...Comparison of The Odyssey and The Iliad I feel like I can really relate to Achilles and Odysseus in both of the tales. I feel like Odysseus that I am a good leader cares for others, intelligent and cunning. I might not be as strong as him, but that is not my point.. For Achilles he is considered to have one weakness in his body the rest is perfect and untouchable. The term Achilles heel is used because his weakness was his heel. I never quite understood why his mother didn’t just turn him on the heel after or dab some on to cover his heel. I feel like him because and relate to the fact that he has very few weaknesses. I don’t feel that I have many as well. I thought the relationship between Hector and Achilles was pretty. Obviously they did not like each other at all. That is a dead give away while reading. They both fought on separate sides during the Trojan War. I thought it was very rude of Achilles to continually drag Hector’s body around as if he was nothing and not a human. To me it felt like a kid dragging around a toy across the floor. Not a very pleasing sight. I found it interesting how the Gods protected his body either because they thought it was rude of Achilles or because they liked Hector. The fact that they do this seems interesting and very important. The Gods have a great powers so don’t they just smite Achilles for this crude act. Within this there is discussion between the Gods of what they should do about the body. Apollo believes the bod should be...
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...Greek and Roman legends have always been very similar to each other. For example, they have all the same gods and goddesses, but under different names – Jupiter and Zeus, Mercury and Hermes, Diana and Artemis. But the two myths The Odyssey and The Aeneid parallel each other so severely that it’s fairly disarming. Their plots, adventures, romances, and time periods all coincide with one another. They have the potential to be compared and contrasted endlessly. The similarities of these two works begin in the titles themselves. The main characters of these two works are Odyssey and Aeneas – their stories’ respective titles reflect their names. These tales both take place shortly after the Trojan war. Odysseus, a Greek, was on the winning side, and is leaving victorious. Aeneas, however, has lost the war, and is fleeing Troy as he was instructed to by the gods. Odysseus believes he is finished with his adventures for the time being. It has been prophesized to Aeneas that he is to discover Rome. Both these men are seeking a home: Odysseus is trying to make his way back to Ithaca, whist Aeneas is looking for a new one. Both of them are surrounded by crew members. Both of them will be alone by the time the stories draw to a conclusion. Odysseus and Aeneas both have a god – or goddess – working against them. Odysseus, after injuring the Cyclops Polyphemus, son of Poseidon (Neptune, Roman form), has made an enemy in the god of the sea. Aeneas, on the other hand, has done nothing wrong...
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...Have you ever read a book and then watched the movie? When you are watching the movie you find some things similar, but most of it is different, right? I read the book The Odyssey and watched the movie O Brother Where Art Thou? I compared the similarities and the differences. When I was doing that, I found a lot of the same things in the movie as they were in the book. This was a movie and book that were different, but the same in different ways that were sometimes hidden in the storyline of O Brother Where Art Thou? I thought there were many similarities in the movie and in the book. One that really caught my attention was the prophecy. In the movie when the men were riding with the blind guy on the train track he said, “ You guys will seek a great fortune, but not the one you are looking for…” In the book Odysseus goes to the underworld and Tiresias of Thebes tells him, “ If you don’t show restraint and control you won’t make it home.” The prophecies are alike in many ways....
