Too Much Knowledge In The Odyssey

Knowledge is extremely powerful, especially in the modern world. It is necessary for human life to go on as it has been since the beginning of human thought. May it be the knowledge we have gained of our past, new innovations, or the ability to complete tasks efficiently, information is at the core of everything. But, too much knowledge can be a burden as well. Too much knowledge about the world can drive a person insane, if you know too much about someone, you can overthink everything and end up in a bad situation, and sometimes knowledge can ruin your creativity and innocence. If you have too much information about something, it can drive you insane. In “The Odyssey”, the Goddess Athena keeps trying to distract Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, so that she can cope with the loss of Odysseus so that she does not discover Odysseus’s identity when Eurycleia is washing him. Athena often comes to her in dreams to reassure or comfort her, for Penelope would otherwise spend her nights weeping in her bed. This tactic was incredibly clever of Athena because she knew that if Penelope was left to her own devices, she would have gone insane, quite like Odysseus’ mother, Anticlea, who ended up killing herself soon after her son’s disappearance.

For example, if you are in math class, you can often over think a problem because you have so many different theorems and rules in your head, you believe that you have to use all of them to get an answer. But sometimes, a simple 2+2 problem is just that; 2+2. Another instance in which excess information is harmful is shown in “Othello”, when Iago feeds Othello false information about Desdemona to manipulate Othello and get power for himself. Even though it was false information, the information drove Othello insane from the inside, out. Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore and killed both Desdemona and