Thursday, April 21, 2011
This year in humanities 9, we have read numerous books including, The Epic of Gilgamesh and the Ramayana. These books feature the main characters Gilgamesh of the epic of Gilgamesh and Rama of the Ramayana. Gilgamesh and Rama are two very different characters with totally polar personalities. Gilgamesh starts the epic out as a self and cruel ruler who forces his people to do demanding and back-breaking tasks for what seem to be absolute pure enjoyment. Many people hate Gilgamesh as a ruler and want him out of throne as soon as possible. Rama however is very different. Rama is a kind and compassionate person who ruled in such a way his people adored him. Rama however had his flaws just like Gilgamesh. In the Ramayana Rama shows his week side by not having faith in his wife by believing that she had an affair with another man. Even though she says over and over again, she has been fateful he puts her to the test showing his insecurities. These characters all have their flaws, except Odysseus. Though Odysseus is not seen much in the novel until the later chapters he is portrayed as an all around great guy. Even though he was kidnapped by Calypso for 20 long years, his people still decided to keep him in power because of his leadership skills. He also was faithful to his woman, Penelope. In the novel it is said that “In the nights, true, he’d slept with her in the arching cave he had no choice, unwilling lover alongside lover all to willing.” 5:170-5:172. Odysseus did cheat but not willingly he was forced into acts of adultery by Calypso. Odysseus is a strong and willful leader who has minimal flaws in comparison the other main characters we have read about.
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I agree with you that Odysseus has minimal flaws, but what about the fact of how he even ended up on Calypso's island. How Odysseus got into all the trouble he is now in the first place. Even though Odysseus believes in the Gods and Goddesses, he does not always know to thank them. Odysseus and his men forget to make sacrifices to the Gods and Goddesses, which of course gets them into big trouble. That is what got the gods angry with him in the first place, and then of course there is the fact that Odysseus blinds the Cyclops (Poseidon's son), which of course is what gets Odysseus on Poseidon's bad side. So even though it may not seem like Odysseus has flaws, he does, I mean everyone does. People make mistakes, and unfortunately sometimes that mistake cannot be just dismissed. It can be big and ruin things, and in Odysseus's case torture him and make his way home a living Hell. But what I will say is that Odysseus, compared to Rama and Gilgamesh, seems to have way less flaws and make fewer mistakes. Although it seems to me that Rama and Odysseus are not that far off from being the same, meaning the same in how many flaws the author gives them. So overall, Odysseus has more flaws then you think he does, he is forgetful and not always considerate to others, but Odysseus does seem to have a lot less flaws then Rama and Gilgamesh.
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