In literature it is believed that the Gods ruled the life of mortals' centuries ago. Sometimes they would be in favor of the mortals and benefit them, while others they might rule against and harm them, depending on the author and where the tale occurred. In the epic of Gilgamesh, we will deal with Sumerian gods, while in The Odyssey and Oedipus the king, we deal with Greek gods like Zeus. The Gods were the controller of destiny, everything was decided by them. In this essay I will demonstrate that some characters having the Gods in their side helped them, while in other cases having them angry made the characters life more complicated which hurt them.
In Gilgamesh we can see how gods are portrait in different ways for example Ninsun a goddess called the "wild cow", is portrait as a protector and a goddess to her son Gilgamesh, always there when he needed help or answers "The mother of Gilgamesh, knowing and wise, who understands everything, said to her son, Ninsun the wild cow, knowing and wise, who understands everything said to Gilgamesh:"(105) It is also shown how the gods were good listeners since when the people of Uruk pray to them for help, when Gilgamesh was making the man of the city compete endlessly and taking all the women from their houses, they listened later complaining to Anu (the sky god), who in the story is shown as a leader, about Gilgamesh and this one said: "Let them summon Aruru (goddess of birth) the great one, she created the boundless human race. Let her create a partner for Gilgamesh, mighty in strength, let them content with each other, that Uruk may have peace."(101) thanks to them being wise they created Enkidu a perfect match to Gilgamesh. They were also fair since when Gilgamesh and Enkidu decided to kill Humbaba (guardian of the cedar forest) and the Bull of heaven, the gods decided that one of them must die and Enkidu was the one they chose.
In the Odyssey gods vary in their personalities, some of them are vengeful like Poseidon the god of the sea, "...But Poseidon is stiff and cold with anger Because Odysseus blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the strongest of all the Cyclopes," (334)and in vengeance Poseidon made Odysseus trip longer to be exact ten years longer. Some could be good like Aeolus who helped Odysseus by giving him a bag with the winds to get home "He tied this bag down in the hold of my ship With a bright silver cord, so that not a puff Could escape. But he left the West Wind out To blow my ships along and carry us home."(439) they could also be seen as organized since they have a leader or person in charge and is shown when Athena says to him "Father Zeus, whose power is supreme". Are also portrait as loyal when Athena the goddess after many prayers from Odysseus, his mother and Penelope his wife , intercedes for him and helps Odysseus to finally get home, and once there disguised him until he was able to restore his name.
As well in Oedipus the king, we see a city praying to a god for help "-While the city is swollen with howls of pain, reeking incense, and prayers sung to the Healing God" (708) Apollo (the healing god) who cared about his people giving them a prophecy from the beginning, yet it was one king Laios tried to stop by killing Oedipus(his son) as a baby, but the good heart of the person he (baby Oedipus) was given to, saved him. Yet Apollo after hearing the people's pleas decides to tell the people again the prophecy and that Oedipus must leave in order for the city to go back to normal.
As it is seen, Gods behave in different ways depending on the tale, they could be good and bad, they can behave as mortal humans and have feelings like anger, love, pride. They could be helpers of people or deliverers of bad news. At the end I feel as if these works show them as more human than they were seen back them, they became mothers like Ninsun, Protectors like Athena and could be angered like Poseidon. At the end of the day they decided the fates of the mortals and were respected for it; even when the mortals might not feel the same way about a problem. Sometimes interacting and understanding the characters as friends and companions.
In literature it is believed that the Gods ruled the life of mortals' centuries ago. Sometimes they would be in favor of the mortals and benefit them, while others they might rule against and harm them, depending on the author and where the tale occurred. In the epic of Gilgamesh, we will deal with Sumerian gods, while in The Odyssey and Oedipus the king, we deal with Greek gods like Zeus. The Gods were the controller of destiny, everything was decided by them. In this essay I will demonstrate that some characters having the Gods in their side helped them, while in other cases having them angry made the characters life more complicated which hurt them.
