In both pieces of text, The Odyssey and Cinderella. A divine intervention shows that both characters are important to beings of higher power. A divine intervention is present in The Odyssey when Athena helps Odysseus. “The story of Odysseus begins with the goddess Athena appealing to Zeus to help Odysseus” (Homer 1204). The main purpose of this archetype is to show that Odysseus is important and special.
The Odyssey-Final Exam: Divine Intervention in Human Life Robert Ingersoll once said, “We rise by lifting others”. This insinuates that people are at their best when they encourage others. It manifests that it is best for people to approach situations by being understanding and offering help to reduce the suffering. This corresponds to the way the immortals in The Odyssey behave towards humans in need. Written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, The Odyssey describes the extensive journey Odysseus takes to return to Ithaka, ten years after the fall of Troy.
Throughout the story of Odysseus’s journey told by Homer, there are many defining examples of interaction between humans and their gods. The gods primarily interact with humans by either siding with or against them. The gods would often side with humans since they wanted to help them such as Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, helping Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, whereas the gods seeking revenge such as Poseidon, who sought revenge on Odysseus for slaying his son Polyphemus, would turn against them. While actual interaction between gods and humans seems to be a rather risible idea, there was much guidance given to humans by the gods throughout the Odyssey.
Sacrifice is a completely foreign concept in this day and age, but in the eras of the Greeks and Romans, sacrifice, and the ritual that went along with it, was a common event that happened countless times throughout the years and in the epic, The Iliad , the author, Homer glorifies and displays this process. The rituals and sacrifices performed throughout The Iliad explicitly reveal Homer’s ideals of religion, morality, and the culture of the ancient peoples. The rituals of animal sacrifice are completely imperative because the humans are at the disposal and will of the gods and without an expression of respect, death and torture are inevitable. Homer uses extreme detail when explaining different scenes of sacrifice to affirm the importance the rituals possess not just in the poem, but in the characters’ lives. Interestingly, the animals
Mankind and the divine living in coexistence has endured the test of time due to the “glass ceiling” remaining intact. This barrier has restrained humans and empowered gods creating a relationship of ruler and subject. Humans have been pious and humble towards the gods, believing they are perfect beings. The gods themselves are ignorant of their own flaws and very humane qualities. Ancient Greek literature depicts gods as reflections of troubled mankind’s need for a role figure who are similar to themselves in stature and personality.
Do the gods in The Odyssey aid the humans or make their existence miserable? The gods, fate, and one’s free will intervene with one another and create the events of the epic. However, the gods have more influence on the fate of the mortals than a mortal’s free will. Although this may be true, humans can determine small variables in their lives. The Odyssey is an epic poem by Homer that depicts Odysseus’ 10-year struggle to return home to Ithaka after fighting in the Trojan War.
When it comes to gods talking to humans we have always had two different ways in which they do so. One of them being like the God from The Hebrew Bible which only talks to people but never appears before them and the other being the gods from both The Iliad and The Odyssey which actually appear and speak to them. However, a god that not only speaks to their subjects but also appears before them should be one that is taken more seriously, but this is not always the case as we see in Homer’s poems. In book one of The Odyssey, Zeus mentions how mortals are always blaming them for all their trouble even though they try to help them avoid them.
Surya Govindaswaami Vidya Madavan English A HL 3 May 2016 The Influence of Divine Intervention on the Portrayal of Fate and Free Will in The Odyssey by Homer The Odyssey is not only considered one of the most prolific mythological epics of all time, but one of the greatest texts written by man. It recounts the arduous journey of the war hero Odysseus, in which he faced a multitude of adversities and obstacles that he had to overcome, as well as numerous challenges upon his arrival.
By contrast, in Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, gods and goddesses are depicted more abstractly. If they rule specific powerful forces that impact human lives, or if they have disputes with one another, this is largely unknown. Divine influence is present in human lives as humans believe that their actions will either please or anger the gods and that they may be rewarded or punished accordingly, but humans must seek their fate through oracles and prophets who can tell the future. Humans may try to escape fate with cunning wit or strength, or by trying to earn the favor of the gods by extraordinary acts of bravery or
The gods are beings capable of bringing misfortune or greatness which is why mortals tend to perform sacrifices in honor of the gods due
An example of this being Poisiden delaying Odysses's boat journey with challenges/weather for blinding his son, the cyclops, and then bragging about how great he was. I personally do not think that the Gods control humans, but they do interfere and influence their behavior-more or less making a moral code if you will. I think this because Humans choose their behavior and actions, yet they are guided into making
Instead of being perfect omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent gods, they have limited power and influence, and are often driven by humanistic emotions and desires. While the gods do show concern over some mortals, they don’t make decisions solely concerning the wellbeing or interests of the humans, but instead, like the humans themselves, usually act with their own interests at heart. Athena and Poseidon both acts in accordance to their desires and emotions, and have a biased view on particular humans. Unlike the perfect deities we have in mind when we think of the divine, Greek gods are just immortal beings who are just as fallible and imperfect as the humans they preside
Humans and the gods both have the same mentality that they are better
In the Epic of Gilgamesh interrelationships between the humans and gods are not what we are used to in most modern monotheistic societies. Perhaps the greatest difference between the power of humans and gods is when Gilgamesh is referred to as “Two-thirds of him was divine, one-third of him was human!” (39) as this reveals Gilgamesh to be the son of Lugalbanda the former king and the goddess Ninsun. This would indicate that the line between human and god is an extremely thin one and thus gods cannot and are not that vastly different from their human counterparts. Indeed, throughout the journey of Gilgamesh we are confronted by gods and goddesses who are similar to humans in their desires and means of achieving them.
Humans are like puppets; they have the freedom of choice however their decisions are constantly interfered by the gods. The god’s are given respect due to their extreme power, as mortals know, if offended a god, one would most likely have to face severe consequences. Nonetheless, the gods are not all powerful, as they have emotions that drive them hence weakens them. In Ancient Greek society, having the gods in your favor played a critical role in peoples daily lives, as the gods would extremely influence decision, have significant power over one’s fate, and have direct involvement in the lives of humans. “Father Zeus, is there any mortal left on the wide earth who will still declare to the immortals his mind and his purpose?
