ipl-logo

Dehumanization In The Odyssey

1088 Words5 Pages

In Homer’s epic poem The Iliad, Homer describes nine days of the Trojan War, focusing on Achille’s anger. Achilles, the best Greek warrior, becomes furious at the Greek commander Agamemnon due to a power struggle. Achilles decides not to fight, with the Greeks fighting the Trojans without their best warrior. Both sides battle gruesomely, with Homer often using literary devices to develop the brutality of war. Not only does Homer uses these literary devices to convey the gloriousness of the people fighting in the war but also some of the most horrific parts of the war. Homer uses epic similes and sympathetic backstories to describe the dehumanization and scars of war.
Homer uses epic similes to show the dehumanization of war. When Zeus tricks …show more content…

To his dear parents he never made return for all their care, but had his life cut short when Aias shaft unmanned him.” (IV, 572-599)
Ajax kills Simoeisios, whom his mother named after the river Simoeis. He tended the flocks and never returned to his parents after the war. Simoeisios’ parents cared for him, gave him a pretty name, and contributed to the family, only for him to die in this frivolous war. This shows that war breaks down what took years to build up, including children, only to leave nothing in return. Consequently, Homer also uses a sympathetic backstory for Xanathos and Thoon. After total war breaks lose, Pandaros wounds Diomedes, a Greek warrior. Diomedes prays to Athena to help him recover and return to battle, with Athena accepting his request. Athena wipes the mist off his eyes, allowing him to see the gods and excites him with fury to annihilate the Trojan lines. He returns to the battle with incredible strength and kills Xanathos and Thoon. Homer describes, “Xanathos and Thoon, two dear sons of Phainops a man worn out with misery and …show more content…

Phainops only gave birth to these two sons, leaving him with despair that this ended the family tree and bloodline since no other sons exist. Homer shows how the brutality of war includes more than death but the destruction it causes those who do not even participate in it. It shows how war breaks up families and scars multiple generations, making it more frightening to go or become indirectly involved with the war. Homer uses sympathetic backstories for Xanathos, Thoon, and Simoeisios to portray the horrors war causes for the

Show More
Related
884 Words | 4 Pages

(Cross 10). Again, Odysseus prepares for the Trojan war and is clueless about the events following it. While on his voyage he is not met with a welcoming response and then goes through the tests, allies, and enemies. Unfortunately, he angers the cyclops who calls Poseidon, his father, and Poseidon creates chaos and utter destruction for Odysseus. ‘’...calling out to the god Poseidon, who was his father’’ (Cross 45).

Read More
1975 Words | 8 Pages

As a kid, I remember sitting in front of the television screen being intrigued by all of the food commercials flashing before my eyes. Because I was only about the age of nine or ten, I could be easily influenced to want certain products. I was too young to just go out to the store and buy a product on my own, so I’d tell my parents to put it on the grocery list for the next time one of them went shopping. The Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercial in 2009 was one that I recall that really grabbed my attention.

Read More
319 Words | 2 Pages

Some more conflicts go on in the battle but the warriors stop fighting and it goes back to a one on one battle between Aeneas and Turnus. As they are fighting, the gods are included in it and try to help out each side as much as they possibly can. As they battle back and forth, Aeneas finally injures Turnus by throwing a spear

Read More
273 Words | 2 Pages

Homer's epic poem The Iliad, is set during the Trojan War, which is depicted as a brutal and violent conflict between the Greeks and Trojans. Power is a central theme throughout the poem as characters struggle to maintain it both on the battlefield and within their societies. The characters in the story, particularly the Warriors and the Gods, are defined by their physical strength and their ability to use it in battle, but also by their social status, their wealth and their reputation. Violence is often used as a means to maintain such powers/factors.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

In Greek mythology war is represented as a glorious or a very heroic way to either die or become a man. War then was viewed in a very poetic, beautiful, and romantic way. “ not for what they tell us about the Civil War but rather for what they fail or refuse to tell us about it, what they “write out” of the history of war: the actual violence of war itself”(Adam H. Wood). This one of the main themes Stephen Crane has in his literary works, is how heroism isn't as glorious as people wanted to believe. The second theme is nature and how it contrasts man's actions.

