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Critical analysis of the odyssey
Critical analysis of the odyssey
Critical analysis of the odyssey
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From my previous journal I stated that I was very interested in finishing the rest of the books in the Odyssey. Well I have finished all of them and got some of my questions answered in class and I got some question that I did not know I did not understand answered too. In book 4 I left off with wondering why Athena protects Telemachus when she’s still upset with. When finishing up the rest of the Odyssey there are many things that are many happening. You have everything from; “all of the gods are accepting that Poseidon has gathered again on Mount Olympus to discuss Odysseus’s fate” in book 5. To “Athena makes the Ithacans forget the massacre of their children and recognize Odysseus as king, and making Peace being restored” in book 24. How one man goes through all of this is amazing to me. The Odyssey is nothing more than Odysseus telling us his story and all the things that he had gone through. Odysseus encounters many things that people do not believe to be true because all of his crew is dead and no one had ever don’t anything like he is saying that he has. Because his crew is dead there is no one to help tell all of the great adventures that they endeared. The main question I feel that never truly gets answered in the reading is that of wither or not the stories are true. Does it really take someone who loves his family 20 years to make it home? To return to his wife and son? And are the wife and son still there waiting for him to return. We know in the reading that they are but how does he know this? Is it because that’s how it was back then or why? Why did it take him the seven years for him to build a boat to leave the island of Cyclopes and start to make is way back home. When he finally manages to get the boat made to ... ... middle of paper ... ... I keep saying this but I really don’t know wither or not I can take this story ad being true I things some of the things could have happened but not all of them. I’m not sure why I find it so hard to believe but I do. While reflecting on this reading I have really stopped to think about what I am reading and if I believe it to be true or not. Could the Odyssey be written different so that it’s more understandable? Or should we already be able to understand the text? I feel that the book could take a whole semester to cover it we were to truly take the time to truly read it not just read it and go on. I can see myself rereading the books and trying to understand more and looking for things that I have missed the first time though. Works Cited Brian Wilkie, J. H. (2001). Lliterature of the Western World Vol. 1. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. The Odyssey, pages 273-594
The Odyssey, by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, is an epic poem written about 3000 years ago. It is essentially a sequel to the Iliad, as it tells of the story of a Greek man named Odysseus and his ten year journey back home to Ithaca, after the Trojan War. It also follows the story of his estate and his wife Penelope which are both being fought over by the suitors that have occupied his palace and are consuming his goods. Along with his son, Telemachus, who is set out on a journey to uncover the whereabouts of his father by the Greek goddess Athena. The epic also gives insight to many of the classic Greek ideals that Odysseus embodies and other Greek virtues and values that are explored through the story of Odysseus’s journey back home. A striking resemblance is seen between Odysseus’s characteristics and many of the characteristics we see in heroes in modern culture and entertainment today. Another striking resemblance is that of the journey of Odysseus and how closely it follows that of the Hero’s Journey archetype. Although some of these Greek ideals still maintain to be relevant, others are
Homer's epic poem The Odyssey was written after his Iliad which told the tales of the Trojan War. This Odyssey told of the wanderings of a prominent warrior and ruler, Odysseus. Odysseus fought in the Trojan War and, after the Greeks claimed their victory at Troy, began his prolonged journey home. During his travels Odysseus faced many obstacles which he had to overcome. Through his wanderings, Odysseus had to prove his valor, intellect, and determination. Incorporated into The Odyssey are many current-day characteristics of man including a constant dependence on others, the presence of a greater vision, or lack there of, and the essence of a sensitive side behind courage and pride.
