The difference between the way Homer and Ovid present the gods and their relation to human being is that in Homer, the gods are more tough on the humans than in The Metamorphoses. In The Iilad, some gods were focused on returning Odysseus home while some were trying to stop him in his tracks. This story also focuses more on environment and symbolism because of the way the story is written. In Metamorphoses, the gods seem to care more about human beings. They show stronger emotions towards them. You can see this through all of the theme changes that occur in the story. They penalized people who were wicked and reward those that were piety. Metamorphoses set the tone in Book I, when the gods punished Lycaon for trying to kill Jupiter in his …show more content…
I 'm both stories the gods help mortals, and don 't even attempt to destroy them unless they do something outrageous. In both stories morals disrespected a god, In The Metamorphoses, Arachne and Marsyas challenged gods to a weaving and musical contest. That was the part where the story talked about The Role Of Art. It was much more characteristic in this story because of all the themes than in The Odyssey. For example, Love makes all Gods and to Mortals alike because we all have a soft spot for it. Ovid demonstrates that love is dangerous because it has power over everyone. Nobody can avoid the affects of love, or the danger it brings. In my opinion you could avoid some effects of love by not loving to hard. People get hurt inside all the time and the more they get hurt the more they don 't feel when it comes to love. They start to stop showing emotion outside. That is just how it goes now a days. The god of death, PLuto is attracted to love. Love and happiness are the reasons why we as people live. Woman being impregnant is a common relationship in love. They instantly fall in love with their baby. Augustus made an attempt to create legal and illegal forms of love to regulate …show more content…
Gods are were seen interacting with mortal on numerous occasions. When Athena goes to Telemachus and to provide information about his father. Later, Telemachus thought about dismissing all suitors because Athena advised him to do so. It was kind of a friendly relationship sometimes between gods and mortals in the Odyssey. On Telemachus journey, Athena provided a lot of confidence into the prince. It gave Telemachus a sense of hope that his father was still out there. When there is hope there is always a way and that is what Athena gave to to him. Another interaction is when Odyessy made Poseidon upset. Poseidon is one of the Gods who holds a grudge against a mortal and had a negative impact during the journey. Odysseus killed Polyphemus, that is why Poseidon left Odysseus on an island before his return home. The relationship between Gods and Humans are similar between humans and humans. The only thing that is different is that Gods have the powers and ability to do
It is also significant that he has intentionally broken away from the stereotypical austere images of the gods, and has set his gods at the opposite end of the scale to the Virgilian gods. BIBLIOGRAPHY: OVID METAMORPHOSES Translated by A.D.Melville VIRGIL THE AENEID Translated by R.Fitzgerald D.C.Feeny The Gods in Epic G.K.Galinsky Ovid's Metamorphoses R.O.A.M.Lyne Further Voices in Virgil's Aeneid Wilkinson Ovid Recalled C.H.Wilson Jupiter and the Fates in the Aeneid --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] Virgil's Aeneid: book: 1.5 ff.
"Book One of Ovid's Metamorphoses establishes the book's theme of metamorphoses with a tale of creation that progresses into human stories leading to the current breed of man. The creation piece is followed by a flood story and a discussion of the ages of mankind. The ages of mankind - gold, silver, bronze, and iron - describe man's slow progression from a good, wholesome society into a miserable, self-destructive one. The next stories concern tales of gods and goddesses and their manipulations of the human population and each other. Book one ends (appropriately) with Phaethon's journey to meet his father, the sun, thus establishing Ovid's theme of quests for change."(auburn. edu)
In both the plays the common theme that we can observe is that gods dont consider mortals important enough to either give them an important element that can make their lives easy, nor do they attach importance to a human life. The gods even amongst themselves have a complicated relationship. Their power has bounds amongst themselves but in the case of humans they exercise their power without any considerations or limitations.