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...5.) An aristeia can be defined as a hero’s best battle. Diomedes, a Greek warrior, is fueled by power from Athena. He is about to engage in one on one combat with Glaucus, a Trojan. The odds are in his favor, since he has the aid of Athena. Then, Diomedes’ curiosity takes over, and he asks his opponent who he is and where he is from. At first, Glaucus thinks that it shouldn’t matter where he is from, but he eventually answers with his family’s backstory, saying, “Hippolochus survived, from him I came/The honoured author of my birth and name,” (Pope 254). As a result, Diomedes realizes that Diomedes’ grandfather, Oeneus, hosted Glaucus’ grandfather, Bellerophon. This hosting links the two families together, so Diomedes and Glaucus can not possibly kill each other now. Upon realizing this, Diomedes replies, “Welcome, my brave hereditary guest! Thus ever let us meet with kind embrace, Nor stain the sacred friendship of our race.” Glaucus and Diomedes now have a special kinship, one that makes it impossible for either of them to touch each other. 6.) The image of Glaucus and Diomedes embracing is a heartening moment. Glaucus and Diomedes are complete polar opposites. One is the Lycian prince, an ally of Troy, and the other is a famous Greek warrior. They are both reputable members of their armies, so the reader expects a brutal fight to the death, with one person triumphing over the other. This is the most predictable path of the story. However, the unpredictability of this...
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...Throughout Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey and Frazier’s novel Cold Mountain, many similarities are displayed. A few similarities exemplified are the character traits shared between the protagonists, the destination of the journeys, and the motivations for the character’s adventures. Similar character traits are shared between Odysseus and Inman. Odysseus, the protagonist of The Odyssey, is the leader of the Greeks in the Trojan war. Inman, the protagonist of Cold Mountain, is a Confederate soldier during the Civil War. Both Odysseus and Inman share the quality of partaking in a war of some time period. When traveling through their journeys, both of the characters are required to think intelligently when encountering conflicts of supernatural...
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...In both Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bee’s, and Homer's The Odyssey, readers watch as both protagonists are forced to chose between two horrible situations. Both characters are faced with two nearly impossible situations, and have to choose one. In the Odyssey, Odysseus is faced with the well known monsters: Scylla and Charybdis. One is a 6 headed female monster and the other is a dangerous whirlpool. Protagonist Lily in The Secret Life of Bees is faced with the challenge of either staying home and living with her impossible father T-Ray, or running away and trying to survive on her own. While some differences between The Odyssey and The Secret Life Of Bee’s are evident, the similarities between the challenges both protagonist’s face...
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...05/07/2012 O Brother, Where Art Thou? vs. The Odyssey When it comes to entertainment and box office hit movie making, it is not uncommon to come across films adapted from popular literature. Taking a story that is popular and well-known is a formula for a successful film, as long as it is done the right way. The Coen Brothers, famous for successful films such as “Fargo” and “The Big Lebowski,” made a movie together entitled “O Brother, Where Art Thou.” This film, while unique in its setting and a little bit different in the plot, is clearly an adaptation of the ancient classic poem “The Odyssey” by the poet Homer. Even a review by the renowned film critic Roger Ebert states: “O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a Homeric journey through Mississippi during the Depression (Ebert, Roger 2000).” The film itself depicts the obstacles and fate of a man during the Great Depression who escapes from jail and whose only goal is to make it back home. The struggles he and his fellow escapees meet along the way are strikingly similar to the perils that face Odysseus and his men on their mission to get back to Ithaca. Also, the character references in the film that parallel the characters in the epic poem are abundant. The film is almost a modern homage to the ancient poem in all the different ways it emulates “The Odyssey.” To fully understand all of the different ways the film relates to the poem, it is important to establish the character comparisons between the two works. The protagonist of...
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...The Odyssey v. The Hobbit In the stories "The Odyssey" by Homer and "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien, there are many similarities. The main characters, Odysseus and Bilbo, are trying to get themselves and their crews home. Bilbo and Odysseus have many things in common such as their cunning abilities in trickerySome of the similarities between the two are the settings, the challenges, the enemies, and coming home. First, the setting comparison. One place that can be compared in both stories is 'The Land of the Dead' in "The Odyssey" to 'MirkWood', which is a forest, in "The Hobbit". Both places have masking around them so that it is difficult to see, for example, the fog in 'The Land of the Dead' and the thick trees in 'MirkWood'. Both are also filled with dead people, though none are actually seen in "The Hobbit", but are frequently talked about....