In Gilgamesh we can see how gods are portrait in different ways for example Ninsun a goddess called the "wild cow", is portrait as a protector and a goddess to her son Gilgamesh, always there when he needed help or answers "The mother of Gilgamesh, knowing and wise, who understands everything, said to her son, Ninsun the wild cow, knowing and wise, who understands everything said to Gilgamesh:"(105) It is also shown how the gods were good listeners since when the people of Uruk pray to them for help, when Gilgamesh was making the man of the city compete endlessly and taking all the women from their houses, they listened later complaining to Anu (the sky god), who in the story is shown as a leader, about Gilgamesh and this one said: "Let them summon Aruru (goddess of birth) the great one, she created the boundless human race. Let her create a partner for Gilgamesh, mighty in strength, let them content with each other, that Uruk may have peace."(101) thanks to them being wise they created Enkidu a perfect match to Gilgamesh. They were also fair since when Gilgamesh and Enkidu decided to kill Humbaba (guardian of the cedar forest) and the Bull of heaven, the gods decided that one of them must die and Enkidu was the one they chose.
In the Odyssey gods vary in their personalities, some of them are vengeful like Poseidon the god of the sea, "...But Poseidon is stiff and cold with anger Because Odysseus blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the strongest of all the Cyclopes," (334)and in vengeance Poseidon made Odysseus trip longer to be exact ten years longer. Some could be good like Aeolus who helped Odysseus by giving him a bag with the winds to get home "He tied this bag down in the hold of my ship With a bright silver cord, so that not a puff Could escape. But he left the West Wind out To blow my ships along and carry us home."(439) they could also be seen as organized since they have a leader or person in charge and is shown when Athena says to him "Father Zeus, whose power is supreme". Are also portrait as loyal when Athena the goddess after many prayers from Odysseus, his mother and Penelope his wife , intercedes for him and helps Odysseus to finally get home, and once there disguised him until he was able to restore his name.
As well in Oedipus the king, we see a city praying to a god for help "-While the city is swollen with howls of pain, reeking incense, and prayers sung to the Healing God" (708) Apollo (the healing god) who cared about his people giving them a prophecy from the beginning, yet it was one king Laios tried to stop by killing Oedipus(his son) as a baby, but the good heart of the person he (baby Oedipus) was given to, saved him. Yet Apollo after hearing the people's pleas decides to tell the people again the prophecy and that Oedipus must leave in order for the city to go back to normal.
As it is seen, Gods behave in different ways depending on the tale, they could be good and bad, they can behave as mortal humans and have feelings like anger, love, pride. They could be helpers of people or deliverers of bad news. At the end I feel as if these works show them as more human than they were seen back them, they became mothers like Ninsun, Protectors like Athena and could be angered like Poseidon. At the end of the day they decided the fates of the mortals and were respected for it; even when the mortals might not feel the same way about a problem. Sometimes interacting and understanding the characters as friends and companions.
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Clara
Identity is what makes and identifies a person. In literature especially on tales like The Odyssey, Antigone and Oedipus the king they concealed their identities to be able to achieve a purpose. Once revealed the stories took turns and twists that at the end change the whole direction and purpose of the story. On this essay I will argue how in each tale the identities were concealed and how it develops after it.
Odysseus was at sea on his way home after the Trojan War. In his trip home he stopped at the island of the Cyclopes where he blinded Polyphemus the son of Poseidon (the sea god),lying to Polyphemus he told him that his name was Noman so that when he blinded him and people came to help him he would answer that Noman was hurting him and they would leave. But Odysseus being the proud man he was when he finally was able to escape from Polyphemus he decided to scream and tell him who had blinded him, "Cyclops, if anyone, any mortal man, Ask you how you got your eye put out , Tell him that Odysseus the marauder did it, Son of Laertes, whose home is on Ithaca."(437) revealing his identity and complicating his journey, since Polyphemus being the son of Poseidon decided to call his father and tell him who had harm him so that he would seek revenge for him.
The story of Antigone is all about a sister who wanted to give a proper burial for her brother but was denied by their commander in chief Kreon, The city and the sisters Ismene and Antigone were prohibited to mourn Polyneikes. One of the sister's was desperate she did not like the fact that her brother was just laying in the ground being eaten by crows, she wanted him to be able to rest properly by having a proper burial but could not do it because she was forbidden to. But she decided to go against everything and gave him a proper burial, nobody knew who had done it, and Kreon was furious and made the guards uncover the corpse and put vigilance to see if anybody would try to bury him again. The perpetrator visited the corpse and noticed how it was uncover and decided to bury it again and was caught, "I'm stunned --- what's this? A warning from the gods? I know this girl. She is Antigone. Don't we all recognize her...There's your perpetrator. We caught her burying the corpse..." (757) Causing Kreon to get her bury alive. Once her identity was discover she had to face the wrath of the commander in chief.
