The respective endings of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey demonstrate the different worldview of each epic. Although both are about the Trojan War era, the characters in each seem to appreciate two opposing perspectives. A careful reading of the concluding passages concerning the heroes and their wives in each epic demonstrates the exceptional values ​​of their respective worlds. Although both are about acquiring honor and glory, the different means used to achieve these goals lead to antithetical conclusions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay “…Your father, remember, was not a man of mercy…Not in the horror of battle, and that is why All the city of Troy now mourns you, my Hector. You have brought to your parents cursed tears of pain, but to me most of all you left the horror, the pain! Because you never died in bed and you never held out your arms to me or said any last words from the heart that I can remember, Always , crying for you during all my nights and days! Iliad, Book XXIV, ll.870-877"Anger - Goddess"(Ibid., Book I, l.1), Homer The invocation of the Muse to begin the Iliad introduces the reader to the vision of the world that will present throughout the entire epic. The reader is automatically made aware that "Peleus' son, Achilles" (Ibid.), is doomed to tragedy. At the end of the first stanza, destruction is evident. of the city: Homer glorifies the ferocity of war, through the ethic of honor and glory, presumably acquired through death. The world presented in the Iliad is founded on destruction and ruin through the power of honor and glory, characterized by chaos and disorder in both the upper and lower worlds. The seductive aroma of this heroism attracts both Greek heroes and Trojan warriors, so much so that it pushes them to abandon all other concerns, including the world of female domesticity that is opposed to the world of male war. Achilles knows that "two destinies bring [him] to the day of death." (Ibid. Book IX. L. 500). He could die in Troy, but a glorious death, or live, but ingloriously. Choose the first. Hector, the foreman of the Trojan army, is represented throughout the epic as a hero "with the bronze helmet" (Ibid. l. 336), "the bravest fighter they could field". (Ibid. l. 414). Even though he knows that the Trojans will probably lose the war, “the flashing helmet” (Ibid. l. 387), states that he “would die of shame to face the [people] of Troy… if [he] shrinks from the battle » (Ibid, ll. 388-390) 1. He is constantly identified through his helmet and battle clothes, but when he arrives home, his son is terrified by the "shining" helmet (Ibid. l.422). his fear, the boy retreats from the world of his father, of masculinity and violence, to his "nurse's full breast" (Ibid. l. 423), the world of femininity and education helmet, the boy accepts his father's kiss and Hector is invited back into the family kingdom that one day he will return "home from battle bringing with him the bloody equipment of the mortal enemy he killed in war - a joy for his mother's heart.[sic]" (Ibid. ll. 438-440). aware of the tragedy that will soon come, but is rooted in the world of warriors. He leaves them, with his wife "smiling through tears" (Ibid. l. 443), the heroic ideal that surpasses the value of domesticity. They cannot coexist and their culture is to accept their fate and live the life of the former. This is a dichotomous world of war2 and home, but the two worlds are incompatible. The domestic world will loseinvariably against the world of war. Andromache, Hector's wife, has internalized that message when she mourns her husband as he turns his back to go to war, because she knows what the future holds. When he dies, she experiences the supreme "horror, the heartbreak!" (ibid, Book XXIV, l. 874) To him, and to other warriors like him3, women are secondary, as is the domestic world they represent. The ethics of man, independence and glory, deny the domesticity of women and a peaceful world. Homer leaves Troy through the eyes of Andromache, fantasizing about the unrealized dream of dying in the arms of a loved one. The Iliad ends with a weeping widow and a shattered hope of domestic life. Although it is unclear whether the Iliad or the Odyssey was written first, the Odyssey comes chronologically later, after the end of the Trojan War. Brave Odysseus spent ten years wandering before returning home to his wife Penelope. "Now from his chest into his eyes the pain of longing increased and at last we wept, His dear wife, clear and faithful in his arms, He longed as the sun-warmed earth is longed for by the swimmer Spent in the troubled water where his ship sank Under the blows of Poseidon, the gale-force winds and the tons of sea. Few men can survive through a great surf To crawl, clotted with brine, on gentle shores In joy, in joy, knowing the abyss beyond: And so she also rejoiced, looking at her husband, holding him with her white arms as if forever." Odyssey, Book XXIII, ll. 233-244In many ways, Odysseus' homecoming highlights the antithetical worldview of the Odyssey to the Iliad. This time, the Muse's invocation speaks of a "man skilled in all ways of fighting... [who] deep in his heart... fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home ...yet all the gods had taken pity on the Lord Odysseus...until at last he landed on his land." (Ibid. Book I, ll. 2-32). From the beginning, the reader is told that not only will Odysseus be successful in his journey, but