In the dictionary disguise is defined as “to change an appearance by concealing identity”. To the people minds illusions cover up mistakes and hide away the unimportant features. The Odyssey, by Homer, describes disguised by many different acts upon Odysseus, Penelope, and Telemachus. The characters of the Odyssey disguised their self to get away from the problems of life, and to solve problems faced in their way. Although, disguise covered people on the outside, they do not cover up people on the inside. They fight their way to get back to once they were. Odysseus covers himself as a beggar to go through all the suitors without being killed. Penelope hid her real self to the suitors, so she did not have to marry another man. Telemachus disguised his feeling so they would not overcome him.
Odysseus, the most witted man, on a trip of 20 years shown many of instanced of disguise. Odysseus was one of the best honorable men during the Trojan War; he helped by leading his men into Troy. But when the war ended, he forgot to praise the gods for help after the war, so the god Poseidon sent a storm onward his journey. When Odysseus put on disguises he was completely under the new reality he made for himself. When Odysseus returned to home, Ithaca, he was determined to not reveal himself. So Athena disguised himself as an old beggar, and fought him to not go to his long waited wife. He finally saw the son that he has been without for 20 years, and shown and proved himself to his, now older son, Telemachus. Fighting him to not say anything to him Odysseus got up and told him in a god like manner, and said “I am your father.” The first thing he could think of saying to his son where he been or that he missed him, but instead he tells him ...
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... disguised was forced onto her face every single day, for 20 years until her love of her life came back. To her, the mask was like a daughter to her; it latched onto her and fed its feeling into her. It also became her way of life; she starts living off of this feeling mask and lives with it for 20 years. Since she sucked into her disguised, she cannot take it off until her unknown husband comes home.
In the story, the characters rely on their disguised looks and feels that they forgot who they were. To them it is always nice to do or be something you are not, but to them it is the best thing for them. Odysseus and Penelope use it to get away from the unknown. Odysseus, Telemachus, and Penelope want everything back to normal but cannot because of their new identity with disguise. But no matter what the true identity of someone, will never beat someone old identity.
Once he returns to Ithaca, Odysseus displays dishonest behavior and does not once tell a person who he actually is when first meeting him. Odysseus hides his identity at first, whether by actively lying or passively not correcting their erroneous beliefs.
This shows that Odysseus’ self-serving nature extends beyond material greed into the equally sinful realm of pride. In a classic display of hubris, Odysseus taunts the Cyclopes fulfilling the sole purpose of stroking Odysseus’s ego. At first it appears that our hero is lacking foresight, but Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name in hopes that tales of his cunning will spread throughout Greece: a very selfish goal, directly resulting in the endangerment of the lives of both him and his men throughout the remainder of their travels.
Once he and he men are sailing away from the Cyclops, Odysseus cries back to the Cyclops “if anyone ever asks you how you came by your blindness, tell them your eye was put out by Odysseus, sacker of cities, son of Laertes, who lives in Ithaca.” Odysseus has regretted his earlier decision for Polyphemus to not know his true name, because it means that anyone hearing the tale of a man defeating a Cyclops will not know that it was Odysseus who did it. The arrogant Odysseus does not like this, because he wants all tales of his prowess to be known for his. As he cannot let the chance of more fame escape him, he reveals to Polyphemus his true identity. This sentence, with which he risks the Cyclops throwing a boulder onto their ship, show the readers just how arrogant Odysseus is. It helps the readers understand quite how willing Odysseus is to risk anything if it will add to his
Odysseus disguised as a beggar is the basis for the lies that are going to be told to Penelope in this passage by him. In my opinion, this is the main lie that is used as the building block for many other lies to be told. Odysseus is being deceitful by disguising himself as a beggar for specific reasons. His reasons are to find out what has been going on in Ithaca in his twenty years' absence. He wants to find out his wife's loyalty to him as the husband and the authority figure, and her love to her husband. If she did not still love him, he might think twice about revealing his identity to his wife and to the island of Ithaca. He wants to get a feeling of how Penelope feels towards him before he reveals himself to her.
Homer (fl. 850 B.C.). The Odyssey. The Harvard Classics. 1909-14). "In disguise as an old friend of Odysseus', Athena travels to his manor in Ithaka, now overrun with noisy, lustful suitor's intent on marrying Odysseus' wife, Penelope. Odysseus' son, Telemakhos, unhappy among the suitors, greets Athena warmly as a stranger and invites her to their feast. As the suitors devour Odysseus' oxen, Telemakhos says he believes his father - whom he does not know at all - is dead."(gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/odyssey/summ1.html). "He is so unsure of his own identity that he refuses to affirm without qualification his relationship to Odysseus. Athena introduces herself as Odysseus' old friend Mentes and predicts that he will be home soon. Telemakhos matures from a callow, helpless youth into a stronger, more confident man" (Approaches to Teaching Homer's Iliad and Odyssey ). "Just as Odysseus' story is about returning home to his old identity, Telemakhos' is about forging a new one; as Athena tells him, "You are a child no longer"."(gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/odyssey/summ1.html). As Telemakhos' develops from youth to man inspired by Athena, especially her favorable comparisons between him and his father; he stands up against the suitors in his assembly. "Failing in an attempt to get the Ithacans to help him to assert his rights, Telemakhos sets out for Pylus under the guidance of the goddess Athena, who is disguised as Mentes, a friendly chief.