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...Gender role in The Odyssey, specifically focusing on the women's role and how women's treatment by men can be indicated as sexist. They are usually identified by their looks and treated based on how their physical appearance is, and whether they have power over any men. She makes it clear that throughout Odysseus’ journey to the underworld, he spots and gets a glimpse of different variety of women. She says that throughout the Odyssey, they do not state anything about the women’s accomplishments in their lifetime, but only about their important son's, good looks and pleasingness, and their affairs with gods. She also talks about how women are known for their action and activity towards their sons and husbands, but never for the action and deeds of their own, or how they are, nor what accomplishments they did for themselves. Helene states that it seems in the book Odyssey, the only achievements women could achieve was being pretty and attractive to they eyes of the men. She proves throughout her paper that even Homer made it sound as...
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...Cassandra Jackson Humanities Dr. Mathew Roberts August 15, 2013 The Comparison of Qualities of the Protagonist in Odyssey by Homer and Medea by Euripedes The comparison of Medea by Euripedes and Odyssey by Homer show many similarities as well as differences. Let’s begin with the character of Medea. After reading Medea by Euripedes the character of Medea shows that she was a barbarian by nature, and she was considered a foreigner. Medea states that “I am the mother of your children, wither can I fly, since all Greece hates the barbarian ( www.theatre history.com). Medea tells this to Jason after the king tells her she must leave his kingdom. She was a beautiful intelligent woman, but she was a woman scorned. She displayed a woman who could not accept rejection, or by no means could she forgive. Medea was a mother, a lover a wife. She also was a loyal person. She displayed this by no matter what it took to help Jason, she took all necessary steps to fulfill her wishes so that she would be able to be with him. You ask yourself was Medea this way before Jason, yes I believe she was. This goes back to the fact that she really was a barbarian in a foreign land. In this story I came to the conclusion that Medea actions showed a woman who was truly mad. She was not aware of the cruel and barbaric actions she took out on people she knew and love. I felt this...
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...Andrew Forero Ms. Kaye English 1, Section 6 1/6/14 Odyssey Book and Movie Comparison In life today many movies are based off of books and vise versa. In fact more people tend to watch movies and read books that are based off each other. The Odyssey by Homer, is a famous piece of literature that depicts a hero’s way home from a war. It is arguably one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written, so there is obviously a movie that bases itself off of this book. There are many similarities between the book and movie due to the fact that the movie wants to stay true to the book. Furthermore, there are also many differences between the book and movie due to many factors that take place when making a movie. The book and movie The Odyssey are very similar and alike, but they do share their differences as no movie and book can be a hundred percent the same. To begin with, The Odyssey book and movie have many similarities. Since the movie is copy of the book, many of the plot points and events are the same. For example Odysseus and his men go on the same journey. The movie includes most of the important places the go to. These places include the land of the Cyclops, island of Aeaea (Circe), the land of the Dead, and the area of the Sirens and Charybdis. Another example is the characters. Both the book and movie include the same charcters such as Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope, Antinous, etc. The last example is the same plot ending. They both end with Odysseus killing...
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...ENCC-102-HN Professor Valovcin Religion and the Role of the Gods Religion has always been an important part of culture, in present times and even dating back to the times of the Trojan War and before. No matter what religion a person practices or believes in the role of the certain gods believed in has always been important. In three separate pieces we have read we have seen the importance of the gods, or God, play a key role in the development of the literature. In Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, the gods are key in Odysseus’ return to Ithaca after twenty years. Whether it is helping Odysseus or delaying him, they play a major role in the development of the story. In Psalm 139, the scripture passage taken from the Bible, God is a very obvious factor. Even in the poem by William Owen “Dulce et Decorum Est” God again plays a major role once we dive deeper than the words are saying. The role of the gods, or singular God in Catholicism, plays a key role, sometimes unspoken, part. In The Odyssey we see in the first book three major gods that make an immediate impact on Odysseus’ journey home. Zeus, Athena, and Poseidon all are important in their own way in either helping Odysseus or trying to stop him. Zeus, king of the gods, is characterized as a mediator between Athena and Poseidon, the former helping Odysseus and the latter trying to stop him from reaching home. Athena does all she can to help out the mortal Odysseus, even appearing to him and his son Telemachus in disguise to...