Over the course of the play, Artemis does not interfere in the actions of Aphrodite, which shows that the gods, while divine, do have restrictions; in this case, it shows the gods cannot interfere with each other. (1328-1330) The gods are sometimes evil and revengeful, though, as can seen by what Artemis has to say about Aphrodite: "I'll wait till she loves a mortal next time, and with this hand - with these unerring arrows I'll punish him." (1420-1422) The relationship of mankind and the gods also needs to be discussed. This relationship seems to be a sort of give-and-take relationship, in part. The Greeks believed that if they gave to the gods, through prayer and sacrifices, that the gods would help them out.
In Homer’s The Odyssey there is another mention of Zeus, the god of hospitality and when Odysseus reaches the cave of the Cyclopes, he tells Polyphemus, “Zeus protects all suppliants and strangers—as god of guests, he cares for all respected visitors “(Bauschatz, 31). The Cyclopes reply expresses that he can care less about the Gods because he believes the Cyclopes hold more power. Towards the end, Polyphemus prays to Poseidon and he throws in Odysseus way but this demonstrates how much interaction the Gods have with the
Love, in classical Greek literature, is commonly considered a prominent theme. Love, in present days, always appears in the categories of books, movies, music, etc. Interpreted differently by different people, Love turns into a multi-faceted being. In Plato’s work Symposium, Phaedrus, Pausania, Eryximachus, Aristophane and Agathon, each of them presents a speech to either praise or definite Love. Phaedrus first points out that Love is the primordial god; Pausanias brings the theme of “virtue” into the discussion and categorizes Love into “good” one or “bad” one; Eryximachus introduces the thought of “moderation’ and thinks that Love governs such fields as medicine and music; Aristophanes draws attention to the origin and purposes of Love; Agathon enunciates that the correct way to present an eulogy is first to praise its nature and gifts.
The Metamorphosis They were clearing out his room, depriving him of everything that he loved, they had already carried away the chest of drawers, in which he kept the fretsaw and other tools, were now budging the desk firmly embedded in the floor, the desk he had done his homework on when he was a student at business college, in high school yes, even in public school now he really had no more time to examine the good intentions of the two women. . . And so he broke out the women were just leaning against the desk in the next room to catch their breath for a minute changed his course four times, he really didn't know what to salvage first, then he saw hanging conspicuously on the wall, which was otherwise bare already, the picture of the lady all dressed in furs, hurriedly crawled up on it and pressed himself against the glass, which gave a good surface to stick to and soothed his hot belly. At least no one would take away this picture, while Gregor completely covered it up (Kafka 35). In Kafka's The Metamorphosis, it is possible to see the dehumanization of Gregor Samsa. Dehumanization can be caused by the loss of independence.
Religion was deeply intertwined the culture of the ancient Greeks. In their stories, they prayed to the gods to satisfy their needs and offer assistance in their endeavors, and the gods would occasionally appear to select Greeks to give counsel, gifts, or other forms of aid. Alternatively, if the desires or endeavors of a mortal or mortals displeased one or more of the gods, they would also interfere with the fulfillment of their goals. In Homer’s Odyssey, the gods appear to or interfere with both Telemachus and Odysseus, either to help or hinder them in their journeys. Although the gods are responsible the difficulty Odysseus faces returning from Troy, they are equally responsible for motivating and assisting Odysseus and Telemachus in their respective travels. If not for divine interference, neither Odysseus nor Telemachus would have journeys to make.
The relationship between the gods and humanity in The Epic of Gilgamesh and The Odyssey are the same. In each saga, the gods seem to live nearby and are always present. Both epic poems portray humans as simply at the mercy of the gods. The gods feel that it is their duty to intervene if they feel that man is traveling off course from his destiny. However, the gods are not all powerful.
...nd the theme of immortality. However, each presents it in different ways. The Epic of Gilgamesh presents true immortality as deeds and actions that will keep your names in the memory of the people forever. In The Odyssey immortality is presented as something that is less important than your family and the people you love. This is reflected in each of the heroes decisions to turn down immortality; Gilgamesh turns it down because he knows the suffering would never make it worth it and Odysseus knows that he would never get to see his family again if he accepted the offer. The moral really is consider all the consequences before accepting something that seems all well and good.