Like Jacob, Odysseus connived, manipulated, and deceived. On his journey home from the Trojan War, Odysseus uses his trickster ways to get himself out of trouble. One famous tail was his encounter with the one-eyed Cyclopes Polyphemous. Odysseus and his crew landed on the land of they Cyclopes. They made themselves at home, eating the cheese and goats of the Cyclopes, fully expecting him to be hospitable. Instead, Cyclops began eating then men as though they were animals themselves. Odysseus and his men were trapped in the cave and Polyphemous rolled a stone over the entrance so no one could exit. Odysseus connived a plan and gave the Cyclopes some wine. When he got drunk and passed out, Odysseus poked out the eye of Polyphemous and completely blinds him. Odysseus and his men escape the cave by clinging to the bellies of sheep (Odyssey, Ch. 9). He also disguised himself as a veteran of a Trojan war to Eumaios, a loyal servant, and as a beggar to his wife and son.
Behind a Mask is a book that demonstrates the power a woman possesses. During a time in which those who are not rich are considered mere human beings, Louisa May Alcott creates a character by the name of Jean Muir who surpasses the society she lives in. Muir is a woman who seeks to have a prestigious title that will give her the recognition she desires. As governess to the Coventry family Muir puts in play a plan to marry Sir John, the old uncle in the family, whose title she wants. In the process of getting sir John’s tittle Jean causes controversy in between the family which results as a positive thing for the family as a whole. While stepping over the boundaries set by her society, Muir takes a journey which she must face with intelligence and courage.
For seven years, Odysseus is held captive by the goddess Calypso. The young goddess “desired me and detained me in her hall. But in my heart, I never gave consent” (Homer 372). This quote suggests that although Calypso may have believed she was loved by Odysseus, he never really cared for her. If Odysseus would have stayed faithful to his wife, Calypso would have killed him. Thus, he is able to protect himself by lying to her. Another point in the epic where Odysseus' dishonesty impacts his success is with the suitors. After arriving at his homeland, Odysseus disguises himself to protect himself from being harmed: “Odysseus enters his home as a beggar, and the suitors mock and abuse him” (Homer 402). When Odysseus appears to be a beggar, the suitors think nothing of him. They disrespect him, his family, and his home. Had they know Odysseus was back, they would have treated him much differently. Because of the way they acted towards him, it can be suggested that they would be willing to do anything to take control of his kingdom. He is then able to find out more about them and their motives without getting
While we all may be shown different faces and persona’s each day, it never becomes clear which a true personality is and which is just a mask. Joyce Carol Oates demonstrates the need for her characters to disguise themselves from the rest of society in order to either be accepted by others or to be seen in a more pleasant manner. However, these characters who conceals themselves are ultimately hurt because of their inability to shed their false fronts and accept who they truly are.
In The Odyssey, Homer, or more so, the characters, often referred to Odysseus as the ‘Great Odysseus’. In the text, it is obvious to see that Odysseus demonstrates arrogance, charisma, over-confidence, and pride. Odysseus and his m...
When people think of Odysseus, they think of a great, cunning, warrior. Who wouldn’t see him that way, he fought his way through Troy and embarked on a journey back home to see his son and wife again. On the surface Odysseus seems like a genius but in Homer’s, The Odyssey, Odysseus shows many instances where he outwits his foes but his foolishness heavily outweighs his smarts; he becomes boastful after a victory which leads to more hardships, he leaves precious cargo in the open for his brutish crew to mess with, and refuses help from the gods which nearly leads to his demise.
For this second identification Odysseus has undergone a long journey, measured not only by time and distance but also as a series of alienations in foreign lands, illustrating to Odysseus what exactly his identity does not consist in, namely the immortal, the underworld, or other nationalities. Through these alienations Homer establishes the hostile world in which Odysseus must struggle to exist and in which sometimes the Gods themselves become hostile, causing mortals to suffer. In order to survive this, Odysseus also explores what it is to present oneself as without a past, home, fixed identity, or as he names himself to the Cyclops - a "Noman". That is to say that in certain instances Homer presents Odysseus as performing the opposite action of most mortals(i.e. attempting to make a name for themselves) by disguising or even eradicating his name, thus establishing an externally identifiable ...
...lts of the insolent suitors in his own home. The anger of Odysseus is only matched by Telemachus whose restraint is forcefully elevated in order to hamper his new mature instinct of defending his father. Meanwhile, Odysseus is forced to couple this with control over holding his love, Penelope, in his arms. Yet, both characters are able to avoid the impediments and at last battle side by side against their foes.
When attending a masquerade, a person is expected to wear a mask. In fact, it’s looked down upon if a mask isn’t worn. But, what if for some people that mask never came off? In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, each character has constructed their own metaphorical mask that they set firmly in place every morning when exiting their bed. Each character: Nora, Torvald, Kristine and Krogstad all have masks that they put in place when speaking to each other. Throughout most of the play, it is clear that all of the aforementioned characters have multiple facades that they use when speaking to one another; often switching quickly as they begin speaking to someone else. Henrik Ibsen’s use of the masquerade serves as an extended metaphor to show the masks that the characters use in their everyday lives.
From the analysis above, although he never fully matches Odysseus either in wisdom or courage, we cannot deny their highly resemblance in initiative, sensitivity and socialization. Influenced by his father not only by hearing the great deeds spread by people but also fight with him for vengeance, he follows his father’s step and comes to his manhood.