... the true and the good or the instinct to satisfy one's immediate desires, act violently and enforce one's will. Philoctetes, "the wild man", cut off from civilisation on Lemnos proves, paradoxically, to be, arguably, the most civilised: he is the recipient of the theophany, who alone sees the god and to whom the god's words are addressed. He is also the character who has the greatest appreciation of the gods that are the ... initially abandoned in the deathlike sleep of his disease22". The cave also resembles Philocetetes savage mind as there he would relent in his darkness and bitterne...

• Word Count: 2877
• Approx Pages: 12
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... as "the man of many ways." Lying is clearing one of these many ways, and in the course of "The Odyssey," Odysseus takes on many identities. According to W. F. Jackson Knight in this regard: When Odysseus reached Ithaca, and was met by Athena, he began to relate a fictious account of himself, how he was a refugee from Clete. This might well have turned out to be an old saga ... William Shakespeare was not influenced by tales such as "The Odyssey," and the "The Iliad," et.al., as the writings appears so much as his own. At any rate, as I am more interested in the culture and people of the...

• Word Count: 2705
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... tremendous intensity. Some of them included Poseidon, the god of the seas, whose fury can cause shattering earthquakes and the most devastating of sea storms. Another was Hades, the Greek god of death, who resided in the underworld and commanded legions of the undead. The most important one of all was Zeus, the king of the gods and the god of the heavens. His signature weapon was a mighty thunderbolt ... my hopes ride high- I'll give that man his swamping fill of trouble!" (310-320) Odysseus' next supernatural encounter is with the colossal Polyphemus. Polyphemus is a brutish cyclops, ...

• Word Count: 2649
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School