus) know there is always something to be learned from a challenge.” Odysseus’s quick thinking and guile saves his life many times, but his hubris ultimately instigates many of his struggles. However, Odysseus’s ego is not due to an inflated self worth, but from his ability to think on his feet and mentally outmanuever his

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