Women in the Illiad and the Odyssey - 1331 Words

Sarah Kirkus ENG 2423 8A March 21, 2013 Roles of Women in The Iliad and The Odyssey Homer wrote two epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. The Iliad is a tragedy that tells about the battles of the Trojan War. The Odyssey is somewhat of a sequel, the story of Odysseus s travels home after the Trojan War. An article found in â€Å"The American Scholar† states, â€Å" One might begin by asking what both epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey, would be like if there were no women in them. The Trojan war would not have been fought, and Odysseus (assuming he had gone to Troy in the first place) would not have bothered to return home.† (Lefkowitz. 504) This statement alone illustrates the importance of the women portrayed in these two epics.†¦show more content†¦Motherly housewives are presented all throughout both epic poems. The Greek society believed that all women should be submissive to their father and husband. Females were designed for childbearing and performing household chores. Andromache was a prime example of a perfect, devout wife and mother in The Iliad. She was the wife to Hector and mother to Astyanax. She stood beside him and showed her true care and concern for him by begging him to withdraw from the war. â€Å" â€Å"She reminds him that, since Achilles has killed her father and brothers and her mother is dead too. â€Å"You are my father and mother and brother, and you are my young husband.†Ã¢â‚¬  (Lefkowitz. 507) She mourned greatly when he was killed. Penelope was the greatest example of a dedicated housewife and nurturing mother. She was the loving and devoted wife to Odysseus and the mother to Telemachus. She remained faithful to her husband for twenty years, not knowing if he was dead or alive and if he would ever return home. Penelope was required to raise her son alone, without a father. These years were difficult for Penelope. Even though her husband was sleeping with his seductress, Penelope used her inner strength and her own â€Å"s eductive ways† to not succumb to the suitors. This alone proved her loyalty to her husband. She often wept and mourned over her lostShow MoreRelated Reflective essays1316 Words   |  6 Pagesincongruity can be found throughout classical as well as modern comedy. Lysistrata involves this idea of incongruity through the play. The idea of women taking the akropolis was quite incongruent with the position of women at that time. This, along with the use of the elderly chorus of men, provides several comical scenes in Lysistrata, such as the one where the women empty the pitchers over the men’s heads. Incongruity is used throughout modern comedies such as the Naked Gun movies with Leslie Neilson. SomeRead MoreThe Trojan War : History Not Myth1545 Words   |  7 Pageshistories most legendary battles. This battle is told to have lasted ten years, resulting in the eventual collapse of Troy, under the siege of Greek forces. Modern knowledge of the Trojan War has survived ma inly through the account given in Homer’s Illiad, and while having proved to be a rich source of inspiration for other writers, artists, and even filmmakers in recent history, much speculation still exists surrounding his account. I will analyze modern interpretations of the Trojan War and examineRead MoreBeowulf: The Canonization of Anglo-Saxon Literature into Modern Popular Culture769 Words   |  4 Pagesaction and adventure stories! BEOWULF is the oldest surviving piece of English literature. Its an epic poem in the vein of The Odyssey and The Illiad, author unknown. It has been hailed as one of the masterpieces of the English language. Its EXCITING! (2). Despite eighteen preceding pages featuring Beowulf fighting monsters and saving beautiful women, Uslan assumes that the target audience of the comic book considers Anglo-Saxon subject matter boring and worse, educational. TheRead More The Role of Greek Gods and Goddesses in Ancient Times Essay1251 Words   |  6 PagesThe Role of Greek Gods and Goddesses in Ancient Times With all of the interesting aspects of the Odyssey, I am only going to touch on one of them. The gods and goddesses in the Odyssey of all of the deities mentioned I am only going to focus on a few. The first and most powerful of these is Zeus. Then we have Hermes, the messenger god. Last but not least of these would be Athena, the goddess of warriors. Zeus, Ruler of the gods. Zeus, father of gods and of men. His power was vast as theRead MoreComparing The And The Odyssey998 Words   |  4 Pages 2. The Illiad and the Odyssey were so important to the Greeks because they were great works of literature and contained information of past events’, much like a bible or history book. It shaped their culture and what it meant to be a human being. The events of the Illiad and the Odyssey have been reflected in plays in ancient Greece and in the attitudes of many Greeks on what it meant to be a hero at that time. 3. The city-states of Ancient Greece were organized like tiny independent countriesRead MoreThe Epic Of Epic : An Epic1126 Words   |  5 PagesNostos: Nostos is the act of returning home after a long journey. An example of it can be seen in The Odyssey, a play in which the main character, Odysseus, is constantly seen with a desire to return home or portrayed with a longing for more. For instance, when he becomes stuck on Calypso’s island, he longs to return home to his wife. Polyphemos: Polyphemos is a character found in The Odyssey. Known as a man-eating giant with an orb-shaped eye in the center of his forehead, he traps OdysseusRead MoreHeroes of the Ages1130 Words   |  5 Pagesthis connection, instead lamenting the loss of his friend, as the dominant theme of his speech, and denying that Zeus’ restoration of his honor gives him any pleasure now that Patroklos is dead.† (Zanker). This is also displayed plainly within the Illiad, â€Å"Why have you come to me here, dear heart, with all these instructions? I promise you I will do everything just as you ask. But come closer. Let us give in to grief, however briefly, in each others arms.† (Homer). Speaking of the first quality,Read MoreWomen in Society in Virgil ´s Aeneid699 Words   |  3 PagesVirgil’s Aeneid was to Rome what the Illiad and Odyssey were to Greece, a long narrative that triumphantly related heroic events in an elevated style. While Virgil’s main r eason for writing The Aeneid was to foreshadow the coming of Augustus and legitimize his rule over Rome, an underlying theme in this epic is a presence of power among women. Few of Virgil’s women characters fit the common weak and passive stereotype; instead, many are quick to react, extremely emotional and very opinionated. WhileRead MoreThe Legacy and Legend of King Arthur and Heroes of Epic Poems: A Comparative Analysis734 Words   |  3 Pagescircumstances that were significantly different than that of the heroes of epic poems. One of the key principles of being heroic is to personify a selflessness and a love for ones people. This proclivity came from a number of epic poems, including the Illiad, which details the adventures of Achilles. It was only after Achilles found out about the murder of his best friend, Patroclus, that he was moved to return to battle to avenge his friends death against Hector (Homer). Similarly, Arthur conducts mostRead MoreOdysseus : A Hero s Journey2024 Words   |  9 Pageswhether or not The Odyssey implements the Hero’s Journey. Odysseus’s journey starts out when he is ordered to partake in the Trojan War. Odysseus has to leave everything behind in Ithaca to help the entire Greek Army sack the beach fortress, Troy. Once at Troy, he fights for 10 years eventually winning the war with his cunning plan to build a horse for the Trojans as a gift, then jumping out of the horse at night time to sack the city. This is where The Iliad stops and The Odyssey begins. Odyss eus

