Professor Smith explains the evolutions the Odyssey has undergone to become a written text, the significant impact that Homer had on the Romans, and a novel theme that appears throughout the Odyssey. The Odyssey has undergone numerous transitions in order to become the text that it is today. The Odyssey originated from an oral culture, meaning that messages and stories were verbally communicated in the form of speech or songs. Originally, rhapsodes would perform a group of songs and create a story
arrange it’” (Homer, Odyssey 9.259-262). In many different types of mythology, the sea represents the gulf between the power of the gods and the power of humans. It shows the gods testing human capabilities by making the journey through the seas very difficult either by using strong winds, rough waves, or both. The sea also represents life as it is occasionally willing to send something good your way, it is full of suffering, and it is subject to angry gods (“The Sea in The Odyssey”).
which people theorize is because Homer himself was a bard. Throughout the passage in The Odyssey from book twenty-one, Homer consistently references song, including when Odysseus strung the bow, when he plucked the bowstring, and when Odysseus told Telemachus to prepare to fight the suitors. The numerous elements of figurative language that reference the fine arts, specifically music, found within The Odyssey help the reader understand the Greek ideology of weaponry and
"The Odyssey." The Norton Anthology of World Literature. By Martin Puchner. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print. Gilbert, Sandra M., and Susan Gubar. The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination
lives. The men in The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid didn’t quite abide by these rules. To start, the way women are treated in The Iliad completely goes against the code of chivalry. In The Iliad, Brysies is traded between Achilles and Agamemnon like a piece of property. She was captured against her will and taken as a prize. This goes completely against everything in the code. Women were to be treated with respect, not taken and captured. In The Odyssey the character Odysseus wasn’t good
Debate Despite their heroic efforts and urge to not give into societal norms established by the patriarchal society in which they live, women’s actions are mostly left unnoticed by the men who rule the places in which they live. In examining The Odyssey, Hecuba, and Genesis one can begin to see how women (despite their heroic actions) were often looked past because of their gender. While women in these texts may possess heroic qualities and perform brave deeds, the title of hero is almost never
Tittle- gender relations of women in Agamemnon and the Oresteia Anthony shillingford This thesis will provide a general overview of women throughout Agamemnon and discuss gender roles throughout the story. I will examine the way in which overall character portrayal is depicted in Aeschylus Agamemnon. I will provide an argument in which the tools he uses depicts his work and shows that women go against the gender roles. Also presenting prevalent work from the Oresteia. “We keep hetaerae for the