...Topic: how fate and freewill were incorporated into the story and the roles they play Fateful Freewill Throughout the development of the world to how we see it today, the one thing that has united all societies and cultures is a belief in a higher power. Not all cultures believe in the same higher power but they all believe in something, they can all relate to believing in something bigger than themselves, not necessarily something they can see everyday and a tangible idea, but having faith in something. In the Greek culture and belief system the gods play a very important role in determining your fate. In Greek mythology, the Greek Gods are always very key, important figures throughout the story often becoming involved and interfering in the characters lives personally. The gods determine the paths of the characters—creating the characters’ fate. But the characters have to choose to embark on the journey, symbolizing their choice in free will. In the story of The Odyssey told by Homer, the gods have consistently intervened in the lives of Telemachos, Penelope, and Odysseus guiding them along their path chosen by the Gods but letting them have some choice in it. In some situations it is necessary for the Gods to intervene. In order to get the ball rolling for Telemachus, Athene had to go into disguise and persuade Telemachos to go on the journey. It was Telemachos fate to be reunited with his father, but it was his own freewill to choose how to go on a quest to find...
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...Fate and free will is one theme that really stands out to me. There are many things that happen to Odysseus in the Odyssey that is based on destiny and mostly through the whole book he is robbed of his free will. One example of destiny was when Odysseus and his crew were on the ship and he was the only survivor. Another example would be of free will, when Odysseus was imprisoned by the giants and not let free. Destiny prevailed and helped Odysseus escape from the giants and gain his freedom. Last example would be of Fate when Odysseus returned home and shot his arrow and killed all the suitors for the hand of his wife. Tradition and custom is another theme that is heavily used in the Odyssey. It’s a great connection to ancient greek culture...
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...the river. The gods let Orpheus live in Elysium with Eurydice and placed his lyre as a constellation of stars with the gods in heaven. Interfering with fate has negative consequences. Orpheus’ interference with fate has negative consequences. At the beginning of the story, Orpheus shows a tremendous talent for music. He can make anyone do anything he wants with his lyre, such as causing animals to fall asleep. Orpheus further displays his talent: “Neither man nor beast lived in his day that could not be swayed by the power of his melody. He played a lullaby and all the things slept.” (1) Orpheus has a special ability and he uses it to help others in his kingdom of Thrace. He also wins the heart of Eurydice, whom he...
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...The Essential Role of Goddess in Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey Just as women were viewed as inferior to men during Homer’s era, a first glance at Homer’s epics The Iliad and The Odyssey portrays goddesses as inferiors to gods. Despite the era’s bias to men, the goddesses are of equal importance to the plot of his stories as the gods. The goddesses play vital roles as either helpers or nightmares to men by often determining the results of an action. Homer did not establish the goddesses in his epics merely as minor structures to blend in the background. Rather, he established dynamic goddesses who were both powerful and intelligent. In fact, in many ways the goddesses controlled the gods by having an influence in their decisions and actions through manipulation, persuasion and guidance. By influencing the gods, the goddesses also played a large role as shepherds for human fate. The goddess’s constant intervention in the mortals’ lives was driven by favoritism, love or sexual desires, and their pity for the weak. Although the goddesses are often restricted from doing as they wish by the gods, they have proven, in many occasions, to overpower the gods through manipulation. Goddesses were often told what to do by the gods. Tasks such as delivering messages from Zeus were often carried out by Athena. Just as Hector told his wife, “Go home, attend to your own handiwork at loom and spindle, and command the maids to busy themselves, too. As for war, that is for men, all we...
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...The removal of the immortals from the Odyssey, would – despite supposedly in some sense improve the poem – essentially weaken the poem and the story as a whole. Whilst the removal of the gods would provide Odysseus to act of his own accord, and allow the audience to see how Odysseus can cope without the interruption of the gods. Nevertheless, without immortals in the Odyssey, the poem would ultimately lack a crucially exciting fact of narrative and would look very different as a story of a man trying to achieve his nostos, after the Trojan War. Ultimately, it must be acknowledged that without the immortal gods, the Odyssey would most likely not exist as the Trojan War would not have happened. The Trojan War began due to Paris’ decision to give the golden apple ‘for the most beautiful’ to Aphrodite (instead of Athene or Hera) as she offered him Helen as his wife. At the wedding of Menelaus and Helen, Paris made love to Helen and they left to sail to Troy, thus initiating the Trojan War. It is because of the Trojan War that the Odyssey is taking place. Odysseus only underwent the travel and trials of the Odyssey in order to make his way home from the Trojan War to Ithaca. This essentially means that without the immortal gods, the Odyssey would not even exist, and the story of Odysseus would be very different to the one told by Homer in the Odyssey. Another key way in which the removal of the gods would weaken the poems integrity is that a crucially exciting, entertaining element...
