The Epic of The Odyssey

THE EPICOFTHEODYSSEY

EPIC TRAITS

An Epic is a long narrative poem

We learn everything important aboutcultural values of that culture from epics

Uses length and depth to expressthemes

The story of life itself

Large and ambitious projects

Epics help people define themselves

Embody who we are and what weshould be like a literary mirror

2 KINDS OF EPICACCORDING TO C.S. LEWIS

Primary Epics generally anonymous-arose in cultures that does not relyprimarily on literacy or writing.

Bard must call on his resources whentelling the tale: Repetitious sequences,epithets, and fragments that fit inside thepoetic meter/formula to help bards tell thetales-he works the same way as animprovisational musician (live concerts vsa cd) given the audiences interests.

Began as oral tradition-The Iliad, TheOdyssey, Beowulf, and The Epic ofGilgamesh.

2 KINDS OF EPICACCORDING TO C.S. LEWIS

Secondary Epics make up thevast majority of epics-has anauthor that wrote and publishedthe epic (no oral tradition) theyare in response to the primaryepic

Written in verse-Aeneid, Dante’sInferno, and Paradise Lost.

EPIC HERO TRAITS

•Embodies ideals andvalues that theculture admires

•Larger than life figurewho undertakesgreat journeys

•Possesses superhuman strength,craftiness, andconfidence

•Helped or harmed byinterfering gods

•Emerges victoriousfrom periloussituations

ODYSSEUS

•Known for his multifacetedness and polytropos—being resourceful and able to approach a problemfrom many vantage points. He has not only strength,but cunning, leadership, and military skill.

•Greek cultural self-portrait of what it means to beGreek.

•Odysseus also plays the role of bard or poet tellinghis story.—Remember that Odysseus is a master of cunningand deceit which begs us to figure out is he tellingthe truth of what happened to him and his crew. Howis he the only survivor? He says that monstersate/killed them. Funny how those monsters only showup when he’s telling the story and the rest of thestory is more natural.

SUPER IMPORTANT EPICCONVENTIONS

•Simile: “then, asdoves or thrushesbeating their spreadwings against somesnare rigged up inthickets—flying in fora cozy net but a grislybed receives them—so the women’sheads were trapped ina line, nooses yankingtheir necks up, one byone so all might die apitiful, ghastly death”(lines 494-498)

•Epithets: Dawn withher rose red fingers

• wine-dark sea

• clear-eyed goddess

•Epic Simile-a similethat tells a story forseveral line within itscomparison. Beginswith “as” and endswith “so…”

•Epithet-adjectives thatdescribes a person orthing

•Medias Res-in themiddle of things (TheOdyssey begins in themiddle of the storyand then is told withflashbacks)

•Hubris-excessive pride(Odysseus’ flaw)

MORE EPIC CONVENTIONS

Epic Plot

•Strange creatures

•Divine intervention

•Large-scale events

•Treacherousweather

Epic setting

•Includes fantasticor exotic lands

•Involves more than1 nation

MORE EPIC CONVENTIONS

Archetypes-stereotypicalcharacters, situations,and images

•Sea monster

•Buried treasure

•Epic hero

•Wickedtemptress

•Suitors’ contest

•Loyal servant

Epic themes(universalconcerns)

•Courage

•A homecoming

•Beauty

•Loyalty

•Life and death

•Fate of a nation

ARÊTE: VIRTUEOF EXCELLENCE

•Something all Greekpeople strive to have

•Odysseus can doanything that is calledupon him.

•Penelope is also theperfect picture of a wife.

•The swineherd andEurycleia are valuableand loyal persons ofexcellence.

•Argos-Odysseus’s dog.