CLAS 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Thalassocracy, Menelaus, Cyclops

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: CLAS 1000
• Professor: John Walsh

Document Summary

Odyssey is about a man who travels far, suffers a lot, then returns to his proper place in society. Comic in literary turns means a story that ends in harmony and acceptance. Odysseus wanders and looks for truth, but learns nothing in his travels and knows no more when he ends than when he began. About a man who went to the other world and returned reborn- a folktale motif. Heroes meets greatest enemy death throughout the story in many disguises ogre, monster, temptress, witch. Poem largely about right and wrong and punishment for doing wrong. Travels to try and learn the whereabouts of his father and in the process becomes a man fit to fight by his father"s side and inherit his father"s house and power. Escapes remote island of calypso where he winds up on the island of phaecia. Told in 2 short adventures, then one long one.