Essay on the Enlightenment Free Essays

Enlightenment Essay The Enlightenment may have happened a long time ago, ideas of the thinkers of that era have shaped and influenced ideas of today. Thinkers like Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke may have directly influenced the government of the United States. Montesquieu argued that the best government would be one whose power was balanced between three groups of officials. We will write a custom essay sample on Essay on the Enlightenment or any similar topic only for you Order Now He thought England – which divided power between the king (who enforced laws), Parliament (which made laws), and the judges of the English courts (who interpreted laws) – was a good model of this. Separation of powers† was what Montesquieu called this idea of dividing government power into three branches. He thought it most important to create separate branches of government with equal but different powers. Because this, the government would never place too much power with one individual or group of individuals. He wrote, â€Å"When the [law making] and [law enforcement] powers are united in the same person†¦ there can be no liberty. † Montesquieu said each branch of government could limit the power of the other two branches. Therefore, no branch of the government could threaten the freedom of the people. His ideas about separation of powers became the basis for the United States Constitution. Voltaire was a French essayist, novelist, poet, and political reformer, just to name a few things. He advocated Religious and social tolerance, which are two things our own government believes in. Voltaire was a proponent of personal liberty and freedom of speech, he said the famous statement â€Å"I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Freedom of speech is the first amendment in our constitution, and the fourth amendment is the right to personal liberty. One of his more controversial beliefs was the separation of church and state, which we belief in today. This belief was one of the beliefs that landed Voltaire in prison, and ultimately exile. The Social Contract was one of Rosseau’s most important ideas. Rousseau believed that society and government created a soc ial contract where their goals were freedom and benefit to the public. Government’s existence depended on the will of the people. The social order was based on general will, a shared belief in a common set of interest. He believed that in a democracy, the general will of the democratic people, expressed in the way of a majority vote, to make all the decisions. The general will was also a form of freedom, and the purpose of law was to combine the general will with the desires of the people. These ideas on democracy, general will, and freedom are found in our own government today. Locke was one of the most influential philosophers of the Enlightenment. He believed that bâ€Å"y nature men are free, and that God made it so people need a leader. He argued people have rights. Those rights include right to life, liberty, and property. He used this claim to promote the idea of the social contract, so people can enjoy there right to comfortably enjoy there lives, liberty, and property. Locke also said that governments existed to protect the people and promote public good so governments who don’t do that should be replaced  with new governments. He said people had a right to revolution. Locke also denied the idea of divine right. All these ideas are found in the constitution. The right to revolution was especially important to the colonists, because they believed the British government was not a good one, so they wanted to replace it with their own new form of government. It was a time of absolute monarchies and tyranny in Europe. The US constitution was a reaction to that, a very republican, representative constitution. Also, it was a time when people were persecuted or even exiled, for having a religious belief other than the one of the government, the constitution reacted to that. It’s also federalist because the US at the time was very decentralized in terms of communities, people wanted to retain self-governance, rather than hand it off to far away England. Many other things in the constitution were different than the beliefs of the governments in Europe, and the colonists wanted to change that. That is how the constitution reflects the times it was written in. How to cite Essay on the Enlightenment, Essay examples

Dream Job free essay sample

My dream job is to work in the world as a police officer. I have admired them since I was a little kid. I use to play cops robbers and love to arrest the criminals and put them in handcuffs. Being a police officer would allow me to do something that I have always dreamed about something I can be proud about. I got interested in this job by watching the TV show Cops. Seeing the officers in high speed foot chases is thrilling. I would be honored to receive awards while I am serving but it really doesn’t matter to me. The only thing that I want to do is help be a part of the group of people that helps keep the community safe. Many police departments require that applicants be high school graduates; an increasing number expect some college education. Applicants usually must be at least twenty-one years of age and U. So I think I could work with loans or mortgages.I think that I could easily work with all the documentation which is needed when you want to borrow money from the bank. Usually in every city is huge variety of different banks, so everything depends on you. You can try to find a place in a bank closer to your home or where ever you want to. I prefer to work in the city centre, because it is always good connection between city centre and different areas of the town. It is always easy to get a bus which goes to city centre.