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...say evils come from us, but it is they, rather, who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given.”(Odyssey 1. 32-34) These words are spoken by Zeus at the beginning of Homer’s The Odyssey as he explains that it is not the gods who are responsible for the suffering of mankind, but that these hardships come from one’s own choices and character flaws. Homer begins The Odyssey with this dialog to inform the reader that the fate of Odysseus, his ten year long journey home, is the result of his own choices and flaws rather than portraying him as a victim of the gods. Although Odysseus is certainly a great hero, Homer makes it clear from the beginning, through that quote from Zeus, that...
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...COLLEGE LAS PIÑAS 3F AC and Sons Building, Alabang Road, Almanza Las Piñas City REACTION PAPER ABOUT THE ODYSSEY Submitted to: Cherry Lou Infante Submitted by: Ysidro Ged A. Seradilla In The Odyssey by Homer there are many important themes that are also reflected in many movies of today’s time. One of them is that the idea of fate may feel very uncomfortable. The fact that people have no control over their lives can make them very uneasy about life. Another theme is that great heroes are created by the noble deeds that they do. And yet another theme is that patience is something that must be learned over time, usually by some type of suffering. Patience is a virtue that must be learned, usually through suffering. Odysseus had to patiently suffer through 20 long years of struggling to get back to his family, which only strengthened his patience because he knew he would get back some day. Great heroes are made great by noble deeds of mind, body, and spirit. Odysseus was a very noble man, defined only by the seemingly endless amount of noble deeds he had done throughout his quest. Human beings are frequently alienated from god and have no control over the fate that befalls them but they do have control over their own reactions to the events of their lives. The lessons in life are learned by choice or the experiences of others. In Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, life applications are implied through the different adventurous journeys of Odysseus, the protagonist. These...
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...the three epic poems read thus far in Classics 2220, Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s works: the Iliad and the Odyssey, the most important difference between Virgil and Homer is whether fate is treated as fact or can be affected by the choices of mortals. Homer’s works are more meaningful for citizen readers because they emphasize the importance of free will as illustrated in the shields and prophecies of the narratives. Aeneas faces a prophecy and acts believing it would come true regardless of his choices. Though Achilles and Odysseus face prophecies, both perceive the ability, however limited, to choose their own futures. Many feel trapped by what society has told them and feel they have no control, while in reality, just like Achilles and Odysseus, every person has the ability to affect their future for better or worse. In Virgil’s Aeneid, it is preordained that he will immigrate to Italy from Troy and found the city of Rome (1.1-19). In the very beginning,...
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...In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer changes Odysseus’ decisions to reveal that leaders must make rational decisions for the most successful outcome possible. The theme of leadership is represented through the protagonist, Odysseus, recovering some of his crew from their mistakes, constructing an optimal plan to overcome brute force, and making decisions that will later affect their destiny. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus makes rational decisions for himself and his crew to accomplish the goal of returning back home from his journey. After some of Odysseus’ crew members make the mistake of consuming the lotus flower on the Island of the Lotus Eaters, Homer shows that Odysseus’ changed decisions to protect his crew change and reveal the...
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...Odysseus of Ithaca: Famed or Fraud? Homer’s Odyssey tells the tale of the Trojan War hero Odysseus’s return home to his land of origin, Ithaca. Homer describes Odysseus as being one of, or possibly the greatest hero in all of Greece’s history. He is characterized as being a fearless, heroic man, who, with divine assistance, bests even the greatest monsters, and overcomes the most troublesome and life-threatening situations that he encounters, or the gods throw at him. However, if not for the assistance given to him by Athena, or any other divine figure, Odysseus’s journey would most likely have not worked out in his favor as it did, and he most likely would have perished within the very first books of The Odyssey. If divine assistance is what gave Odysseus his spark, courage and abilities, then are his abilities really justified? Who is the real Odysseus of Ithaca? Throughout many instances of The Odyssey, Odysseus is seen as this “almighty figure of excellence,” that can “never be beat or conquered.” However, despite the recognition that Odysseus deserves for accomplishing most of his feats, most of the work and assistance given to him was crafted by the goddess Athena; who constantly monitors Odysseus’s every move and protects him throughout the course of the tale. For example, on page 175 of the text, when Odysseus confronts the Phaecian princess Nausicaa, Athena personally makes him appear less menacing and worn. By doing this, Athena guaranteed that Odysseus would...