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...Kendra Perkins Matt Fox Eng 112 14 December 2011 The Odyssey: Comparison of Genders in Greek Mythology The Odyssey by Homer may be seen by many as a heroic story of a man on his journey home; however, there is an underlying story of the trials in the roles of men and women and the relationships between them. Men and women are portrayed differently in Greece, as in other societies. Men are considered to be the more powerful of the two and are responsible for the protection of their home. Women, on the other hand, are thought to care for the children and are also responsible for the supervision of both the interior and exterior of the home while the men are away. As a man, Odysseus showed great leadership in the war at Troy and was considered the hero at the Trojan War. His wife Penelope, on the other hand, exemplified the role of a woman and leadership in her daily duties of caring for the home and all of their possessions within. In her attempts to do so, she was overcome by suitors and was unable to stop them from partaking of all of their meat and drinks. This essay will explain the underlying roles of men and women in ancient Greece as well as modern day. The beginning of the novel takes place in Ithaka at the home of Odysseus. Suitors have overrun his home in the pursuit of marrying his “widow” Penelope. Telemakhos, son of Odysseus, felt it was a shame that these men would come into their home and eat and drink their house empty. Athena, daughter of Zeus, came to Telemakhos...
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...moment. Heroes were the people who would lead their armies, fellow knights, and comrades into battle and earned tributes for their courage and great deeds performed during their combat. In other light, the cowards of ancient Greece and the middle ages were considered a burden and were affronted. Throughout many books authors have explained different aspects of what it means to be a hero. Homer, author of the Odyssey, and Miguel de Cervantes’ Don Quixote, convey this characteristic frequently. In the Odyssey, Odysseus was a skillful fighter, but it was yet the proof Homer’s readers needed of his heroism. Odysseus also transpired characteristics of restraint and mercy. On the other hand, Cervantes’ character was not born a hero. He was fooled by chivalric ideas of heroism and sets out to reform the world along with his witty companion. Odysseus and Don Quixote are from two totally different eras, but both of them tried to conquer the world with their heroic acts. Not only their heroic acts made them well known, it’s also their imagination that makes them stand out. In comparison, imagination is what makes Quixote the hero, and imagination just adds a dimension to Odysseus’ character that rules him along. Don Quixote is the hero with the ability to change reality with the force of an idea. For example, Quixote tries to convince his companion that harmless windmills may be threatening giants. Is he a madman or an idealist? Instead of seeing two prostitutes, he sees ladies of quality...
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...Da Odyssey is tha epic rap of a warrior named Odysseus n' his cold-ass ten-year trip home afta tha Trojan Battle n' bein held captizzle by Calypso, a horny nymph, fo' seven years. Da epic recounts tha nuff encountas n' adventurous endeavors Odysseus n' his crazy-ass pimps is involved up in durin tha long return ta Ithaca. Durin his odyssey, nuff laudable adversaries, primarily up in tha form of temptations, karmic justice n' arrogance, dat confront his ass n' his hubristic, fatuous men. Early up in tha story, there was nuff temptas dat distracted Odysseus n' his crazy-ass men, like fuckin tha nativez of a island they found dat offered dem dope lotus flowers, which only served ta hinder they progress n' ensnare nuff of tha pimps wit they saccharine flavor n' addictivenizz fo' realz. Another major temptation is tha straight-up nymph dat trapped Odysseus n' held his ass on a island fo' seven muthafuckin years yo. Dude wanted ta leave cuz of his hoe n' lil hustla waitin fo' his ass yo, but was tempted ta stay longer than he needed to, as tha nymph was a skilled temptress....
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