The Odyssey 3
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 s
The multiple narrative of this epic encapsulates the tradition of oral storytelling and the fictional world of Greece culture. It also demonstrates the multiple heroic and noble men of the times. Storytelling was a form of entertainment during the ancient times and The Odyssey, along with the Iliad, became the backbone for which the fictional Greek literature was based upon. A pattern among the crew and Odysseus is also evident in his story. Odysseus's crew plays a large role in the misfortune of Odysseus and eventually their own deaths. Throughout the story, the crew perpetually disobeys the instructions of Odysseus. For example, when the Odysseus and his men defeated Ismaros, the men stayed on the island to revel in their victory, although Odysseus exhorts them to leave the island. As a result, the people of Ismaros attacked the men and more lives were lost. Another example of this behavior is in Book X, when the Odysseus and his crew land of Aeolus, who holds control of the winds. Odysseus is welcomed there and showered with gifts by Aeolus. Aeolus also gives him a sack containing strong winds, except for the West Wind. The crew then sets sail back to Ithaca. After ten days, when the ship is nearly home to Ithaca, Odysseus falls asleep accidentally and the crew is jealous of Odysseus because of his wealth of gifts. They believe that in the sack contain more treasure, so they open the bag. The strong winds blow them off course and they are sent back to Aeolus's island. As a result of their jealousy, Odysseus does not go home and is away from home another ten years. If they had not opened the sack, Odysseus and the crew would probably be home at the same time as Menelaos got home. Lastly, when the Odysseus and his crew went to the land of the Dead, Theiresias warned him about the island of Thrinacia, where the cows and sheep are plentiful and should not be eaten. Theiresias also told them to make a sacrifice to the gods. However, when they went to the island, they disobeyed Odysseus again and Eurylokhos urged the men to eat the cows rather than starve, while Odysseus was asleep. This resulted in the destruction of their ship by Zeus's magnificent thunderbolts. The incessant disobedience of the crew teaches the audience of human foolishness and the punishments as a result. Odysseus is a "tragic hero", according to Aristotle in The Book of Poetics, because of certain aspects that Odysseus has. Aristotle says that a tragic hero is a relatively noble character with one fatal, tragic flaw. The hero is a common man, in between pure evil and pure goodness, and the purpose of the story is to reinforce the moral framework of the society during those ages. A strong example of Odysseus's "tragic hero" characteristic is in the story of the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. The audience can see Odysseus's tactile ways when he gets the Cyclopes drunk with wine and slowly he falls into a deep sleep, and he stabs in the eye with a spear, and says his name is "Nobody." Od
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2004
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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