that his return to his home in Ithaca is his primary concern. During his long journey of ten years he is offered many adventures and his faithfulness is questioned many times, but he never loses hope of returning home and being with his wife again. the company of the beautiful sea nymph Calypso, who holds him hostage in her caves dug into the sea. He denies her advances. She points out that as a goddess she is more beautiful, interesting and desirable than any mortal, whereupon she tells her that her "quiet Penelope... would seem a shadow before [her] majesty" (Ibid. Book Vll. 225-226) . However, against all the grandeur of Kalypso, his quiet and modest wife is preferable to him. Odysseus is compared to a "swimmer" (Ibid. Book XXIII ll.237), because he is lost for many years, many times breathless to maintain his identity, and all to get back to his wife. Kalypso, meaning “to hide or cover” in Greek, had attempted to prevent his return, but he “crawl[ed], clotted in the brine…on gentle shores…knowing the abyss beyond.” (Ibid ll. 240-242). The vehicle of the swimmer desperately reaching his goal underlines the tenor of this metaphor; Odysseus overcame the trials and tribulations he faced to reclaim what was important to him. In Ithaca he is the great king Odysseus and he wants nothing to stand in the way of his claim to that title. During his trials, he must overcome the adversities that come his way, and survives until he can return home to his wife. Penelope, "the sun-warmed earth" (Ibid. l.237), sits at home, courted by many suitors, but rather than succumb to them, every day she sews ashroud, and every night unties it, promising that at the end she will choose a new husband. She remains faithful, pining incessantly for her missing husband. When he returns, to check if he is really her husband, Penelope asks the nurse to remove their wedding bed, which inflicts anger on Odysseus. “This is our covenant and pledge, our secret sign, embedded in that bed.” (Ibid. Book XXIII ll. 192-193). The wedding bed is the vehicle that transports the tenor in the metaphor of their immovable love. Their bed is built on an olive tree trunk, which cannot be moved. Whatever happens, both have remained faithful in their trial years. She promises him that "no other man has ever seen him." (Ibid. l. 229) Central to the epic is the character's faith in the various gods. Odysseus's survival of the suffering he must endure and his triumphant return to Ithaca exalt the glory of the gods. He constantly attributes the gods and glorifies their names. He returns home, but does not tell anyone that he is Ulysses. Those who did not truly believe that he would return were those who had little faith in the gods. Before killing them, he tells the suitors that "contempt was all [they] had for the gods who rule the high heavens." (Ibid. Book XXII l. 38). Telemachus, who may not have had complete faith before and had to be encouraged by Athena, gains power and strength only by demonstrating his faith in the gods. Those who believe in the return of Odysseus, such as the swineherd and the cow herder, prayed to Zeus to "fulfill [their] ancient wish" (Ibid. Book XXI, l. 207), and Odysseus assured them that the their faith, although "unique among [his] people" (Ibid. l. 215), was appropriate. The name Odysseus itself denotes "suffering" or "inflicting suffering". He knows he will be subject to adversity, but his identity is tied to suffering. The most dangerous thing in all of Odysseus' trials is that he will lose his identity. When Odysseus returns home, the gods have brought him. Upon his return, he regains his identity and gains glory not only for himself, but also for the gods. He constantly praises the gods for his return home. «Glorifying killed men is not mercy. The fate and will of the gods have overcome these and their own harshness" (Ibid. Book XXII ll. 43-433). In a sense, the Odyssey begins where the Iliad ends. The Iliad shows the destruction of domestic life, and the Odyssey shows the consequences, as the war drove Odysseus away from his home and family. In the Iliad, Thetis requests that armor be made for Achilles in his final battle with Hector. It is designed with images of two cities: one of war and one of peace. Perhaps each epic takes on the character of each of those cities. Although Achilles had represented the ideal and the abstract, with little faith in the abilities of the gods and much faith in his own, he had not survived. Odysseus believed in the gods and his return home shows that he had no reason to look elsewhere to find the ideal because everything was right where he left it. He had always had the ideal, only he had never achieved it. When he returned, it was not the same Ithaca as when he left, because he was not the same Odysseus. He was able to understand the importance of home life because, although he had longed for it, he had almost lost it. The Odyssey openly modifies the priorities emphasized in the Iliad, as Odysseus travels to the underworld (The Odyssey, Book XI). It is there that he meets Achilles, who has become king of the underworld. Achilles, however, is unhappy, because he is now aware that it would be better to be alive in the real world rather than even king of the underworld. It is Achilles himself, the epitome of the one who pursued the honor and glory of his time, who changes the definitions. Both Hector and Odysseus had left their wives and children to go fight in the war. In Hector's world,.. 243-244)