In Book Eight of the Odyssey, Homer uses similes that allow the reader to compare what a character is going through to something else. In this simile, Odysseus had been listening to the song describing one of his battles, and cries during remembrance. He is on the island of Phaikia and is feasting beside the king Alkinoos while a minstrel sings the song of the battle of Troy as Odysseus had requested. This compares his crying to the weeping of a woman who lost her husband and was enslaved to be taken back to her captors homeland. This simile is used to further the reader’s comprehension of the effect of the difficult and tragic experiences on Odysseus and show how depressed he really is.
And Odysseus let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks, weeping the way a wife mourns for her lord on the lost field where he has gone down fighting the day of wrath that came upon his children. At sight of the man panting and dying there, she slips down to enfold him, crying out; then feels the spears, prodding her back and shoulders, and goes bound into slavery and grief. Piteous weeping wears away her cheeks: but no more piteous than Odysseus’ tears, cloaked as they were, now, from the company (8.560-570).
This simile describes how …show more content…
Her homeland in ruins from the battles it faced, much like that of Odysseus, who knows his home is overrun by suitors but cannot do anything about it. In this quote the woman is enslaved, almost like Odysseus is enslaved by the gods. He doesn’t choose his own path, but follows the one given to him. As hard as he tries to get home, it won’t happen until all the gods accept it. Also, since the Greeks won the war, they would have been the one who enslaved women as prizes to bring back to their islands so Odysseus could be compared to someone on the opposite side of the battle in this
And Odysseus let the bright molten tears run down his cheeks, weeping the way a wife mourns for her lord on the lost field where he has gone down fighting the day of wrath that came upon his children. At sight of the man panting and dying there, she slips down to enfold him, crying out; then feels the spears, prodding her back and shoulders, and goes bound into slavery and grief. Piteous weeping wears away her cheeks: but no more piteous than Odysseus’ tears, cloaked as they were, now, from the company (8.560-570).
This simile describes how …show more content…
Her homeland in ruins from the battles it faced, much like that of Odysseus, who knows his home is overrun by suitors but cannot do anything about it. In this quote the woman is enslaved, almost like Odysseus is enslaved by the gods. He doesn’t choose his own path, but follows the one given to him. As hard as he tries to get home, it won’t happen until all the gods accept it. Also, since the Greeks won the war, they would have been the one who enslaved women as prizes to bring back to their islands so Odysseus could be compared to someone on the opposite side of the battle in this