Read More
1462 Words | 6 Pages

Sean Ugarte Dr. Guendel RH 103 February 21, 2023 Homer's effectiveness in relating to the audience in the Illiad The Iliad is a classical narrative that dates back to the 8th century BCE and is one of the oldest surviving pieces of literature that is still commonly read in modern times. The Iliad is an epic composed of 24 books that narrate the final years of the trojan war; in which they were against Greece due to the abduction of Queen Helen of Sparta. Greece was considered an oral culture when The Iliad was recited around the country. This raised questions on the differences between oral and written cultural characteristics on how the story is executed and what effect it has on the audience.

Read More
176 Words | 1 Pages

Homer uses this not only to foreshadow what is going to happen in the poem but also to show that the desires of the gods will be predominant and there is no doubt that they will have an active role in the war. The audience is told that the poem will focus on the anger of Achilles and his fury will lead to the gory, unrelenting, and painful death of countless men. Although the overall message of this opening tends to focus on human emotion and the impact of human emotion, through analysis of the final line one can see that the tragic outcome is all the doing of the almighty Zeus. Regardless of the common notion that an individual makes his or her own choices and ultimately they should take responsibility for their actions, in the Iliad, Homer

Read More
783 Words | 4 Pages

Indeed, too often they only create more grandiose problems in the long-term. Throughout classical literature acts of senseless violence have been a common thread. In Homer’s The Iliad several instances of such violence are revealed. As Trojans and Achaeans engage in a brutal battle, neither mortal nor immortal is safe from the conflict.

Read More
920 Words | 4 Pages

Homer uses his style of poetry to act as the narrator. He brings us along for the story and allows the listener and reader to assume their own thoughts. He describes war with such bone chilling detail but also speaks of beautiful views around the battlefield and artifacts with mesmerizing features. Achilles’s shield is the best example of this, “He made a shield first, heavy and huge, Every inch of it intricately designed. He made a shield first, heavy and huge, Every inch of it intricately designed.

Read More
580 Words | 3 Pages

The Trojan War was a vast topic incorporated into Homer’s writings, so one can only

Read More
1570 Words | 7 Pages

In the epic poem, the Iliad written by Homer, several characters taking part in the warfare between the Achaeans and the Trojans are portrayed as embodying the heroic code of courage, physical strength, leadership, arete of value of honour, and the acceptance of fate. The heroic code is illustrated by the actions of the Trojan prince, Hector and the Achaeans strongest warrior, Achilles. Both of these characters display the Greek’s image of a hero, and can also let the reader discern what the society admires, looks up to and aspires to in its heroes. There are also characters who fail to be heroic, such as the Trojan “vivid and beautiful” prince, Paris. These characters in the Iliad illustrate the qualities that Ancient Greek society values.

Read More
786 Words | 4 Pages

The actions inspired by vengeance and justice in Homer’s Iliad shows how detrimental the effects can be on others. The Justice seeked by warlike Menelaus causes pain and suffering to many on all sides of the war. Paris by abducting Helen hurt Menelaus’s pride, “Menelaus had in mind taking revenge on the man who’d injured him” (Homer, Iliad 3. 26-27). Seeking this revenge Menelaus

Read More
1785 Words | 8 Pages

The epic poem, The Iliad written by Homer shows the conflicts and events that occurred between the Greeks and Trojans during the Trojan War. Among both sides there are warriors who follow a distinct code, known as the heroic code. This Heroic code helps portray the characteristics of the warriors and their perspective on war. This distinct code is composed of many elements such as arete, acceptance of fate, honour, excellence in war, leadership, courage and power. These traits are shown within the main warriors, Hector and Achilles throughout the epic war poem and helps to guide their decisions.

Read More
1101 Words | 5 Pages

This is certainly a momentous work that is still alive in the fast world of today, the 21st century. These works are about the Trojan war as earlier said and invoked the Greeks o be imaginative and get united. Homer played a heroic role in uniting the Greek culture and Greek nation under one idea. He gives them a sense of unity and hold their Greek values and traditions. Hooker (nd) describes the number of scrolls covering Homer’s

Read More
1512 Words | 7 Pages

Iliad is recognized as one of the most famous ancient monuments of literature. The full understanding of this epic poem is hardly possible without thorough analysis of its main characters. Among all the episodes of the Trojan War, Homer chooses the moment of Achilles’ wrath and thus creates a poem in which he becomes the central figure. From the Ancient Greeks’ point of view, Achilles represents the ideal of manliness and pure heroism, for he is brave and fights for heroics, not profits. Today, one can agree with this interpretation, yet Achilles is probably the most controversial character because he combines various personality traits and acts in accordance with his ambiguous nature.

Read More

More about Dehumanization In The Odyssey

Related Topics

Open Document