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From Tragedy to Comedy

From Tragedy to Comedy. HUM 2051: Civilization I Fall 2011 Dr. Perdigao September 9-14, 2011. Decoding Homer’s Epics. Warriors struggle to be remembered through timé, esteem Some read The Iliad as tragic, The Odyssey as comic

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From Tragedy to Comedy

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  1. From Tragedy to Comedy HUM 2051: Civilization I Fall 2011 Dr. Perdigao September 9-14, 2011

  2. Decoding Homer’s Epics • Warriors struggle to be remembered through timé, esteem • Some read The Iliad as tragic, The Odyssey as comic • Zeus sends Hermes (god of messages)—“hermetic” (that which is secret or sealed), freed from Calypso • Conventions of the Epic: Invocation to the muse Beginning in medias res Use of Homeric epithets Use of Homeric or epic similes Use of catalogues Long set speeches by major characters • Here, “the man of twists and turns”—like the plot

  3. Core Elements • Chronology: more complicated, less linear • Journey: education/demonstration • Disorder: order (restored)

  4. Staging The Odyssey • Begins late—7-8 years into Odysseus’s travels, when maximum pressure is exerted on home island • Reason for starting there—house in ruin vs. house restored, begs question of How do you keep a kingdom, a family, in order? • The Iliad=war; TheOdyssey=peace • How things are kept in order during peace time • Agon still remains—struggle as would be in wartime, here eris in time of peace and war • The Odyssey ends with restoration of order, TheIliad with a moment of peace but amidst war

  5. Structure of The Odyssey • Story of homecoming • Domestic narrative • Figuring out what to do when war is over, how do you go back home • First stories—Telemakia—of Telemachus, with Odysseus absent • Telemachus—insight—like his father, recognizes the goddess Athena • Mentes/Mentor • Penelope compared to Odysseus in his sphere, is as skillful as he is, weaving, unweaving plot, “twists and turns”

  6. Mirrors, Foils to Odysseus • “Perhaps he will hear some news and make his name throughout the mortal world” (208)—Telemachus destined for greatness as well, his “unsung future” (211) • Antinous, Eurymachus • Nestor, Pisistratus: Pylos • Menelaus, Helen: Sparta • Helen’s story (244, 243): Gives men “heart’s-ease” to “forget all our pains,” tells of how her heart “had changed” • Telemachus says, “remember his story now, tell me the truth!” (229, 111; 247, 368) to Nestor, Menelaus • Old Man of the Sea—Proteus (248-250): lion, serpent, panther, wild boar, water, tree, then tells stories of Ajax, Agamemnon, Odysseus • Agamemnon as parallel to Odysseus—behaviors as opposite, homecoming, treachery

  7. Reframing • Calypso’s offering of immortality, beauty, rejected by Odysseus—Greek values asserted (265), leaves Ogygia • Ino • Athena’s intervention against Poseidon • Phaeacians, Nausicaa, transformation, Alcinous, Arete • Book VII, Odysseus takes over own story (285) • Story of seven years with Calypso • “long-enduring great Odysseus” • Broadsea’s challenge • Demodocus’ stories (Book VIII) (“a man who knows what suffering is” [299]) • To “sing the famous deeds of fighting heroes” (289, 86), retells The Iliad, brings Odysseus to tears • Story of Aphrodite and Ares (294, 300), net as trap • Story of Trojan horse (299) • End of Book VIII, returns to Odysseus as storyteller

  8. On Civilization • Circe, Aeaea, as captive as well but “never won the heart inside me” as “nothing is as sweet as a man’s own country” (302, 37-38) • Lotus-eaters, desire to linger, to forget (304) • Cyclops—“no meeting place for council, no laws either . . . each a law to himself, ruling his wives and children, / not a care in the world for any neighbor” (304, 127-128) • “What are they—violent, savage, lawless? / or friendly to strangers, god-fearing men?” (305, 195) • “We’re suppliants—at your mercy! . . . strangers are sacred” (308, 305) • Play with naming, Nobody; “I was already plotting” (311, 469)

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