In The Odyssey, the act of storytelling plays a significant role in revealing the story of Odysseus. Each storyteller reveals a part of the past of Odysseus and his heroic deeds. Each of their stories gives insight into what a hero should be, according to the standards of the Greek society, and they each reflect a different aspect of a hero. When pieced together, each story becomes part of a whole, however, each has a different function within the epic. Some may not contribute to the hero directly, but teach a moral or lesson to the audience listening to the story. The audience directed towards is the Greek society and the morals are taught by storytelling. By using storytelling, a hero is often created as the ideal and spread throughout the land to become a legend In The Odyssey, there are many storytellers that contribute to the creation of the hero, Odysseus. Storytelling within the story creates a fictional world in which the characters play in. We, the audience, are in the same position as character listening to the story first hand as well. Each story teaches a different moral aspect that the hero, Odysseus, has to the audience. Although The Odyssey is narrated through Homer, the poet, there are so many storytellers in the story, that the epic becomes a multiple narrative, encapsulating many different aspects of great archaic heroes. Odysseus is the one who reveals the most about his past and where he has been for the years between the Trojan War and the present. Helen and Menelaos tell the stories of Odysseus's tactile ways during the Trojan War and reveal a great hero to Telemakhos, Odysseus's unknowing son. The Sirens, beautiful as their song is, tell a profound story of Odyss...
In The Odyssey, Odysseus Journey is the main part of the story but there is more too it . The Odyssey has parts from a form of writing called the hero's journey. There are many types of the hero's journey stories . The Odyssey followed the Hero's Journey quite closely in its progression though the story and its arch. One thing is being able to understand the concept of The Hero's Journey makes it so much easier to to understand The Odyssey and other stories like it
The Odyssey is a tale that has changed literature and storytelling. In this tale Odysseus is a Soldier from the battle of Troy trying to get home to his island of Ithaca, where he is king. His wife and son must wait ten years while he is trying to make his way home. In Odysseus’s absence wooer’s, or better known as suitors, learn of his absence and travel to Ithaca to win his wife’s hand in marriage. These men come every day feasting on Odysseus’s food and wine, and give his servant’s orders. His son Telemachus, does his best to keep the suitors from ruining his fathers house but he is only a boy, and doesn’t receive the respect of an adult. Telemachus then has a visit from the god Athena, whom Odysseus is friends with, who advises him to travel to find out about his father. In his travels he hears that Odysseus may still be alive. Meanwhile Odysseus goes through a series of adventures and hardships that prove his wisdom. It is interesting in contrast of the Iliad, even though Achilles was much stronger and a better warrior, Odysseus was portrayed as a greater hero due to his wisdom. He uses this wisdom to escape from the Cyclops.
Richardson complains that Homer has broken the contract between narrator and reader when he says or implies that one thing will happen, then has something else happen instead. This is not Homer being a bad writer, or misleading maliciously, or doing something wrong, this is Richardson acting as a bad reader and assuming things that he should not be. Richardson assumes, wrongfully so, that when the story starts off and the reader discovers that it is about Odysseus, that the story will start off on Calypso’s island. When it starts off on Olympus, he also complains that the conversation doesn’t even start on Odysseus, but on Orestes, who killed his own mother for the murder of his father. This start of the conversation actually gives the reader a time-line to think about. Richardson is writing in a way that almost seems to assume that the readers/hearers of Homer’s Odyssey have no foreknowledge of any sort of mythos at all, this is of course not true. Ancient Greeks were well versed in the mythos of their time, especially high-born Greeks, those who to seem smart sang or recited Homer’s epics from memory. The stories themselves were quite common, leading one to believe that not having things hidden would lead to boredom and the wish for something new. That is what Homer
Lawall, Sarah N. “The Odyssey.” The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 206-495. Print.
The close reading is from The Odyssey by Homer in book nine lines 1-33. In this paper, one could see Odysseus goes full circle of emotions throughout the lines. Before this book starts Odysseus was lead to the palace of Alcinous, the king of the Phaeacians. Once he was there he plead for help from the Queen to get back to his land. The King thought Odysseus was a god but Odysseus put that to rest by saying he was a mortal. That evening, while the King and Queen were talking to Odysseus, the Queen noticed that he was wearing her daughter’s clothes. This lead to him being questioned by the Queen. At the end of the questioning the Queen was so impressed by him that the King offers Odysseus his daughter’s hand in marriage. The next morning, they
The story of Odyssey comes from a time when storytellers spread tales of heroes and heroic deeds. The Greeks have been known to tell their stories of their heroes in oral tradition. The first few lines of the Odyssey is the narrator asking a Muse to help him tell the story of Odysseus. The story is also filled with dialogue, which might indicate that it is a form of theatre and that these lines were performed orally. From the first few lines, the Odyssey could be recognized as a story that is told rather then read.
