vand In Zachary Mason's Lost Books Of The Odyssey, he explores the many different sides of Odysseus. He dives deep not only into his heroic qualities such as his cunning and his leadership skills, but his unheroic traits as well such as his cowardice and arrogance. Odysseus isn't a typical Greek hero like Perseus and Theseus. Odysseus has glaring flaws that are easy to spot, setting him apart from other heroes. With all of his many flaws, at the end of the day, Odysseus is still a hero with heroic traits. Odysseus is smart. very smart, though sometimes it doesn't seem like it. He has many cleaver ideas through out the Odyssey. He told the cyclops Polyphemus that his name was Nobody, so when Odysseus and his men attacked him and the cyclops said " Nobody is attacking me" the other cyclopes never ran to help him. Odysseus also came up with the brilliant idea of the Trojan Horse, that lead to Greece's victory over Troy. However smart Odysseus is, it can't overshadow all of his unheroic traits. His most glaring and obvious flaw is his arrogance. His arrogance put the lives of himself and his crew on may different occasions. On the Island with Polyphemus and the cyclops, Him and his crew were trapped in a cave with a hungry cyclops. Odysseus outsmarted him and escaped by saying his name was nobody. But as his crew sailed away, Odysseus's arrogance got in the way and he said " my name is Odysseus, not nobody!" Odysseus wanted to take credit for his victory and didn't want someone who wasn't real to get the credit. In doing this however, Polyphemus now knew his name and was able to place a curse on Odysseus. Poseidon, god of the ocean and father of all cyclopes, heard his sons call, and sent a massive wave for Odysseus. This wave hit his ship and killed all of his crewmates. (Odysseus and his men escaping Polyphemus) Odysseus is also very selfish. He often puts his wants and life above the members of his crew. When it came to the sirens, sea monsters who lure sailors to their deaths with their song, Odysseus wanted to listen. He made his crew tie him to the mast so he could hear their song. While he was tied, his crew plugged their ears so they wouldn't be temped to sail towards the monsters. In Odysseus doing this, he endangered all of his crew lives so he could hear the song.
Odysseus's motive throughout the book was to get home to his kingdom and wife. But while on his "noble quest" to return home, he cheated on his wife twice. Odysseus and his crew landed on an Island inhabited by the sorceress Circe. After she turned all his men into pigs, Odysseus and her became lovers. He ended up staying on that island for a year, way longer than he needed, with Circe. He also was stranded alone on a different island with the goddess Calypso. She tried to seduce him many times and Odysseus gave in to the goddess. All of this happened while his wife waited for his return. Odysseus may have been the hero of the story, but he had many traits that don't fit the mold of a hero.
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In Colm Toibin's House of Names, the point of view varies between Clytemnestra, Electra, and Orestes. Clytemnestra and Electra's parts are pretty similar to Aeschylus's classic poem The Oresteia. However, the final point is very different from the famous original. The final part follows Orestes and his journey back his home Mycenae and how he deals with the turmoil in his family. Before he decides to travel home he ends up staying with Leander and an Elderly Women. While staying there he and Leander become Lovers. Instead of going back to Mycenae and suffering, what if rather than return, he stayed and tried to live a happy life with his lover. How would the rest of the story play out if Orestes never traveled home and killed his mother? What would happen to Clytemnestra, Electra, and all of Mycenae? If Orestes did this, I think the story could have gone down in three different ways. I think the most likely thing to happen is that Electra convinces someone else to kill Clytemnestra. Electra was very crafty and could have convinced a guard, civilian or even Aegisthus. Electra was becoming more and more like Clytemnestra every day, and I think she could used that to even convince Aegisthus to kill Clytemnestra to take soul power of Mycenae for himself. (Orestes) Whether she got Aegisthus to kill her or someone else, Electra would have used the death of her mother to become ruler of Mycenae. With Orestes gone, and Leander out of the picture (assuming she dealt with Aegisthus) Electra would be the only person capable of becoming the ruler of Mycenae. Electra could take power after killing Clytemnestra, or Clytemnestra could remain in power and spend her days ruling with Aegisthus at her side. With Orestes gone Electra could not have been able to take down Clytemnestra. With Electra not able to kill her, Clytemnestra would be the sole ruler with no opposition. With no opposition I think Clytemnestra would rule Mycenae until Aegisthus would kill her and take power for himself. I do not think that they had a real relationship. I think Clytemnestra wanted to fill the void Agamemnon left after she killed him and Aegisthus just wanted the political power that would come with being with her. I don't think there was any real love in their relationship, so I think Aegisthus would eventually kill her to gain more power. The final and what I think is the least likely way things would happen is that Electra either sends someone to find Orestes or searches for him herself, and they go back to Mycenae. I think this is highly unlikely because it would be incredibly hard for Electra to find Orestes and bring him back. If she was even able to find him, I think it would be hard to convince him to go back as he had been living with his lover and was happy. But if Orestes was willing to go back to Mycenae, I think the events of the book would play out rather similarly except Clytemnestra would have been around longer. Once Orestes arrives, Clytemnestra will die and Orestes will marry Leander's sister. If Orestes stayed with Leander the events of the book could have changed drastically.
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AuthorZach Knackstedt Archives
November 2021
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