While in Oedipus the King the story is about a king who was very unlucky. King Laios and Queen Jokasta had a son whom a prophecy said would kill his father and marry his mother, scare of the prophecy King Laios decided to have somebody kill his son, but he was given instead to a good hearted person whom save him and gave him to a family to be adopted. Years passed and the boy grew and without knowing killed his own father and married his mother. Time passed and Oedipus as the King of Thebes, wanted to save the city from all the pain and suffering it was going thru, and decided to send Kreon to get answers from the god Apollo, who said that the only way the city was going to get peace was if they drove out of the city what was corrupting it, who was a murderer who killed his own kin. Oedipus asked and looked for the killer until after a lot of wandering and investigation he discovers who the man was "All! All! It all happened! It was all true. O light! Let this be the last time I look on you. You see now what I am - the child who must not be born! I loved where I must not love! I Killed where I must not kill!"(738)Discovering that the killer he was looking for was himself.
After finding out the identities in each tale we can see how it changed it completely and how it gave form and meaning to the story. Odysseus identity was hidden from the Cyclops to be revealed as he left the island, while Antigone's identity was revealed by the guards when she tried to cover the body again and to Odysseus the revelation of his identity was what doomed him .
In this tales we were able to see how just the revelation changed and shaped the whole story line and gave more meaning and drama to the story.
Identity is what makes and identifies a person. In literature especially on tales like The Odyssey, Antigone and Oedipus the king they concealed their identities to be able to achieve a purpose. Once revealed the stories took turns and twists that at the end change the whole direction and purpose of the story. On this essay I will argue how in each tale the identities were concealed and how it develops after it.
Odysseus was at sea on his way home after the Trojan War. In his trip home he stopped at the island of the Cyclopes where he blinded Polyphemus the son of Poseidon (the sea god),lying to Polyphemus he told him that his name was Noman so that when he blinded him and people came to help him he would answer that Noman was hurting him and they would leave. But Odysseus being the proud man he was when he finally was able to escape from Polyphemus he decided to scream and tell him who had blinded him, "Cyclops, if anyone, any mortal man, Ask you how you got your eye put out , Tell him that Odysseus the marauder did it, Son of Laertes, whose home is on Ithaca."(437) revealing his identity and complicating his journey, since Polyphemus being the son of Poseidon decided to call his father and tell him who had harm him so that he would seek revenge for him.
The story of Antigone is all about a sister who wanted to give a proper burial for her brother but was denied by their commander in chief Kreon, The city and the sisters Ismene and Antigone were prohibited to mourn Polyneikes. One of the sister's was desperate she did not like the fact that her brother was just laying in the ground being eaten by crows, she wanted him to be able to rest properly by having a proper burial but could not do it because she was forbidden to. But she decided to go against everything and gave him a proper burial, nobody knew who had done it, and Kreon was furious and made the guards uncover the corpse and put vigilance to see if anybody would try to bury him again. The perpetrator visited the corpse and noticed how it was uncover and decided to bury it again and was caught, "I'm stunned --- what's this? A warning from the gods? I know this girl. She is Antigone. Don't we all recognize her...There's your perpetrator. We caught her burying the corpse..." (757) Causing Kreon to get her bury alive. Once her identity was discover she had to face the wrath of the commander in chief.
While in Oedipus the King the story is about a king who was very unlucky. King Laios and Queen Jokasta had a son whom a prophecy said would kill his father and marry his mother, scare of the prophecy King Laios decided to have somebody kill his son, but he was given instead to a good hearted person whom save him and gave him to a family to be adopted. Years passed and the boy grew and without knowing killed his own father and married his mother. Time passed and Oedipus as the King of Thebes, wanted to save the city from all the pain and suffering it was going thru, and decided to send Kreon to get answers from the god Apollo, who said that the only way the city was going to get peace was if they drove out of the city what was corrupting it, who was a murderer who killed his own kin. Oedipus asked and looked for the killer until after a lot of wandering and investigation he discovers who the man was "All! All! It all happened! It was all true. O light! Let this be the last time I look on you. You see now what I am - the child who must not be born! I loved where I must not love! I Killed where I must not kill!"(738)Discovering that the killer he was looking for was himself.
After finding out the identities in each tale we can see how it changed it completely and how it gave form and meaning to the story. Odysseus identity was hidden from the Cyclops to be revealed as he left the island, while Antigone's identity was revealed by the guards when she tried to cover the body again and to Odysseus the revelation of his identity was what doomed him .
In this tales we were able to see how just the revelation changed and shaped the whole story line and gave more meaning and drama to the story.
