Wednesday, April 17, 2013
"Great Teller of Tales"
At the beginning of Book 9, just before he tells the Phaeacians about his ill-fated journey, Odysseus is described as "the great teller of tales." In a sense, then, Odysseus is bard. What are his motives in telling his tale? Does he have the same motives as other bards in the story (such as Demodocus in Book 8)? Does his tale serve the same purpose or a different one? Finally, we know that Odysseus is a master of deceit and guile who concocted the scheme for the Trojan Horse. Should we take his story of one-eyed monsters and visits to the underworld at face value? Is there reason to believe his story is a fabrication?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
When Odysseus is introduced as the teller of tales at the beginning of book 9, his initial motives become immediately apparent: to butter the Phaecians up to make them more receptive to his story: he says, before he launches into his story, "Alcinous, majesty, shining among your island people," and "There's nothing better than when deep joy holds sway throughout the realm and banqueters up and down he palace sit in tanks, enthralled to hear the bard." He is attempting to make Alcinous feel more powerful, and better-inclined towards Odysseus.
ReplyDeleteHowever, his overall motives are different from those of a bard's. Bards mostly butter people up for their job, whereas he is buttering him up to make him feel pity once he hears Odysseus' story. His tale serves the purpose of making the king feel enough pity for him to assist him in getting home.
Because Odysseus is so clever and adept at trickery, and his story is so unbelievable, we should not take his tale at face value. First of all, such things are impossible, no one-eyed giants or the Greek underworld exist. Even if they did, it would be far simpler to lie about them, then actually endure them. Why believe someone (who is known for his wits and cunning) when he says that he fought creatures that don't exist, and made a journey to an impossible location?
When Odysseus is set before his new friends, the Phaeacians, and tells his story his focus unlike the bards in chapter 8 who tried to relay stories through song in which the lyrics would tell the story for joy and fun. On the other hand Odysseus has a different purpose of telling his story in which he has to convince the phaeacians that he is great and mighty and deserves the help from them to return home. Now some may believe that Odysseus’ stories are not true, but I believe he is telling the truth just changing it slightly to make him look like the good guy. As doctor Ialacci brought up in class how come every time there is a mistake made in his story it is not his fault, but that his crew is being reckless. Obviously Odysseus has stretched the truth a little, but for some reason this one point keeps coming back to me. Why would the gods care so much if what happened was not true? I mean some gods take pity on him and some are trying to ruin his life. Poseidon would not take so much time out of his day to ruin Odysseus’ life unless there was a reason to do so and the story of the Cyclops makes sense to fit his story. Athena, Hermes, and others guide him on his way home and help him avoid difficult turns to come home. Something obviously happened in which the Gods wanted to help or destroy his life. My last point is how doctor showed us the distance from “so called” Ithaca and Troy which is not that far. I mean does it really take 15 years to sail that far. Something or someone was holding him back from going home. All the different obstacles fit the story and even though Odysseus can exaggerate his story should still be valid.
ReplyDeleteFrom what we have learned in past analyses, Odysseus has one main motive for his actions, telling stories included. The main reason Odysseus tells stories is to make himself widely known and make his story everlasting. He travels far and wide, even if not on purpose, so he should take advantage of the opportunity to help himself become famous. In a way, his story-telling can be seen as a positive action because he is making the best out of his situation. He in quite unfortunate, as a few gods dislike him and do not want him to return home, so in his quest to arrive has been prolonged much longer than it should be. Instead of always complaining and cursing the gods, he enjoys the opportunity to make his story wide-spread and popular by taking matters into his own hands. In addition, he may stretch the truth because he wants to be known as a very good warrior, and the wilder the story is, the more people will want to share it. Despite that idea, he is not the same as a bard because he has selfish reasons behind telling these stories, while a bard, such as Demodocus, tells stories because it is his job and because he enjoys telling stories. Odysseus could be mistaken for a bard when his identity is unknown, only because of how he boasts and articulates his stories, but this could also lead to the questioning of the stories’ falsity. To a person who does not know he is Odysseus, do the stories seem to be a rare occurrence or do they seem like the truth has been stretched? It may lead a listener to question his validity because of the concurrence of stories of only one warrior. Although he Odysseus has a fair reason behind his story-telling, only because the main goal in life in his culture was to become widely famous, because of his arrogance, people may not believe his stories. Another perspective of this issue is that he is taking matters into his own hands and making sure his story is passed down, which is also him taking advantage of the opportunity that he was unfortunately blessed with.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus tells his story for multiple reasons and many of those reasons are to benefit him and only him. One reason is to make the Phaeacians think he is more important and better than he actually is so that they will give him more gifts and help him more. As good hosts they help him like they are supposed to but they will be nicer to him if they believe that he is more important. Another one of Odysseus’s motives is to let the Phaeacians know who he is, which in turns allows him to become famous and achieve kleos or fame. Before he starts to tell his story he decides to tell the Phaeacians his name, “Now let me begin by telling you my name……I am Odysseus, son of Laertes, known to the world,” (9.17 & 9.21). He is telling them his name so he can become even more famous and that is one of his motives and reasons to tell the Phaeacians his story. Also, his motives are very different than the other bards in the story. The other bard’s purpose is to make others famous by telling their story and to entertain the people who are listening; while Odysseus’s purpose is to make himself famous. In a way their motives are similar but not the same because one benefits the story teller a lot more. Lastly, there is one reason to believe that Odysseus’s story is a fabrication and that would be to make himself seem more impressive than before. In his story he talks about him outsmarting and defeating the Cyclops and surviving the curse that is put on him; which brings on Poseidon’s wrath. However, it does not seem likely that the story is a fabrication because Odysseus says some things that make him sound stupid and irresponsible. For example when he tells the Cyclops his name, “who blinded you, shamed you so-say Odysseus,” (9.560). This causes his men to be killed, which is not a redeeming quality in a person and that is why it does not seem like this story is a fabrication. Odysseus tells his story for multiple reasons that benefit him more than anyone else, which is what makes him different than the other bards seen in the story. It may seem like his story is a fabrication but if it was it would not make sense to talk about his moments of stupidity; which makes the story seem more like the truth.
ReplyDelete