Comparison of The Odyssey and The Aeneid

Aeneas and Odysseus:

Knowledge and Power in Action

Knowledge is power. Two men that demonstrate how these two come to gether to create dynamic ersonailities is Aeneas from Virgil's the Aeneid and Odysseus from Homer's the Odyssey. Both men develop their character by being willing to learn from their experieces. Both men share the significant experience of travelling to an underworld where they learn to value life. Their journey's provided them with insight on life, death, and what it means to be a beeter man. Both characters develop and learn the value of life and the importance of being hero. Aeneas and Odysseus learn the immportanceunderstand the value of knnowledge and how it leads to them to become powerful in thoughts and deeds.

Aeneas makes s significant change in the Aeneid. When we first meet him, he is a victim and he must learn to become straonger to deal with life's challenges. He learns how it feels and what it means to be defeated. Through defeat he learns just how strong he can be. Without the challenge of being defeated, Aeneas might not have gone in the same direction. He does not give up and we can see that when he fights in the next battle, he discovers victory. The event is not all pleasant, for he suffers at the loss of his friend. Palla is described as being Aeneas' "beloved foster son" (Virgil XI.43). In Pallas' death, we see more emotins in Aeneas and this adds to the complexity of his nature. His anger over Turnus wearing dead Pallas' belt reveals a deeper side of Aeneas as his indignance over the whole thing cannot be contained and he kills the man. He learns about human suffering and learns to show compassion. He becomes aware of his soildes when they are weary and learns to motivate them through passionate, inspring talks. Aeneas learns about the importance of destiny when he realizes that Rome's victory is connected to his victory. He does his best to respect the prophetic words of the gods but runs into trouble when he lets his emotions get the best of him. When he finally learns the importance of destiny, he can accept it on his own terms. Lerning these things makes him a better warrior because the gods honor his transformation.

Aeneas learns the importance of realizing that one is a smaller part of something bigger happening in the universe. Aeneas learns that he is just one piece in the puzzle and this persepctive is a result of his journey into the underworld. This change includes a newfound caourage, which we see in his determination to continue forward even though he is fearful. He encounter many disturbing sights and we are told that he feels a charge when he sees:

men and mothers, bodies of high-hearted heroes stripped of life, and boys and unwed girls, and young men set upon the pyre of death. (VI.403)

Here we see that Aeneas feels a sense of duty to carry on despite the urge to turn around. Furthermore, he hears "loud lamentations" (VI.562) and "souls of infants weeping" (VI.563). When he sees Dido, his heart aches and is reduced to tears. He also sees his father, Anchises, who gives him the courgae and the way to make it the Lethe. Here Aeneas sees a bit of the future when he acknowledges the battles that he must "still wage . . . And how he is to flee or face each trial" (VI. 1189-90). Aeneas would not h ave become the man he did had he not ventured into the uderworld. He would not have understood his place in the scheme of things and he certainly would have garnered the same amount fo courage had it not bee for the underworld.

Odysseus, already a hero when we begin learning about him becomes an even greater hero because of what he learns on his experiences. His adventures present him with numerous opportunities to evolve and grow as a person. Odysseus' character develops as the epic progresses. At the beginning of the story, we see that he is a man that is prone to act before thinking as demonstrated in his encounter with Poseidon. Closer to the end of the story, we see how Odysseus is more willing to consider the consequences of his actions before he does something. His most famous and one of his most significant experiences was his journey to the underworld. He is forced to face some issues of his past and is moved toward asking for forgiveness when he sees the suffering those in hell. We can even see how Odysseus is more mature when he is posing as a beggar. Instead of reacting quickly as a result of the abuse the other suitors, he waits until the timing is a bit more appropriate and he can carry out his plan with confidence. Odysseus was always a hero, but he becomes an even greater hero when he earns our respect. As he develops he learns how not to become distracted when he is headed for battle. He overcomes many dangerous situations and restores peace to those in Ithaca. We know that Odysseus has evolved into an honorable hero when he claims, "Men hold me/formidable for guile in peace and war: / this fame has gone abroad to the sky's rim" (Homer IX.19-21). Here we see that Odysseus is proud and very aware of how far he has come.