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Underworld In The Odyssey

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His Dark Materials also uses ancient myths in order to embellish the story. The myth of Oedipus Tyrannus can be compared to the King Bear, Iofur Rakinson. The myth of Oedipus is well known and referenced by many ancient sources. For example, the myth was referenced within the Odyssey by Homer within Book 11 in which Odysseus met Oedipus’ mother. The most famous source by which we know of the Oedipus myth is Sophocles. The myth is contained in Oedipus Rex in which Tiresias revels to Oedipus that it was himself who killed his father, then married, bedded his mother, and fathered her children. There is a similar story in Northern Lights by Philip Pullman in which Iofur Raknison came across a solitary bear. They had argued and fought, and …show more content…

The underworld in Pullman’s universe contain Harpies, which are creatures taken from Greek myth and will be discussed in the next chapter. Pullman’s underworld also contains all the ghosts of every human, as there is no heaven or hell. This is alluding to The Odyssey. In Book 11 in The Odyssey, Odysseus goes to the land of the dead. Here he meets Agamemnon and other heroes such as Achilles, who “no longer had any inner power or strength, not like the force his supple limbs possessed before”. Achilles states that …show more content…

Pullman uses the myth of Charon and gives his character the same characteristics. Pullman describes Charon as aged beyond age, huddled in a robe of sacking bound with string, crippled and bent, his bony hand crooked permanently around the oar-handles, and his moist pale eyes sunk deep among folds and wrinkles of grey skin. This boatman, too, is frank and harsh in the way he speaks to Lyra when telling her that her daemon cannot come to the underworld with her. He is “indifferent” to the pain that everyone felt when entering the land of the dead and leaving their souls behind. Other works have been influenced by the underworld and Charon, such as Dante’s Inferno. Charon is depicted the same in Dante’s Inferno, a man who refuses to take a living soul on his boat. Dante uses the same trick that Aeneas did and used his guide, Virgil, to get him on the boat. This displays that Charon is generally well known and so Pullman is drawing attention to this character. Pullman does not specifically call Charon by his name and so evidently wants his audience to make the connection of his direct

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“Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying.”(B.Grylls) The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer, about a man, Odysseus, who went to serve in the Trojan war, but undergoes a very arduous travel back home to his island, Ithaca. The Most Dangerous Game is a short story on Rainsford who swam up on shore of a island, and is hunted in return to go home.

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The Odyssey is an epic poem written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald. In the epic a man, Odysseus, is separated from his family and is worried about the loyalty they have to him. Odysseus' story is relevant to those of men and women in the world. Just like Odysseus, people all around the world begin to wonder if their families have been loyal to them after a long absence. In book 11 Odysseus visits The Land of The Dead to get a prophecy from Teiresias, but as he goes to Teiresias Odysseus finds the ghost of his mother and bombards her many questions.

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The Odyssey is often cited as an epitome of the hero’s journey and the monomyth. The hero of the story, Odysseus is on a 10 year battle homeward from the Trojan War to see his wife and son again. With the help divine intervention, Odysseus is able to return home and save his wife from the evil suitors who have continuously tried to win her. One could easily argued that Odysseus is an exemplar of the hero, but there is another story: Odysseus is the opposite of a hero and is not worthy to be called such. He is the villain where the gods are the hero.

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An archetype is an image, a descriptive detail, a plot pattern, or a type of character that occurs multiple times in myth, literature, religion, or folk lore. Archetypes often provoke emotion in the reader as they awaken an image, calling illogical responses into play. Many novels, legends, and myth are made up of archetypes which causes similarities in the plots of many novels. For example, the Helper God, the golden place, seasons and metamorphosis are archetypes that make up modern literature and they make up prominent themes found within the novels containing those archetypes. Like these archetypes, the magical weapon archetype, which has only one true owner able to use it to its fullest potential, also is a prominent theme within literature and film creating a large part in the theme.

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From the beginning Oedipus was destined to fulfill a terrible prophecy, but through particular events that follow the steps of the Hero’s Journey, Oedipus becomes a powerful king of Thebes, only to be destroyed by the prophecy that should have ended his life as a child. The Hero’s Journey typically leads to self-confidence and power, however; the Hero’s Journey of Oedipus leads to his tragic demise. The Hero’s Journey lays out the steps of Oedipus’s future actions, which create suspense, fear, pity, and other emotions that captivates the audience. Similar to many famous stories, Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles in 430 B.C., follows the Hero’s Journey path, which is evident in Oedipus’s departure, initiation, and return.

