Thursday, October 6, 2016
Fame - I Want to Live Forever
Odysseus demonstrates a passionate desire for kleos or fame through much of the Odyssey. Consider, for example, his taunting Polyphemus with his name as he escapes his island (and there are other examples) Yet, is it presented as an unequivocally good pursuit? Does the search for kleos help or hinder his journey? What about situations in which he disguises his identity? What is the importance of kleos to Odysseus and the Odyssey (the two may not be the same answer)?
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ReplyDeleteLike the phrase “pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence, Odysseus was in pursuit of fame in the Odysseus. In fact, he would risk his life in order to gain fame, as he did in Book 9, where he yelled back to the shore of Polyphemus, “…Odysseus, / raider of cities, he gouged out your eye, / Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!” (9. 560-63) He made sure that everyone would know who had cleverly overpowered the cyclops, even if that meant that Polyphemus would be hurling boulders at him and cursing his journey. Another example of when he emphasized the importance of fame for himself, when he met Achilles and the other dead kings in the Underworld. He said to Achilles, “But you, Achilles, / there’s not a man in the world more blest than you-- /…/ we Argives honored you as a god, and now down here I see, / you lord over all the dead in all your power.” (11. 547-552) In Odysseus’s opinion, power and fame mean everything in the world, and are even more valuable than life. Because of how much fame means to him and how much he risks for it, it actually hinders his journey, especially his curse from Polyphemus. In some parts of the book, Odysseus lies about who he is and hides his identity because he is cautious and has everything planned beforehand, so it cannot be said that he was completely reckless. To Odysseus, fame means having more respect from others and more power, and during that time after the Trojan War and the Returns, power is basically the most important thing that a person could have because it will determine how you live your life. Odysseus thinks that fame itself is more important that his life, for a person must die one day, but if he is famous, his name will be known forever, and his legacy will never die. That is the reason for the pursuit of fame, which is the main theme of the book The Odyssey.
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DeleteOdysseuss’ search for kleos hindered his journey because on the way home he is halted multiple times as a result of his pursuit. For example, after he escapes the cyclops Polyphemus, he says, “Cyclops—/if any man on the face of the earth should ask you/who blinded you, shamed you so—say Odysseus,/”(Homer: The Odyssey 9.558-560) Firstly, this shows Odysseus wants fame. This passage shows his lust for fame because the reason he says, “If any man on the face of the earth should ask you…say Odysseus,” is because he wants more people to know Odysseus blinded the giant. What Odysseus wants is for more people to know his accolades, making him famous. What this does is give Polyphemus, the cyclops with hatred towards the man that blinded him, a name to curse. In Polyphemuss’ pray to Poseidon he says,
Delete“Grant that Odysseus/
…never reaches home./
Or if he’s fated to see/
his people once again/
…let him come home late/
and come a broken man—all shipmates lost/,”(Homer: The Odyssey 9.588-593)
Polyphemus is asking that either Odysseus doesn’t reach home, something that in essence hinders journeys, or that he loses all his shipmates, something that would also hinder his journey because ships move slower with only one rower.
Another time Odysseus put his search for fame over his returning home was when he told Alcinous his name. To preface, Odysseus is at the mercy of a king whose loyalty is unknown. Despite all this reason to lie, or be anonymous, Odysseus says, “I am Odysseus,” (Homer: The Odyssey 9.21) If Alcinous happened to be against what Odysseus fought for, then by telling Alcinous his name he could be killed on the spot. For this reason, Odysseus telling Alcinous his name could not only hinder, but halt altogether his journey home.
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ReplyDeleteOdysseus’s desire for his fame is a fatal flaw that ultimately, while it does not completely destroy him, harms his journey home to his family; if he did not feel a need for fame, he would have his mind only focused on his journey home, not something different, and thus keep him on course. This is shown when Odysseus escapes the cyclops’s cave, and, instead of safety sailing away from shore without delay, back towards Ithaca, he feels the need to call “with a burst of anger, ‘Cyclops/ if any man on the face of the earth should ask you/ who blinded you, shamed you so– say Odysseus/ raider or cities, he gouged out your eye/ Laertes’ son who makes his home in Ithaca!’ (9.558-561). Here, Odysseus chooses his fame before considering whether his actions will affect his passage home; after Odysseus says this, the Cyclops throws a boulder at his ships, which are sailing away, and the impact forces the ships back to shore, delaying their passage. This is just one of the instances where a setback occurred because of Odysseus’s careless desire. Additionally, this hinders his way home because, possibly, even though it is not stated in the book, when Odysseus finds a way for fame to reach his name, the gods are angered and make his journey more and more difficult (through storms, hurricanes, etc.). They possibly do this because the fame being given to this mortal is too much for the gods, as they are supposed to be the famous ones, not Odysseus. Lastly, in the times where Odysseus was disguising himself or lying about his past story, it is most challenging for him to abandon his famous, well-known story, and thus in the lie, he usually builds himself up to a like-story, as fame is his fatal flaw.
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