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Homer's Odyssey-Violence And The Risks To American Society

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Violence and the Risks to American Society
In the epic poem “The Odyssey” by Homer, the Cyclopes are the characters that have greatest impact on the lifestyles of the remaining characters. The Cyclops beast like qualities allows them to be seen as the ones to terrorize the lives of the other characters such as Odysseus and his men. The Cyclopes commit acts of violence to prove the power they have on other. Modern American society is no different and in recent years it has become more notable that violence is one its biggest threats. Modern American culture is in many ways similar to that in the Odyssey when it comes to how violence affects and imposes its powers. Violence is the greatest evil to American society not only because of the immediate …show more content…

Although Greek author, Homer, did not write about the same kind of violence it is important to look at the Odyssey and find out the effects violence had on them. Form reading the Odyssey, the reader can identify the Cyclops, specifically Polyphemus actions that instilled fear in Odysseus and his companions. Homer uses a simile to depict one of the Cyclops’ acts of violence, “…he dismembered them and made his meal…gaping and crunching like a mountain lion” In this scene Odysseus witnesses the Cyclops’ ability to commit acts of violence. The effects of the Cyclops’ violent acts leaves Odysseus fearful to the point that he becomes cautious about reacting instantly and instead comes up with a detail plan to defeat and escape the land of the Cyclops. Violence was one of the evils in Homer’s epic poem that influence how Odysseus was affected by insecurity and fear to adjust his strategy that eventually lead him back home to …show more content…

Another reason why violence is one of the biggest evils towards the American lifestyle is because members of society can be influence to part take in violent actions. The book, “Violence: Why People Do Bad Things, with Strategies to Reduce That Risk.” written by Raymond B. Flannery points out that people who commit acts of violence are those who are “…overcome with anger, fear, jealousy, and greed, they usually commit crimes on impulse (actions without thought) and are truly sorry for these acts within a short period of time.” Feelings of anger, fear, jealousy, and greed are feelings that any person can experience at any time and it becomes a threat once those people are not equipped with the right tool to manage their emotions. The more frequent acts of violence become the more used to dealing with them people become. It is not that the acts become less violent each time but instead is that people start to become adapted to the fear and insecurity caused by such

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Odyssey Violence Motifs Gonzalo Teijeiro Martin Write a paragraph on the motifs behind violence in the odyssey with a quote In the Odyssey, violence is a recurring motif that is used to depict the struggles of the characters as they navigate the challenges of their world. One of the most prominent examples of this is the violence that is inflicted upon Odysseus and his crew by the Cyclops Polyphemus. This violent encounter is a clear representation of the dangers that the characters must face on their journey, as well as the power of the gods to shape the fate of mortals. " But the Cyclops, with a wrenching scream, tore loose the top of a high mountain and flung it, and the rock came hurtling down with a thunderous crash" (The Odyssey, Book

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While Andrei Konchalosvsky attempts to stay true to Homer’s The Odyssey, he extracts certain scenes which minimizes Odysseus’ incisive and prideful comportment. After Odysseus and his men impale the cyclops’s eye, the film simply shows them quickly sneaking out once the boulder is out of the way. However, in the epic poem, the audience is proffered evidence on Odysseus’ cunningness by describing how he devised a plan to use the sheep to escape the cave.

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In Book IX, lines 291-331 of The Odyssey, Homer's use of imagery, word choice, and figurative language. Is used to create Odysseus as the epic hero, which furthers the understanding of Odysseus’ true traits. In this passage the Cyclops who is the son of Poseidon shows hospitality to Odysseus and the other men at first, but soon devour two of Odysseus's men on the spot, and imprisons Odysseus/ putting him on the spot and causing him to make decisions very quickly. Throughout the whole epic poem and this passage as well imagery is used the most to create meaning. In lines 316-320 Homer says “Then he dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion, everything innards, flesh and marrow bones.

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Epic poetry, known for its grand descriptions of glorious accomplishments, revolves around an honorable protagonist. As the hero faces adversity in his journey, he triumphs in fleeting moments of bravery. He often exhibits his physical strength to overcome his hardships, manifesting a story with a violent nature. In Homer’s The Odyssey, King Odysseus of Ithaca struggles to return to his loving wife and son after having fought in the Trojan War.

