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13 y/o Odyssey/Aeneid comparison


regentrude
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I'll be brave and post this. I had asked my 13 y/o DD to write something about the Aeneid, left the precise choice of a topic to her - this is what she decided to write. (She had a lot more ideas for the comparison, but decided not to include everything and rather focus on a few issues. She and I are both aware that this is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject.)

 

Comparison of the Odyssey and the Aeneid

On the surface, Homer's Odyssey, composed around 700 B.C.; and Virgil's Aeneid, written in the 1st century A.D., have many similarities. Both are adventure stories, and sea voyages. The main characters, Odysseus and Aeneas, both have similar adventures, visiting the Cyclops Island, Scylla, and the underworld. However, there are underlying differences.

 

Both Odysseus and Aeneas have affairs during their voyages, but these affairs differ vastly in motivation and outcome. Odysseus is captured twice, by the goddesses Calypso and Circe, and has affairs with both of them. He is held against his will, and the affairs only end when he escapes. Aeneas has an affair with the queen of Carthage, Dido, completely voluntarily. This affair ends with him leaving her to fulfill his destiny, and her committing suicide. It is significant that while Odysseus has affairs with two goddesses, Aeneas has an affair with one human. In leaving the two goddesses and returning to his human wife, Odysseus is returning to human things, and leaving the heavily god-influenced Trojan War. When Aeneas leaves Dido, it is the beginning of his becoming more than a human. Dido's suicide is one of the last acts that cause Aeneas to finally take up his destiny of founding Rome. His family is dead, his last human mistress is dead, and he must leave the purely human behind.

 

Both Odysseus and Aeneas enter the underworld at some point in their travels, and both enter the underworld to search for information. Both of them encounter people that committed suicide because of them, and both of them find the information they seek. However, the circumstances are, again, vastly different. Odysseus offers a blood sacrifice, and, in exchange, Tiresias, a seer, gives him information. Aeneas is offered the information freely, without having to sacrifice anything. Odysseus is told how to get home, again reiterating the theme of homecoming and domesticity. Aeneas, on the other hand, is shown a parade of future roman kings, repeating the insistence that it is his destiny to found Rome. Odysseus encounters Ajax, who committed suicide after losing to Odysseus in a competition for Achilles' armor. Ajax doesn't speak to him, but rather walks away, symbolizing an end to the Trojan War, a divorcing from the problems of army life. Aeneas sees the dead Dido, reunited with her first husband. She does not speak to him, either, as a resolving of the situation. This frees Aeneas to fulfill his destiny as father of the Roman people.

 

Both epics take place immediately following the Trojan War, with Odysseus

planning to return home victoriously, and Aeneas fleeing with his father and son from his ruined city. The stories follow a similar structure at first: both Odysseus and Aeneas land on islands and tell their adventures to some form of royalty. Even their adventures bear a marked similarity to one another; both encounter Scylla, a many headed sea monster; land on the Cyclops island to fight the Cyclops; and, eventually, descend into the underworld. Even though both stories are essentially sea voyages, there are also significant differences here. Odysseus is obviously returning home. The Odyssey includes changes of viewpoint to his son, Telemachus, who remained on his home-island, further emphasizing the fact that the place Odysseus is going to is inherently familiar. Aeneas, on the other hand, feels no such familiarity with his surroundings. His father and his wife are both dead, buried in far-off lands, and he is encountering hostile barbarian tribes. The Odyssey is a story about a man returning home, the Aeneid is a founding-myth about a man leaving his home to begin something new. Both epics end with a battle, Aeneas for the control of Latium, Odysseus for the control of his house-hold. The Odyssey ends with Odysseus reclaiming his home and feeling secure in it; the Aeneid ends with Aeneas only momentarily triumphant. His home is destroyed, there is no lingering sense of security, and he has the monumental task assigned to him by the gods, the task of founding a great nation, before him.

 

In conclusion, while they share similarities on the surface, the Odyssey and the Aeneid are fundamentally about different things. The Odyssey is about a man who is shedding the effects of war in order to return home, to reclaim his domestic life and, and have a secure old age while his son succeeds him. The Aeneid is about a man who is leaving the only life he has ever known, leaving behind a ruined home and a ruined family to fulfill his destiny; to do as the gods have decreed and, in a wild and inhospitable place, found a great city: Rome.

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Regentrude, posts like this make me green with envy! This is a really well-written essay for a 13 yo--I am impressed, though not surprised. ;) my only real correction is that the introduction she's written is not up to par with the paper as a whole--her thesis needs to specify that she is going to talk about Odysseus' journey back to humanity in comparison to Aeneas' journey on to the divine sphere. But really, WOW. Nice job, mom.

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Homer's Odyssey, composed around 700 B.C.; and Virgil's Aeneid, written in the 1st century A.D.,

*pauses to appreciate her wise language use*

A very clever way to go about it without getting into the authorship debate.

Odysseus is returning to human things, and leaving the heavily god-influenced Trojan War. When Aeneas leaves Dido, it is the beginning of his becoming more than a human.
An excellent point noting one of the big structural differences in the two.
The stories follow a similar structure at first: both Odysseus and Aeneas land on islands and tell their adventures to some form of royalty.
Another good point.
The Odyssey is a story about a man returning home, the Aeneid is a founding-myth about a man leaving his home to begin something new. Both epics end with a battle, Aeneas for the control of Latium, Odysseus for the control of his house-hold.

And another one.

The Odyssey is about a man who is shedding the effects of war in order to return home, to reclaim his domestic life and, and have a secure old age while his son succeeds him. The Aeneid is about a man who is leaving the only life he has ever known, leaving behind a ruined home and a ruined family to fulfill his destiny; to do as the gods have decreed and, in a wild and inhospitable place, found a great city: Rome.
Great way to conclude the essay, pointing out to a somehow cyclical nature of Odysseus' travel and a more linear nature of Aeneas'.

 

Overall, very good. No complaints, structurally it's well organized, factually it's correct and she avided all of the typical problems high school students face - I would be pleased.

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Thanks for all your nice comments.

I like the suggestion with the thesis statement in the introduction. When I talked to DD about it, it turned out that she was not really aware that she actually HAD a thesis, LOL.

 

Your feedback is extremely valuable for me, because writing is the one area where I truly feel insecure as a teacher - I am a scientist by training, and English is not my native language. So, I am always second guessing my evaluations of her writing. Thanks for your opinions.

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She may not have the thesis statement, but she supported it well anyway. :lol:

 

Another thing I just noticed now, and she may have done this on purpose to give continuity, is that she begins each of the supporting paragraphs with the word "Both". While this emphasizes the point, it would probably be better to vary the sentence structure a bit and use different phrases like "as well", "likewise" or "similarly".

 

Regentrude, from your posts you would never know that English isn't your native language. You write beautifully!!! :)

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If one is able to organize their writing logically and structurally and present the entire point, one can break off the traditional structural "box" of the essay. Even though having a clear introductory thesis statement is highly advisable for standardized testing and such "official" purposes, strictly speaking, an essay can be a complete one without it, just like it can be concluded with suspension rather than a clear conclusion, etc. Schools usually don't experiment with the form, and in some way it's good that they don't; it's a fine line in any case, but I don't think it's crossed here: there is the type of writing which states what it means and then explicates it, and there is the type of writing which "builds up" its point during the process. Academically, both are acceptable.

 

I agree with replacing one or two "both"s with something else, though. But formally, in its entirety, the essay is very good and well-organized.

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