Semi-Final Exams in Mythology and Folklore

Questions

1.What do you think is Odysseus' worst action of his wanderings and why?
2.Why is Odysseus looked to as a powerful representation of the mythic hero? Identify instances or situations that made him represented this way.
3.Using a diagram or map , compare and contrast the character of Achilles from Hector.
4.Is the central conflict of the Iliad an internal or external one—that is, does the epic concern itself more with a conflict inside a person or more with a conflict outside of a person? What is your idea on this? Limit your essay to less than 300 words.

Answers
1.
Christian as I am, I am like a god angered by murder. I was about to praise Odysseus for his “greatness” but when he slaughtered the unaided kings who wooed his wife, I regarded his act as hateful.
For me, it is not justifiable that he butchered those bastards. Yes, they devoured his cattle, swine and sheep and even emptied the wine jars of its content but still it is not enough a reason to kill a bunch of helpless men. Why? Because they are neither swine nor sheep, they are humans. In fact they are kings. If they ate his reserves, he can just ask him to replenish what they had taken. In the first place, the troubles they had caused in his palace cost no life. They killed no person. Can Odysseus replace the lives of those kings whose souls he sent to Hades dwelling? NO! Why is it then that they have to pay their debts with their lives? Odysseus failed to consider that the people of those kings will lose a ruler. He should have put to mind the condition of Ithaca when he was away before he did such.

I pity the kings whom Odysseus killed. I know very well that they would heed Odysseus’ command to leave his palace if he commanded them so. Instead, he resorted to a horrendous act which makes him worthy of another punishment.

2. Dying altruistically would only make a man a hero. But living after gargantuan feats coupled with divine stirrings would make a man a mythical hero.
Inspite of his wrongs, I think Odysseus can be considered as a one powerful mythic hero. One is that he was able to withstand all adversities in his life. Logically, a man of average strength and intelligence would not be able to conquer all the odds which Odysseus fought. What makes his life even more amazing is the fact that he fought against the gods endowed with supernatural and comparably stronger than him.
Anther thing is that he is the brain behind the Trojan horse and the cunning tale of Sinon. If not because of him, the Greeks might have been defeated. That is why; Athena favored him and later felt sorry for him because of his sad fate.
“She is delighted in his wily mind,
his shrewdness and his cunning;
she was always forward to help him.”

He survived all perils ordained by the gods. He won over trickery of nymphs, nostalgia, hunger, exhaustion, wars, storms, and loneliness. He did not only suffer, he suffered the hardest of sufferings. Now, isn’t he mythic?

3.

4.
Fierce warriors choked the battlefield;
Spears, arrows, and swords are stained with blood;
Moans and battle cries filled the air;
Trojans fighting for their city and their families led by Hector;
Troy is left to flames and burned to ashes by the Greek victors.
Silence.
Trojan War is fought and is over.

If this story indeed happened, I think it is one of the bloodiest of all the battles. What is its cause? Imagine, ten years on relentless battle? How was it sustained?

The war occurred because of the following reasons; jealousy, greed, vengeance and hatred. Eris was jealous because she was not invited to the wedding feast. Hera and Athena were resentful toward the judgment of Paris. Agamemnon was greedy for power and territory. And Achilles was remorseful of Patroclus death and spiteful of Hector. All these and a series of greed, treachery, and lies caused the Trojan War.
So, is Iliad a conflict outside a person? Yes it is. But it’s more than that. It is also a conflict between man and gods and between gods and gods themselves.