What was Ovid's view of the gods' ethical performance? Throughout out all of Ovid's metamorphoses, Ovid conveys stories of man's interactions with the gods and how that effected nature. Many of these stories came out of petty arguments such as the story of Arachne and Minerva, Cupid and Apollo, and Niobe which produced the spider, laurel tree, and a mountain. The main point throughout is that man is not in charge and must obey the hierarchy. The gods could be unfair but they are superior and it wouldn't matter.
The gods in power, like Zeus, exhibit bias, dishonor, betrayal, deception, and many other humanly characteristics. One memorable scene is when Zeus and Poseidon are in conflict with each other over the Achaens versus the Trojans. Zeus controls the battle by “lifting the famous runner Achilles’ glory higher,” (Homer 13: 404). Zeus plays both sides in this scene, acting like a double agent which is dishonorable. Zeus’s bias is prevalent throughout the poem; specifically, he is “bent on wiping out the Argives, down to the last man,” (Homer 12: 81-82). Just like mortals such as Agamemnon and Achilles view each other with suspicion and intolerance, the gods experience identical emotions of wariness, anger, and irritation. This human-like behavior is not restricted to Zeus. Later in the text, Hera lies to Aphrodite to use her powers to manipulate her own husband Zeus. If one looks at Hera as a heavenly entity, her reaction may not make sense, but when it is viewed as a manifestation of human emotion, it become almost reasonable. Her scheming response to Zeus’s meddling with the war is spurred by her support for the Trojans. Hera’s manipulation and Aphrodite’s ego don’t stand alone as examples of this divine humanity. These instances suggest that the deities are being presented in this unique way to help explain behavior of the humans in The
In Homer's epic poem, The Odyssey, gods play a very important role to the plot of the story. They are the one deciding if someone can survive or not according to the sacrifice that the person made for them. In the book 1, Athena said to Zeus her father, “Didn’t Odysseus please you with sacrifices beside the Greek ships at Troy?” (Homer 65, book1). In this part Athena was trying to plead with her father Zeus in favor of Odysseus because she wants to help him to go home, while others are trying to provoke his death. This love that Athena has for Odysseus and his family is revealed throughout Homer’s epic. Although Athena supported Odysseus throughout his voyage, other gods including Poseidon, Calypso, and Circe made it difficult for Odysseus to return home, such in our real life, some people will make your life hard, but you have a good faith as Odysseus, you should always find your way out. Our God is omnipr...
In these two classic, epic poems told by Homer, the roles of the gods are very important to the characters and their journey throughout the books. It is always a positive or negative effect but the gods’ interference on mortals’ lives makes this an epic journey that has been remembered for thousands of years. The Iliad and the Odyssey are very different from each other in that the Iliad has more gods that effect the war and its outcome whereas the Odyssey only has two major gods that effect two characters.
To begin with, the ancient Greeks explained the creation of the universe, in particular the Earth and its elements, by a system of anthropomorphism in which their gods are human-like and are representatives of these elements. For example, Zeus is the god of heaven while Hades is the underworld lord (Hesiod, p.145). Unlike the Christians’ god who is “flawless”, the ancient Greeks’ divinities are portrayed as humans and are far from perfect. Their gods behave like ordinary people except they are immortal and have supernatural powers. Like any human being, the Greeks’ gods have love, jealousy, sadness, etc. For instance, in Euripides’ Bacchae, Zeus falls in love with Semele, which makes Hera becomes jealous and tries to kill Semele and Dionysus (Euripides, p.209). The Greeks even have a physically imperfect god, Hephaestus. This is to say that the gods’ attitude toward mortals is affected by how people treat them as the Greeks’ gods have emotions like humans.