... has returned to Ithaca. Homer uses rhetorical strategies through these speeches to persuade their audience to take either of the three suitors idea. Eurymachus planned to get Telemachus home as fast as he could right after he heard that Telemachus was back in Ithaca. The audience learned that Antinous wanted Telemachus dead since the beginning. And that Amphinomus wants to take the safe approach by only doing what the gods permit him to do. And throughout these speeches the audience learns about the suitors, what type of people they are and if they are good for Penelope. Homer sends a message to the audience by showing them how different every single one of the suitors are. The three speeches in book XVI in Homer’s “The Odyssey” help the reader to better understand what each suitor is like and how each suitor thinks about Telemachus returning unharmed to Ithaca.
At the beginning he was lost and he did not know how to deal with the suitors in his home who were seeking the hand of his mother in marriage for reasons of personal convenience. He is the future king and his own life is in danger. The people of the kingdom do not have any respect for the prince and he needs to grow up fast. With Athena’s help, he ends up calling an assembly meeting of the leaders and confronts the suitors. During the assembly he says, “Now that I know, being grown, what others say, I understand it all, and my heart is full. I’ll bring black doom upon you if I can either in Pylos, if I go, or in this country” (II, 328-331). Here is when he takes his first steps towards maturity and this allow us to speak of a before and an after of his spiritual growth. The quote is the evidence that Athena achieved her stated aim, to show Telémakhos humility and that it is time to start being a man. Athena could protect Telémakhos with her divine powers but that’s aside from the point. He has to reach his manhood by himself. For he is, perhaps, the only character in “The Odyssey” who shows any development. All of the other people who appear in the story are already fully grown. This epic story has to do with human nature and what it means to be a human, to discover ourselves, and to know how to go home. While Athena persuades and guides him as Mentor, the experience
At the end of book four, the reader is left to feel that Telemachus is a good and, in all likelihood, a virtuous young man. Athena, it is assumed, would not have gone to the trouble to assist in his cause if this were not the case. By the time he reaches Sparta, however, he remains untested. Athena tells him where to go and with whom to meet, she teaches him what to say, and she even physically grooms him for the role. One suspects that there are likely to be trials that lie ahead for him. Athena tells Telemachus that his actions will be a combination of instinct and divine guidance. One can only hope, if the goddess is not by his side, that these instincts will see him through these upcoming struggles.
We are human, we may not always fulfill our quests, but we can always use our experiences from our journeys to look back on and learn from. Making the journey may spark several different emotions - some positive and some negative. In The Odyssey, Odysseus faces great tests of character through all of the hardships he goes through. Through his journey he is formed into the heroic character he is meant to be. He not only learns about himself, but develops qualities that his society is lacking. Following, while The Odyssey is an epic poem, it is not only about Odysseus making it home, but it interprets Odysseus's character development. All in all, making the journey is the most important as it is life changing and can give us new perspectives and ideas.
... absent from society but also perseverance is missing in our world. People today often give up on projects, dreams, and even life. I know that sometimes I think something is too difficult like a homework assignment and I give up. It seems petty, but later in life everyone will need values to accomplish other goals. Characters in The Odyssey embody perseverance to let others know that they can complete their challenges, too. In the end, many people do not think much of values that are critical to today’s world. Sometimes I make a decision without thinking about honesty, loyalty, or perseverance. This blinds me from knowing if I am making the right decision or hurting someone. People need to understand more about the values in society to make sure they are being the best they can be. This novel sets many precedents about the morals of humanity for others to follow.
“The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.