The Epic Hero That Was Not The general populous has hailed Odysseus as the epitome of the epic hero for several centuries‚ but to the modern reader‚ he comes off as anything but. While he was extremely driven by one goal‚ getting back home to his family‚ he performed some not-so heroic deeds on his quest and once he arrived back in Ithaca. Odysseus had many affairs and was disloyal to his wife‚ slaughtered hundreds of people in the name of righteousness‚ and above all‚ exemplifies hubris‚ or arrogant
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Odysseus demonstrates his resourcefulness and cunningness‚ but most definitely serves as no hero through several episodes of his pridefulness‚ unfaithfulness‚ and ruthless murdering. Odysseus shows qualities of a narcissist as he focuses on himself and not on the greater good. In Book IX‚ Odysseus and his men go to the Cyclopes’ island and visits one of their caves: "We soon reached his cave but didn’t find him [the Cyclopes]. [...] We went inside the cave and looked around. [...] At first‚ my comrades
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their lives. I was the lone survivor‚ Zeus had sent a thunderbolt in which destroyed our ship and I was the only one to wash up on Calypso’s island. Calypso‚ a goddess held me in her island for 7 long years‚ and everyday I sat and stared at the stars‚ wishing I never left Ithaca‚ wishing I could go home. It felt as if my wish came true because one day Calypso allows me to build a boat and leave‚ I was free at
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WOMEN IN ARTHURIAN LEGENDRY. Throughout literature women have been depicted in many different ways. This may have been influenced by certain stereotypes or an author’s personal experience. In Arthurian legends such as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight‚ the female character queen Guinevere is not portrayed as an individual but as a social construct of what a woman should be. Queen Guinevere however plays a passive woman. At the time of the middle ages‚ women were considered to be of lesser quality
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For thousands of years Cleopatra has been portrayed as a beautiful seductress with goddess-like looks but many historians have their own interpretations of Cleopatra based on tainted information. Cleopatra is not what todays society makes her out to be‚ she has been transformed from a power hungry‚ foreign queen using all means possible to extend her power‚ including exploiting her sexuality. “It is so hard to find out the truth…the process of time obscures the truth of former times.” - Plutarch
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in her early thirties and had married a man almost 30 years her senior. Claudius was elderly and crippled when he married Agrippina. Sources differ to whether it was uncle or niece‚ or both‚ who sought the marriage. Some describe Agrippina as a seductress who promiscuously charms to Claudius. Other deem Claudius as the initiator‚ claiming he selected Agrippina as his wife after careful deliberation with advisers (The Woman Who Would Rule Rome). In truth the union was probably a collaborative political
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“Second Samuel” chapter 11 begins with David sending off his messenger‚ Joab‚ while David stayed in Jerusalem. David decided to go onto the king’s roof where he saw a beautiful woman bathing‚ and found out who she was‚ Bathsheba. He sent messengers to take Bathsheba and once she arrived he took her to bed‚ and impregnated her. David once again sent Joab to bring back Uriah‚ Bathsheba’s husband‚ to have sex with Bathsheba to cover up the pregnancy‚ but it failed. David then‚ wrote a letter to put
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GILGAMESH AND THE ODYSSEY “Descriptive comparison between Gilgamesh and Odysseus” Gilgamesh is an ancient poem that significantly marked its name as somehow being the first major heroic narrative in the world literature. Fractions of this literature were discovered uniquely carved in tablets even before the Roman‚ Hebrew and Greek civilization appeared. Gilgamesh depicts a unique and propinquity story of Gilgamesh and his companion Enkidu that transcribed a complex and moving gist of bonds of
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The Odyssey: Calypso Sing I me‚ Muse‚ and through me tell the story of the lady nymph goddess Calypso. Oh so beautiful and immortal who lives in the sea- hollowed caves on the island Ogygia. She craved the hero of Troy‚ king of Ithaka‚ son of Laertes‚ a mortal and took him as her own. Nine long years they spent on the island together. I‚ Divine Calypso‚ was sitting at home and singing to my wonderful creatures when Dawn came to me until Hermes‚ The Wayfinder‚ found his way to my cave with urgent
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Throughout history fate vs. free will has been debated over and over. Do we really have control over our lives‚ or are there higher beings controlling our lives? When we look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story‚ but in The Odyssey‚ the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story. We must ask ourselves if Odysseus was ruled by his own whims or if he was ruled by fate‚ this paper
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