Additionally, once a guest wishes to leave, the host must send him off with gifts. For example, when Odysseus leaves the island of Aeolus, Aeolus gives him “a sack… /binding inside the winds that howl from every quarter” (10.21-22). Aeolus serves Odysseus’ every need and ensures that he reaches home successfully. Greeks practice this custom because they believe every guest that visits a home may be a God in disguise. Greeks do not want to treat their guests with disrespect or “deny {them} anything” (10.20).
The enormous bravery of Odysseus makes him the epic hero in Homer’s Odyssey. Odysseus is never afraid of anything in his life. He fight against the god of the sea. Even when Odysseus was up against the suitors he didn’t think twice to fight against sixty suitors alone. He said to his son Telemachos, things could be, another could strike my head from my shoulders if I did not come as an evil thing to all those people as I entered the palace of Odysseus, the son of Laertes.
Linda Garrett Delmar Brewington ENG 205-80 6 September 2013 The Epic of Gilgamesh, Hercules, and the Quest for Immortality The Epic of Gilgamesh and the stories Hercules portrays to be the tale of two valiant and vigorous men who endured hardship at the peak their lives. The Epic of Gilgamesh tells the quite simple tale of the transformation of a bad king into a good king, and that transformation happens when Gilgamesh is forced to confront his mortality. Even though these men are mighty warriors their stories are symbolic and different in many ways. Hercules as a young boy was stolen by Hades, lord of the underworld. Hercules, forced to live among humans was turned into a half-god and half-mortal after drinking a forbidden drink brewed
Jordan Humphrey 09/17/2014 World Literature Hairy-chested and brawny, Enkidu begins his literary life as Gilgamesh’s sidekick. In the most ancient of the stories that compose The Epic of Gilgamesh, he is a helper to Gilgamesh. As those legends evolved into chapters of a great epic poem, Enkidu’s role changed profoundly. Much more than a sidekick or a servant, he is Gilgamesh’s soul mate, brother, and equal, even his conscience. In the later stories the gods bring Enkidu into the world to provide a counterpoint to Gilgamesh.
The Odyssey, traditionally attributed to Homer, is one of the two great Greek epic poems1. It tells the story of Odysseus' journey home from the Trojan War. Over the course of his ten-year journey, Odysseus encounters many perils: giants, a cyclops, witches, spirits and gods. At the time that The Odyssey was composed, the Greek alphabet had not yet been developed and the poem is a product of a completely oral tradition. The ancient Greek epic tradition was an oral-formulaic tradition.
In the novel ‘Ransom’ written by David Malouf, it shows the strength, bravery and also the frailty of Priam on his journey to bring home his son Hectors body from his killer Achilles. As a reader we come to see the importance of relationships and how much they can impact vengeance and wrath. Achilles learns to deal and overcome loss and mortality. There is continually an underlying presence of war and masculinity and storytelling throughout Ransom. Achilles loss of his brother affects his sanity and enrages him to an inhumane vengeance on Hectors body.
Literary Evaluation Week 5 Reggie Fatino Instructor: Jay Robbins The Odyssey The Odyssey is one of the most interesting stories in Western culture. The main characters include Odysseus he was one of the most inspiring characters, a real hero. His wife Penelope, she was portrayed as flighty and excitable, but Homer actually made her clever and steadfastly true to her husband. Telemachus is Odysseus’s son, he was an infant when Odysseus left for Troy. He is twenty at the beginning of the odyssey.
For this the gods blessed him. The way Argos relates to Odysseus’s part of the passage is how just like the way Odysseus wanted his mother to wait for him, Argos wanted to see his master once again before he died. Argos got his way and with his hateful illness draining his limbs of power his wish came true just before he passed away. Argos was there the whole story seeing everything unfold and he longed for his master to be home in order for him to die peacefully. Argos knew his master was coming and stayed alive just to see him return.
In the poem The Odyssey, by Homer, the concept of Xenia is stressed in Greek society. Following this concept can be the difference between people viewing one as “good” or “bad”. The suitors are welcomed into the home of Odysseus and Penelope, but because Odysseus is fighting in the Trojan War the suitors over stay their welcome and try to get Penelope to choose one of the suitors to marry them. The suitors completely take advantage of the hospitality of Penelope and Telemachus. They eat all of their food and have parties in their house every night.
. .”(18. 150-157). This can be seen as Odysseus stating that a man is only powerful when the Gods are on his side; the only way he made it through this journey was by “steeling” his heart, and keeping his faith in the Gods. In conclusion, in Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, we see the roles that gods and fate play in the lives of mortals.