The Odessy

Chamberlain1

Courtney Chamberlain

Humanities W/ Writing

Dr. Cruce

September 30, 2012

Morality of Immortality

The Odyssey is one of the world’s greatest epics. This story is full of wisdom and rules to live by. The whole book goes to great lengths and shows great detail about the morals of a person and how someone should act towards another human being. No matter someone’s class or origin they deserve the same amount of respect that the wealthiest of kings would receive. The story as a whole is more or less a hand book or guide to those who read it.

The time of Odysseus was a time of heroic men. Every little boy wanted to be a hero and every little girl wanted to snag the heart of the greatest hero. Having the strive to become a hero is what kept the men of Greece progressive. Greece was all about doing the right thing and treating people with theoxany. If a young man wanted to become a hero he had to fallow rules. He had to prove himself time and time again, he had to treat every person that came to his door step as if they were of royal blood, and he had to act like a hero. The statement “act like a hero’ seems a little elementary but it is harder than it sounds. J. Patrick Dobel supports my statements by saying “ Heroes must constantly prove themselves. A hero’s identity is engraved in honor in achievement and expresses the hero’s selfhood. Excellence arises from the duty to gain honor, and the hero’s community depended upon his relentless achievement .” (Dobel p.4).

The young men of Greece grow up with the mindset that failure is not an option. Odysseus is perceived to be the greatest hero of his time. He had proven himself a hundred times

Chamberlain 2

over. Yet he has failed almost as many times as he has achieved greatness. “In hell Odysseus and his men go through trial after trial, running the gamut of the seven deadly sins. The men almost always lose out, which explains on a moral level why they cannot survive the journey. Odysseus’s record,...