The Odyssey Essays (2034 words) - Odyssey, Odysseus, Trojan War

The Odyssey In The Odyssey, the act of storytelling plays a significant role in revealing the story of Odysseus. Each storyteller reveals a part of the past of Odysseus and his heroic deeds. Each of their stories gives insight into what a hero should be, according to the standards of the Greek society, and they each reflect a different aspect of a hero. When pieced together, each story becomes part of a whole, however, each has a different function within the epic. Some may not contribute to the hero directly, but teach a moral or lesson to the audience listening to the story. The audience directed towards is the Greek society and the morals are taught by storytelling. By using storytelling, a hero is often created as the ideal and spread throughout the land to become a legend In The Odyssey, there are many storytellers that contribute to the creation of the hero, Odysseus. Storytelling within the story creates a fictional world in which the characters play in. We, the audience, are in the same position as character listening to the story first hand as well. Each story teaches a different moral aspect that the hero, Odysseus, has to the audience. Although The Odyssey is narrated through Homer, the poet, there are so many storytellers in the story, that the epic becomes a multiple narrative, encapsulating many different aspects of great archaic heroes. Odysseus is the one who reveals the most about his past and where he has been for the years between the Trojan War and the present. Helen and Menelaos tell the stories of Odysseuss tactile ways during the Trojan War and reveal a great hero to Telemakhos, Odysseuss unknowing son. The Sirens, beautiful as their song is, tell a profound story of Odysseus and the Trojan War, which lead men to a potential death. The explanation of where Odysseus has been is told by Menelaos in Book IV, leaving the audience at Calypsos island. In book IX, Odysseus begins to tell his story from the time of the Trojan War to Calypsos island, approximately eight years. The story of Odysseus, before his homecoming, approximately 18 years, is condensed into the next two books. This condensation is also shown in the storytelling of Menalaos and Nestor when they tell their stories of other Archaen heroes. It is also significant that the entire section of Odysseuss trials is told by Odysseus himself, rather than Homer, the narrator. There are several reasons for this. By making Odysseus a great storyteller, Homer adds to the evolution of the heros own fame. Odysseus can spread his own fame of how great he is and how much of a hero he really is. For example, the famous story of the Cyclopes, Polyphemus, was only known to his shipmates who traveled with him and Polyphemus himself. Alkinoos would not have known this sto ry otherwise, if Odysseus had not told him. Not everyone knows of all the adventures that Odysseus has been through, except for Odysseus. His entire crew who did travel with him and live through his adventures has been killed. There would be no point in a hero who could not tell his story, because he would not have the ability to reveal the variety of heroic deeds he has done to his audience. What makes Odysseus a hero is the stories told about him that are spread throughout the land to make him known as a hero and a legend. Although Odysseus is not a braggart, he does hold himself in high esteem because he knows of his fame. He demonstrates this by saying, Men hold me formidable for guile in peace and war: this fame has gone abroad to the skys rim. (Book IX, Line 21) Another reason for Odysseus being the storyteller of his past is because of the function of a poem during Antiquity Ages. Homer knew storytelling was an oral tradition, which involved a live audience, namely the Phaeci ans. The audience was being told by Odysseus himself, as if the audience, or reader, was part of Alkinoos court listening to his story. Odysseus tells the story in the book because it follows the oral tradition, as if he is talking