Period 4 English Odyssey Speech notes (handouts not included) up to 12/20/1998 Composed & edited by ACE JI ZHANG Hannah Schwarz 12/14/1998 #20 “Violence in the Odyssey”- 1. why used? 2. violence in three scenes 3. violence today as to then 1. Homer uses violence to enthrall the audience; to capture their attention. Violence is an attractive aspect of a writing. 2. Island of Cicones: Odysseus’ crew kills the Cicones men and rape the women on the shore of the island and decide to camp on the beach for the night. Unfortunately, the Cicones army comes (1 person escapes to warn the others) and slaughter 6 men from each ship. Cyclops: Cyclps bashed some of Odysseus’ men’s heads, splattered their brains, and ate them. But Odysseus tricks Cyclops drunk, and gouges his eye out with a big olive tree. Scylla: 6 necked monster, swoops down from the sky to snatch and eat 6 men. 3. Violence in today’s shows: ex: South Park. People feel safe with their lives because they feel that they don’t have to face all the violence after watching violence; the purpose of violence?! Jennifer Kotler 12/14/1998 #14 “theme of Prudent Man”- 1. def. of Prudent Man 2+3. Prudence of Odysseus & others throughout ea. book. Prudent Man: one who uses intelligence to get out of uneasy situations & thinks before acts. Books: 2-4. Telemakhus prudently responds to Nestor & Menelaus to win their respect, careful not to offend. 5. Odysseus first does not believe Calypso letting him off the island for free and questions her first. He is careful to not offend Calypso when telling why he wants to go home, he flatters her first. 6. Odysseus does not embrace Nausikaa’s knees immediately and instead flatters her, otherwise she may run in fear. 9+ Odysseus warns men not to stay and camp on island of Cicones, but when the men refuse his prudence, they get slaughtered when the Cicones army comes. Odysseus does not eat the lotus offered by the Lotus Eaters; otherwise he will forget his mission, as two of his men did. Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name is “Nohbdy,” so when Polyphemus calls for help, he says, “Nohbdy hurt me!” and also makes Polyphemus drunk & pokes out his eye. Also, hides under sheep to sneak out of Polyphemus’ cave (when Cyclops lets his sheep out, Odysseus sneaks out) Odysseus does not dock his ship at the island of the Laestrygonians, as a result, his ship was the only surviving one after the surprise attack by the Lestrygonians. Odysseus prepares & drinks immunity potion before encountering Circe. Odysseus wants to hear the Sirens, so he ties himself up so that he does not get hypnotized. Odysseus calculated his losses and went to Scylla, where he only lost 6 men, instead of Charybdis, where more men could have been lost. Helio’s island: Odysseus warns men not to slaughter cattle, but to no avail, and all his men killed. 14. Odysseus does not reveal his identity at first to disguised Athena on Ithaca and makes up a lie about his history; what if Athena is a bad buy? Odysseus thought before he acted. 17. Odysseus disguises as a beggar to come into his own home; otherwise, the suitors may rally against him. He first spies and finds out the situation. 18. He makes sure nobody will backstab and makes the suitors vow not to join in the fight and help Iros during his fist fight. 21 Odysseus does not reveal his identity until he receives the bow & arrow and everything is set; the ladies left, the door has been bolted, Telemakhus stood ready guard. 23 Penelope makes Odysseus prove he’s true first. * Odysseus’ prudence saved him from many dangerous situations; those who did not obey it met their doom. Juwaad Hussain 12/15/1998 #13 “Authorship of the Odyssey”- 4 possibilities, many debates over this 1. (most popular) 1 Homer: famous blind poet of Greece who was a bard and wrote the Iliad & Odyssey. He traveled around and spread his story, while adding new elements as he encountered different events. 2. 2 Homers: 1 wrote Iliad, 1 wrote Odyssey. The Iliad writer was more warlike since the Iliad has a lot of war and gory; while the Odyssey writer wrote about gentler themes. 3. Many Homers: the family of Homer all contributed to writing The Odyssey. Each generation added a section. –or—Homer is actually the name of a group of bards. Under this name, the collective combined their stories into The Odyssey. 4. Female Homer: females seem to take a great role in The Odyssey, whereas males are predominant in almost all other Greek literatures; therefore, was Homer a female? (2nd most popular theory) Corey Fischer-Hoffman 12/16/1998 #11 “Structure & Time”- 1. In Media Res 2. books’ time 3. Why use In Media Res? 1. In Media Res: the time starts in the middle, the character flashes back, and after the flashback, the setting goes back to the present and into the future. The Odyssey covers Odysseus with 40 days, where 20 days are in action. 2. Books I-IV- covers 10 days; mostly flashbacks as the people who Telemakhus meets tell him their stories Books V-VIII- present; Odysseus goes to the Phaiacians’ Isle Books IX-XII- past; Odysseus accounts his adventures Books XIII+- present/future; Odysseus goes back to Ithaka, where his adventure continues 3. Why use this time structure? Grabs attention of reader; Odysseus can narrate the story using his own emotions and perspective. Eric Dinenberg 12/16/1998 #8 “Supernatural Elements”- 1. why used? 2. elements in the Od. 3. today 1. Supernatural elements used to make the story more interesting. It adds a different flavor & perspective to the story. 2. Athena: Athena helps Od. whenever he needs help (goddess) Bag of Winds: interesting thing (not in any other story) to raise interest Erebus/ Underworld: Odysseus needs to pour libations into it to see Tiresias: creativity Sacrifice Cattle: mystical quality to the story/ suspense? 3. In many of today’s shows: especially horror films and sci-fi. Ex: X files, where the characters are in search of the supernatural.