Homer's Effectiveness In Relating To The Audience In The Iliad '

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. It is important to understand oral cultures since

This is important as an oral storyteller since Ong explains that the emphasis on the human-life world in an oral culture creates a more “immediate, familiar interaction of human beings”. In the same playful argument, along with being called out to have animalistic features, Achilles calls Agamemnon a “bloated drunk” as a way for a demigod to describe a war commander. The usage of human activity one of them involving drinking alcohol is an important factor in Homer's storytelling since listeners understood alcohol's effects when too much is ingested. After hearing that insult of being a bloated drunk, the listeners can envision this war commander stumbling his words and acting stupidly based on their personal experiences. Later in the story, when Odysseus returns Chryses daughter to him, they hold a celebration involving a large dinner. Homer goes in-depth with the explanation of the setting by stating that they “lined a hundred oxen” (473), and mentions how they were prepared as they “Jointed the thighbones and wrapped them In a layer of fat with cuts of meat on top…doused them with wine”(490). It was likely that while listening to this story, listeners would have had a couple of cups of wine and a large meal. Homer intensely describes the content of the celebration because he knows the

His usage of childish arguments add to the relatabily of the story as it adds humor to an otherwise serious conversation. Ong explains that agonistic storytelling inspires the listeners to “engage in verbal and intellectual combat”. This is important in oral cultures since overly serious conversations for long periods of time may bore the audience. According to Abram, many greek bards would often recite the poems “from a vast fund of memorized epithets and formulaic phrases”. Therefore, these plays needed a memorable story and more importantly, iconic lines in order for the stories to be passed along throughout different bards by memorization. Ong similarly states that many greek stories were “agonistic in their verbal formulas” and styles such as “tounge-lashings of opponent figure regularly in encounters between characters…”. More specifically, in an argument of Agamennon and Achilies, Agamemnon responds to Achillies by exclaiming to “Go ahead and desert if thats what you want! Im not going to beg you to stay”. In Homer dictations, Agamemnon argumentative style can be seen similar to an immature child. When the audience thinks of a commander speaking, they will likely think of short, profound statements in a serious tone. By Homer emphasising the exclamation and stretching each of their responses to each other, it allows the audience to think