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...My Apollo-gees if you Hades puns, I’ll start to write seriously now. In this essay about the Odyssey, I will be covering multiple questions. Is there any room for human will in a world governed by gods? Is it a compliment when Odysseus is called “clever” or “willy”? And what does justice mean for the people in the Odyssey? In my opinion, I believe that in Odysseus’ world there is still room for human will, even though their “fate” is mostly decided by the gods. I also reckon that it isn’t necessarily bad when Odysseus acts “clever”, and that their idea of justice is centaur-ed around the idea of “An eye for an eye”. Let me first begin by explaining why Odysseus’ world does in fact include human will. As seen above although their world is governed...
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...Because she ate the food of the Underworld, she must stay there for a period of time with Hades. While Persephone is away, Demeter mourns, so Earth experiences winter. When Persephone returns, it is spring. Tiresias is a blind prophet whose spirit Odysseus visits in the Underworld. In The Odyssey, Tiresias foretells Odysseus’ fate- that he will return home, reclaim his wife and palace from the wretched suitors, and then make another trip to a distant land to appease Poseidon. Sirens are creatures, part man and part bird, whose songs lure sailors to their death. In The Odyssey, Odysseus pours wax in the ears of his crew so they will not be affected by the Sirens voices. Then, he makes his crew tie him to the mast so he can hear the Sirens but not be lured to his death. Scylla is a six-headed monster who devours sailors. Charybdis is a dangerous whirlpool personified as a female monster. In The Odyssey, Scylla and Charybdis pose as obstacles in Odysseus’ path home. Language Situational irony is an outcome that turns out to be very different from what was expected; the difference between what is expected to happen and what actually does. An example of situational irony in The Odyssey is when Odysseus's wife tells him she will make his bed for him outside of her room and when she coldly and skeptically welcomes him after he reveals his identity. It is an unexpected event/ occurrence because you would guess she would be excited to see him after twenty...
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...Divine Destiny Free will, man’s right to choose his own path. While clearly present in The Odyssey, it is through Homer’s writing that we begin to see the underlying belief, in ancient Greek culture, of divine intervention and the gods’ power to control and shape man’s destiny. Their influence is evident in determining the outcome of every adventure and obstacle that the hero, Odysseus, faces during his lengthy, perilous journey home following the events of the Trojan War. Man’s free will is overshadowed throughout this epic poem by the use of prophecy or the direct influence of the gods to ultimately foretell and decide the outcome. The choices Odysseus makes may have direct consequences and influence on his life, gaining or denying him favor with the gods. He cannot; however, change his fate or escape their will. The influence of the gods is shown early on in The Odyssey during a meeting of the gods where they decide amongst themselves that the time for Odysseus to return to his home in Ithaca has come. At the time of the meeting, Odysseus is trapped in a suspended state of inactivity on the island Ogygia with the goddess Calypso. No matter the remarkable wit and cunning the hero is shown to possess, it is the decision of the gods at this meeting to send Hermes to pave the way for his release from the island. Zeus to Hermes: “Hermes, you’ve been our messenger before. / go tell that ringlet nymph it is my will / To let that patient man Odysseus go home. / Not with an...
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...Throughout popular literature, heroes share defining qualities and can often be similar. In both the epic poem The Odyssey and the book Cold Mountain the heroes, Odysseus from The Odyssey and Inman from Cold Mountain share qualities that make them similar. The Odyssey is set in Ancient Greek times and the main character Odysseus took a long journey to get home to his wife Penelope. It's a similar case in Cold Mountain for Inman. Inman is a confederate soldier who is jaded of war and longs to be back with his girl, Ada, so took a long journey to his home Cold Mountain where Ada is In both the classics there are common traits, goals, and fates for the two heroes. To begin with in both of the classics there is common traits between the...
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...The classic tragedy, as defined by Aristotle, has six major parts. These parts include a plot, characters, theme, melody, spectacle, and language. All stories, according to Aristotle must have a beginning, middle, and end, and must follow a logical sequence according to these six elements. The plot is the series of events, or sequence in which the action of the play occurs. Plot must follow a cause and effect relationship, which follows a logical pattern. Characters are the people in the play, who have certain qualities that can be determined by what they say, do and what others say about them. The theme of the play is the general feeling or statement made by the author that presents an observation or thought to the audience. Melody is the musical quality of the play, which includes a change of pitch by the voice, musical instruments , and also includes the high and low points of the play giving it an overall melodic quality. Spectacle includes the visual elements of the play, anything that is observed by sight. Often in modern movies and plays spectacle can be overdone, especially if a reason for the spectacle cannot be found. Language is the dialog or speech that makes up the story, and is used by characters to present the play to the audience. Aristotle lays out a very specific definition of what a tragedy should include, and how each element should be presented. He tells us that the tragedy must include these six elements and that they must be laid out in a logical manner...
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