The Role Of Zeus in Homer's Iliad
In the era of Homer, divine intervention was thought to be typical, and one of his
foremost works, The Iliad, reflects this. Nearly all of the Greek gods are
involved in the outcome of the Trojan War, which happens to be the
background story of this epic poem. The gods are used by Homer to add
twists on an otherwise standard plot of war. I shall concentrate on Zeus,
however, and reflect on his actions and their outcomes on the Trojan War,
and more importantly, the story of The Iliad. Zeus, very untypical of a Greek
god in his lack of involvem7ent in the Trojan War for selfish reasons, was
portrayed as the father figure, being impartial and fair to both sides of the war.
He remains this way to serve as a check for each god's involvement in the
war. Without his presence at the head of the inner circle of Olympus, it is likely
that the activity of the Trojan War would become chaotic, possibly even
becoming a playground of war for the gods. With Zeus's majestic power,
above all of the other gods combined, along with his experience, he is quite
befitting to his role in the storyline of The Iliad. The Iliad was thought to be
written by a Greek minstrel named Homer. The Iliad was the first of the major
epics credited to him, the second being The Odyssey. Discussion about
Homer among scholars inevitably leads to controversy on nearly every
conceivable issue, ranging from his birthplace to his actual composition of
either of these epics. Because of our lack of reliable information, we have but
a small fragment of knowledge agreed on by scholars about the writer of the
first great piece of literature of Western civilization. Homer in ancient Greece
was conceived as a "blind, old man, singing or reciting his own compositions"
(History of Horticulture), and at least seven ancient Greek cities claimed to be
his birthplace. His work has been questioned as to two separate ways: if one
minstrel, possibly named Homer, composed these works alone, and if so, if
this minstrel wrote both of these epics. It has been argued that Homer is, in
fact, the collective progression of minstrels that have passed this
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, published in 1960, is a novel which explores the theme of challenging racial prejudice. Within this novel, Lee has portrayed unintentional racial prejudice through the characters Atticus Finch, Link Deas and Scout Finch. With these characters, and their roles in exploring the theme of racial prejudice, Harper Lee has set unintentional boundaries for readers, as result, racial prejudicial thinking from contemporary perspective, in comparison to historical views, is challenged to a small extent.
Just as the poem is written in a rhyme and rhythm that makes poetry easy to follow, the vivid imagery helps one to picture more easily what is going on in the poem. Owen brilliantly chooses words and phrases that illuminate the scene, making the reader feel as if he is physically in the scene along with the characters. For example, Owen describes that the Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots/ But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;/ Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots/ Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind (Gioia 782). A feeling of sadness and pity is felt as one hears the previous words. It is almost as if the scene of the soldiers trudging through the battlefield is being painted for the reader to actually visually ...
Shaw-Thornburg, Angela. “On Reading To Kill a Mockingbird: Fifty Years Later.” Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird: New Essays. Meyer, Michael J. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2010. 113-127. Print.
Whoever said the truth will set you free must not have read the works of Nathaniel Hawthorn and Kate Chopin. It is in Hawthorn’s story “Young Goodman Brown” and Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby” that learning the truth is not liberating but leads to isolation and bitterness because the truth is too much to comprehend. In “Young Goodman Brown” Brown’s experience of the satanic group in the woods causes him to discover part of his community’s identity with evil and this causes his withdrawal of himself from the community because of his lack of trust. “Desiree’s Baby” problem deals with Armand’s unwillingness to accept the fact that his mother was African American, which leads him to resentful acts and his inability to accept responsibility for his actions.
In the Odyssey, written by Homer, and Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? by the Coen Brothers, the authors both tell tales interwoven with divine beliefs. In these stories, Odysseus the Greek hero faces Gods on his journey home. Similarly Everett, the escaped criminal, faced the Christian god on his journey. The gods in these stories sometimes hurt and sometimes helped Odysseus and Everett, along their journeys.
Many students believe that Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird displays social issues in early America. In this time standing against common customs was unacceptable, a violation of society. People believe that today courage has overcome adversity that was displayed in early America. Courage is the common subject of To Kill a Mockingbird, which allows Lee’s novel to defy the changing times of humanity. These morals are bound to the “impartiality” and “fairness” taught to people as children, but become unavoidably invisible though selfish actions. The characters in To Kill a Mockingbird express audacity along with resilience in the face of cowardice.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is a novel about a man named Marlow and his journey into the depths of the African Congo. Marlow is in search of a man named Kurtz, an ivory trader. Though Marlow?s physical journey seems rather simple, it takes him further into his own heart and soul than into the Congo. The setting, symbols and characters each contain light and dark images, these images shape the central theme of the novel.
The novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is set in Alabama in the 1930s, and concerns itself primarily with the interrelated themes of prejudice and empathy. These themes are explored as the story follows Scout Finch as she learns lessons in empathy, ultimately rejecting prejudice. While all characters in Lee’s novel learn from their experiences, not all are able to grow in the same manner as Scout. The idea of a positive role model, typified by the character of Atticus Finch, and the ramifications of its absence, is a concept that Lee places much emphasis on. The isolated setting is also pivotal in the development of characters. Lee uses the contrast between characters that learn lessons in empathy and compassion, and characters that cling to the ideals of a small town, to explore factors that nurture or diminish prejudice.
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird explores the concept of injustice and her readers are introduced to a society where the social hierarchy dominated acts of humanity. We are often put into situations where we witness member of society be inhumane to one another in order to fit into the community and to act selfishly to save yourself. Within the text, we are also commonly shown the racial discrimination that has become society’s norm. Because of the general acceptance of these behaviours, it is explicitly show to all that the major theme Lee is trying to portray is ‘Man’s inhumanity to man’.
Homer was a very influential and significant part of the Greek civilization. The Greeks had been passing down stories, by word, of the Golden Age and of the great battles of the Greeks for many years. Homer ...
Homer is credited for writing epics that generate source materials for the modern world. The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer are captivating stories with fascinating heroic characters. The Homer stories share with classical mythology typical recurrent motifs. The two Homer epic poems focus on the Trojan War, and its result. The epic poems contain the Greek mythology featuring the Greek gods, goddesses, mythological creatures, and the Greek heroes, and heroines. In addition, the principal motifs typical of classical mythological hero stories are; the dominance of fate, evil fighting against the gods, and death. In both the classic mythology, and he modern fiction hero stories, the heroes always have a helper in their expedition, but ultimately, they have to stand alone, face the darkness, and conquer it in order to become victorious.
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a novel about love and marriage among the Russian aristocracy in the 1870s. Anna is young, beautiful woman married to a powerful government minister, Karenin. She falls in love with the elegant Count Vronsky and after becoming pregnant by him, leaves her husband Karenin and her son Seryozha to live with her lover. Despite the intervention of friends such as her brother Oblonsky, an adulterer himself, she is unable to obtain a divorce, and lives isolated from the society that once glorified her. As a man, Vronsky enjoys relative social freedom, which causes Anna to have increasingly intense fits of jealousy. Because of her constant suspicion, she thinks that Vronsky’s love for her is dwindling. Their story is ended by an exciting finale that moves the reader.
An epic poem is a long narrative poem, normally having to do with a serious subject while covering heroic deeds and events important for a culture or nation. Homer, the author of Iliad and the Odyssey, is perhaps the most famous and notable writer of epics. Inspired directly from the stories that had been passed down orally over the centuries, Homer wrote these epic poems retelling the stories of the last year of the Trojan War and Odysseus’s journey home after the Trojan War. These epics are filled with supernatural events such as gods lending their power to a hero, allowing him to slay row after row of troops and gods going directly onto the battlefield to help turn the tide in a battle. The grandeur of these events are indicative of fictional superhero stories rather than fact. However, if you compare the events depicted in the Iliad to historical facts known from Ancient Greece and current scientific evidence, Homer’s Iliad may have a basis in actual history. Homer’s description of the geography of Ancient Greece, his depiction of godly interference, his depiction of war, and the use of technology can be supported and show that the Trojan War and many of the events that take place in the Iliad were actual historical events or can be justified.
While there is controversy weather or not Homer alone wrote these pieces or many other people wrote it over a period of time and even if Homer was an actual person. Homer also wrote Homeric Hymns which are short poems celebrating various Gods. Some of the most celebrated and distinguished characters of mythology play roles in either one or both of the epics. Such characters include Achilles, Ajax, Agamemnon, Menelaus, Helen, Paris, Hector, Odysseus, and Penelope. Homers ethnic decent can be traced from the Odyssey.
Homer. The Illiad. The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces: Expanded Edition?Volume I. ed. by Maynard Mack. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995.