Duck and Hide Technique Help Reveal the True Odysseus
In the Odyssey by Homer the goal in all of the patterns of falsification, investigation and recognition were to reveal the true nature of Odysseus to himself and to those around him, test the loyalty of the people around him, mature his son into manhood, test the love of his wife and to further the notion that all men must succumb to their fate predetermined by the Gods. Each man in the Odyssey from Odysseus to Penelope have their most heroic quality superimposed like Odysseus being a great tactician, but showing just enough fallibility to illustrate the difference between Gods and men. An important concept throughout the story was this notion of the audience like the Gods are in this privileged position of being all knowing. This position lends itself to have the characters be overanalyzed at each point in the story.
Odysseus and Nausicaä by Charles Gleyre (19th cen...
ODYSSEUS karnavires 51
ODYSSEUS karnavires 66This in turn subsequently leads the audience to introspectively look at themselves to see if they were in the same position would they have avoided the mistakes the characters made.
Odysseus's Odyssey home as the hero's journey was filled with strife and trials to justify Athena's help over him also acted as a conditioning tool used by the Gods to humble the great Odysseus metaphorically into an old beaten down beggar. This transformation occurred physically as well as mentally. He no longer believed that he was solely responsible for his successes and in order to live prosperously he must pay proper homage to the Gods for the favoritism of him, especially Athena. From a wider prospective this mirrors man's attempt at trying to be Godlike. Odysseus being punished for thinking his cunning can overcome Poseidon's power for revenge. Odysseus although he didn't know Polyphemos was Poseidon's son shouldn't have...