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The Irony In Homer's The Odyssey

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The Odyssey by Homer is an epic poem. The Odyssey is about Odysseus and his travels home to Ithaca while he encounters different mythical creatures and when he tricked them and the way Odysseus provoked them. Many Greek rhapsodies have been telling the world about the story of The Odyssey. This story was written and changed over time by believing in many gods and Greek values. These values have made their way into the Odyssey. Odysseus has set the examples of a Hero's journey during this epic poem but has also taught us Greek values such as honoring the dead or paying respect to the deceased, xenia, as well as having fate and believing in the gods.Odyssey tells many stories and many themes, one of them being how to honor the passing and pay respect to the …show more content…

On page 764 it states “ Here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give-as custom is to honor strangers.”This indicates that Odysseus and Polyphemus have very different points of view. Odysseus believes in Xenia and the goddess Zeus. Xenia is Zeus' way of protecting strangers. Also on page 764 it reads “ you are a ninny, or else you come from the other end of nowhere, telling me, mind the gods! We cyclops care not a whistle for your thundering Zeus or all the gods in bliss; we have more force by far.” The Polyphemus doesn't care about it and just thinks he is better than the gods by saying that he doesn't care about the gods and he has far more force. The Polyphemus also states that he doesn't care for Zeus or any gods in bliss and this matters because Odysseus and the cyclopes have different cultures and beliefs.The third example would be to have faith in trust in the gods and honor them with respect and dignity. This means that he promised Elpenor a burial and respected that he wanted one and also he has to trust that Tiresias was giving him the right information to go

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