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In the Epic, “The Odyssey,” written by Homer, is the story of a man named, Odysseus, and his experiences and his exploration told through many episodes within the story. Odysseus, as the leader of his men, he lacks qualities of humility, empathy, and focus, which overall prevents him from being qualified as a good leader. In not having humility, it causes Odysseus to often lose focus. During the episode, “The Cyclops,” Odysseus and his men escape the island in which Polyphemus, the cyclops, was keeping them held captive, rather than thinking of his men and immediately leaving, Odysseus takes the time to gloat and risks their safety. (Cyclops.

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So, this book is about two guys fighting over who gets Briseis and then this leads into one big war and in the end no one really gets her. With fighting there comes a lot of violence and we are not just talking the physical type of violence, we are talking about the multiple types of violence in which will cause psychological violence. They all come together to create this one big battle in which a lot of people who got hurt not just physically, but emotionally and physically. Homer told this tale of Iliad and Robert Fagles translated it so we could understand and in this poem there is a lot of violence that happens that is not just the physical kind, but there is also Linguistic, and psychological violence that occurs in this tale.

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In John Gardner's novel Grendel he has many examples of how violence is in our society everywhere. “The state is an organization of violence, a monopoly in what it is pleased to call legitimate violence” - Gardner. In Grendel he gives many examples of how Hrothgar abuses his power and uses violence to control his people. America, in many ways, is like Hrothgar’s kingdom.

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TS1 (Thesis): In The Odyssey, Homer depicts Odysseus’ real foe as the theme of temptation with displays of hubris and lustrous goddesses, which portrays the importance of being vigilant to not submit to temptation. ST1: Homer depicts that Odysseus is determined to get home, but Odysseus succumbs to temptation when he leads his crew into the cyclops lair, eats the cyclops’ food, and demands for a gift, resulting in a protracted journey home. 1: Homer displays Odysseus as recklessly brave when he requests, “we’re at your knees, in hopes of… a guest-gift”(9.300) from the cyclops. 2: It is apparent that Odysseus has given into the temptation to be arrogant when he declares for the cyclops to give them, “a guest-gift,” after Odysseus and his men have broken into the cyclops lair, showing even further Odysseus’ isn’t vigilant to

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While Odysseus’ actions taken to punish the suitors may appear immoral in modern society, by considering the ways in which modern society differs from Homeric society, Odysseus’ actions are just in the context of the poem. As violence has an extremely negative connotation in modern society, the use of the death penalty is morally ambiguous, and is a highly debated topic; however, violence is far more legitimized in the society of the Odyssey, and therefore, death is a far more acceptable form of punishment. This idea is exemplified by the way in which violence is discussed between characters within the Odyssey. In particular, this general acceptance of violence is demonstrated through the fact that many of the characters within the Odyssey share an almost unanimous belief that the suitors should be put to death to pay for their crimes.

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In Homer's epic poem "The Odysseus," the episode "The Cyclops" represents a clash between the cultures of the Greeks and Cyclops through the values of Hubris, Wisdom, and Independence, as well as dishonoring the values such as Xenia, which contributes to the theme that excessive pride and independence can lead to consequences and possibly death. To start, the values of independence are represented when Odysseus talks about how they are primarily independent and rarely interact with one another: "Cyclops have no muter and no meeting, no consultation or old tribal way, but each one dwells in his mountain cave dealing out rough justice to wife and child, indifferent to what the others do." Homer 116. This passage explains that the Cyclops are

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My point is that, in short, the way that the odyssey displays violence is more poetic than it is gorey. I feel like this quote from when odysseus kills the cyclops fits in perfectly with what I have been explaining. “Nobody’s kiling me now by fraud and not by force.” and the next line “If you’re alone, and nobodys trying to overpower you now–look, it must be a plague sent here by mighty Zeus and there’s no escape from that.”

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The cyclops Polyphemus effectively sets up the entire plot of Homer’s Odyssey, unleashing Poseidon’s wrath on Odysseus and consequently emerging as one of his most formidable rivals. Despite being perceived by Odysseus as an uncivilized savage and the polar opposite of a Greek citizen, it becomes evident that although the two are opposed in terms of customs, they fundamentally resemble one another when analyzed through the lens of xenia, rendering Odysseus’ worldview xenophobic. Thus, the Polyphemus episode turns into a powerful allegory for how the West has traditionally viewed people from foreign cultures that they sought to subjugate. Odysseus regards Polyphemus as inferior because of behavior that he sees as uncivilized when compared to

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