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The Odyssey is an age old classic read around the world. In the Odyssey, Homer tells the story of the wayward Odysseus. The story follows the protagonist as he makes his way back home, dealing with man-eating Cyclopes, a vengeful god, and a possessive nymph. During the story, the reader sees many sides of Odysseus as he dealt with his tribulations, such the cunning and witful side, but also the pompous and indulgent side. To begin with, Odysseus is trapped on an island with the nymph, Calypso.

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In the Odyssey written by Homer, The Real Reasons we Explore Space by Michael Griffin, and They Journey by Mary Oliver, they support the idea that people embark on journeys to find out new things about others and learn more of themselves. The following examples in these texts were written by people of very different backgrounds. Homer wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey which is a continuation of the Iliad’s story. People have long argued whether Homer actual existed or if he was falsely credited for the creation of these books. The ancient Greeks credited him with the writing of these tales.

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Sweet soft serenades seem so warm and inviting, but once evil gets ahold of it darkness is always in the shadows. Odysseus experienced this first hand, and survived. Its very easy to deduce the exact character of Odysseus. The way you can tell is through the role he plays in the story along with how he behaves and lastly the conflicts he faces and prevails. Odysseus plays the protagonist in the story.

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In Sophocles play Oedipus the King, the King Laius and his wife Jocasta, who ruled at that time had a child and was foretold by an oracle “that the child born by his queen Jocasta would slay his father and wed his mother” (ancient-mythology.com). The child that was born had a birth defect leaving his legs bound together, so the King and Queen wanted to prevent this prophecy from happening so they left the baby to die on Mount Corinth. The infant boy was found by shepherds and adopted by the King of Corinth who named him Oedipus (ancient-mythology.com). Many years later Oedipus ventured to Thebes and on his way there he encountered a man and killed him.

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He says, “I’d rather be a slave on earth for another man--/some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive--/than rule down here over all the breathless dead.” This is very intriguing to me because Achilles is in a position of power over the Underworld, and is still in agony. Homer’s idea of The Underworld is pretty similar to the ideology of the

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The Greek’s Inferno: A Comparison of Greek and Catholic Underworlds For nearly 2000 years, various religions continue to perpetuate the idea of an underworld, or a place after death. For the Greeks, much of their mythology deals with Gods, Goddesses, and the afterlife. Catholics, however, base their idea of an afterlife with three levels: Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, a place for people who must experience a purification of sorts. Numerous Greek writers wrote about the idea of their underworld, or Hades, one of the most famous being Homer, writer of The Odyssey. The Odyssey details the hero Odysseus’ journey back to his homeland of Ithaca.

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The Hidden Meanings of Violence Violence is seen every day, all around the world. Be it through verbal communication, or physical, it impacts those involved in great ways. In a way, violence is necessary when in need to communicate a strong message or feeling to others. In Ancient Greece, violence was an aspect of everyday life and a common belief was that it was provoked by the Gods. The slaughter of the suitors and the stool throwings in Homer’s

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Oedipus the King is a tragedy that was written by Sophocles that emphasizes the irony of an irony of a man who was determined to trace down, expose and punish an assassin who in turn became him. Oedipus the King is also known as Oedipus Rex or Oedipus Tyrannus. The art is an Athenian play that was performed in ages approximated to be 429 BC. Oedipus the King would later in the play fulfill the prophecy that he would kill his father and later on marry his mother. There is a twist of an event in the play where Oedipus is looking for the murderer of his father to bring to a halt the series of plagues that are befalling Thebes but only to find he is in search of himself (Rado, 1956).

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The relationships between the Greek gods and mortals have always been complicated. The gods can be generous and supportive, but also harsh and destructive towards the humans. They claim to be all powerful beings with unlimited power and influence, but in truth, they are far more human than they are perceived. They meddle with human lives, not because they are wise, but because of their own selfish reasons. In Homer’s

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In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Tale” he uses symbolism as a literary element to create an underlying Christian theme that portrays the characters in the story as biblical figures. Each character of the story represents a different figure from the bible such as, Nicholas and Alisoun representing Adam and Eve, John the carpenter representing a Great Divine and Absolon representing The Devil. Throughout the story, there are many different aspects that highlight the Christian theme and allow the readers to truly see this interpretation. Throughout the story readers may recognize the alignment between Nicholas and Alisoun and Adam and Eve.

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