The Odyssey and Madea

The Use of Home in Displaying Dual Personalities in The Odyssey and Medea

Home was a prevalent concept in Ancient Greece. Not only was there a goddess of the hearth and home, Hestia, but hospitality towards others was highly stressed. Home was regarded as a place to escape from chaos in the outside world. Homer and Euripides in The Odyssey and Medea, respectively, use the motif of home to show the difference in an individual’s public manner versus their personal, more natural manner. This difference is caused by the different levels of comfort individuals have in different settings. Specifically, the two works portray the difference through experience of the characters, mistrust developed towards others, and the maintenance of dual identities.

There are occasions in both works where characters make the mistake of using their personal manner in inappropriate settings. In The Odyssey, Odysseus incorrectly assumes that the Cyclopes, Polyphemos, would be welcoming of him.

There we built a fire and made sacrifice, and helping

ourselves to the cheeses we ate and sat waiting for him

inside, until he came home from his herding.

Odysseus’ attempt to make himself feel at home in Polyphemos’ cave turns out to be disastrous. Homer emphasizes from this situation Odysseus’ lack of caution and judgment as Odysseus’ crew had already advised him to leave the cave. In consuming Polyphemos’ livestock and cheese, Odysseus demonstrates a high level of comfort with Polyphemos which is in reality not evident for the two individuals who meet for the first time. As a result, Odysseus and his crew portray themselves as intruders rather than visitors.

Similarly, in Medea, Medea puts a level of trust in Jason uncharacteristic ...

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...Euripides, though writers of Ancient times, comment on a feature that is still present in the modern world. They state that individuals maintain dual identities as a result of different levels of trust and comfort in others in different settings. Our experiences have given us an initial mistrust or apprehension in others, which is why we have developed a separate public identity from our private identity. These separate identities are of benefit to us, though, as they are used to further our interests. Specifically, in The Odyssey and Medea, the two authors assert that our comfort level outside of home is very low. Home represents a natural state of existence where all thoughts, actions, and speech are intuitive. In contrast, the outside world maintains a state of chaos and uncertainty. There must be some difference in the way we address these two states.