Free Essays: A Comparison of Iliad and Odyssey :: comparison compare contrast essays

A Comparison of Iliad and Odyssey Although both works be credited to Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey provide two remarkably different views on the disposition of the Olympian Gods, their relationship to humanity, and the general lot of mortals throughout their all in like manner brief lives. As a result of these differences, both stories end up sending contrasting messages about life in general. In the Iliad, the apparitional denizens of Olympus ar depicted as treacherous, power-hungry, and above all temperamental beings that are always at each others throats. Factionalism abounds, and neither the bonds of marriage, nor the ties of kinship can nab keep it under control. A perfect example is when Ares betrays his mother, Hera, and his sister, Athene, by facilitateing the Trojans instead of the Greeks. When he is discovered, Athena strikes him down in battle through Diomedes. In the Odyssey, however, the Gods of Olympus display far more unity and civility toward eac h other. They suggest and disagree, but their disagreements are never carried out to the extremes found in the Iliad. When Poseidon punishes Odysseys for fulgurant the Cyclopes, Athena does not take revenge. Even though Odysseys is her favorite mortal, she reckon Poseidons right to punish him. Also, the treachery among the Gods that is so prevalent in the Iliad, is nowhere to be found in the Odyssey. In Iliad, Hera, enters into a conspiracy with Poseidon, Aphrodite, and Morpheus to aid the Greeks by putting Zeus to sleep thus rendering him inefficient to help his beloved Trojans. Nothing like this incident can be found in the Odyssey. References to past disagreements and arguments between the Gods (such as in the Poets chronicle of Ares and Aphrodite) are scattered throughout the book, however, so the views between the Iliad and the Odyssey are not exactly diametrically opposed. The role of the Gods in the affairs of humanity is more greater in the Iliad then in the O dyssey. In the Iliad, the Olympians are eternally meddling in the conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans. At best, they view mortals as amusing pets to be cared for, played with, and loved. At worst, humans are undecomposed pawns to be shuffled around, sacrificed, and set against each other in order to adjudicate inter-Olympian ego-clashes.