Wednesday, April 22, 2015
What a Tangled Web We Weave When We Practice to Deceive
Odysseus tells two elaborate lies in Books 13 (to Athena) and Book 14 (to Eumaeus) about his identity, his history and his reasons for coming to Ithaca. There is an old saying "once a liar, always a liar." Does the fact that Odysseus has the capacity to fabricate such lies cast doubt on the veracity of his story in Books 9-12? Or does something about the content of the stories (e. g. he admits to mistakes of judgment) or his situation in Phaecia (e. g . they have already demonstrated they are superb hosts) suggest he is truthful? Or perhaps he doesn't tell boldfaced lies but bends the truth a little? Does it call into question the truth of the entire epic itself?
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Odysseus is known for his clever lies about his trip once he arrives in Ithaca. His lies consist of events that took place on his trip and where he is from. When is first arrives in Ithaca he tells Athena he is there on a trip and his from Crete. He says he has only heard of it. "Ithaca...yes, I seem to have heard of Ithaca, even on Crete's broad island far across the sea"(294). In this lie he claims to have only heard of the land and pretends to be unfamiliar with Ithaca. Athena does not believe him when he said this because she is the goddess of wisdom. Odysseus lies about living in Ithaca because he does not want people to know he is there and end up like Agamemnon. Odysseus also lies when he is in the land of the Cyclops and tells Polyphemus his name is Nobody. He does this so when Polyphemus is asked if anyone is hurting him he says nobody. Odysseus lies to Eumaeus when he stays with him. He does not want Eumaeus to know he is Odysseus once again because he does not want to end up like Agamemnon. He doesn’t let him know he is Odysseus because he is afraid the suitors will know he is back in Ithaca. I think in chapters 9-12 Odysseus is telling an exaggerated version of the truth to make his journey seem more dangerous and adventurous than it actually is. The reason he would to this is to make him seem like more of a hero and make him famous. One example of when Odysseus wants fame in these chapters is when he makes sure that Polyphemus knows his name is Odysseus before he leaves his island. He makes sure Polyphemus knows who he is because then his name will be passed around more in other parts of the world to add to his already existing fame because the story of his journey is being passed around. All together I think Odysseus lies to make him seem better and to save him from trouble once arriving in Ithaca.
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ReplyDeleteOdysseus is known to be a crafty and believable lire. He lies constantly in the book no matter where he is. Some of the biggest lies that Odysseus has every told was when he lied to Athena about being a different person then he truly is "Once I'd cut him down I made for a ship and begged the Phoenician crew for mercy,"(295). In this quote Odysseus is telling Athena that he knows about all these places. Some of the things that Odysseus talks about when he is telling a lie is mention places that are far away and makes himself not perfect because people won't believe if he does. Another thing that Odysseus does when he tells a lie is to make sure that he tells someone that he can trust. Last is that he tells these lies to protect himself but even more he does it to find out more information about events that without lying he would not find out. Although Odysseus is known for his lying not all of his stories that he tell completely a lie. In chapters 9-12, the questioned has been ask weather Odysseus has been telling the truth or lying. I have come to a conclusion that Odysseus only tells the truth part of the time. The main idea of the stories he tells are true but some of the details he lies about. Despite that little lies that he tells he can sometimes completely lies like when he went undercover trying to hide himself from Telemachus. In the end I think that Odysseus lies to make him seem like a better person and to protect him from possible enemies or family conflicts.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus is known for being a liar: it is a prominent enough feature of his personality to be his epithet. It is obviously not a hidden fact that Odysseus is a skilled liar and often practices this ability. When Odysseus tells such long and intricate lies to Athena and Eumaeus, he makes himself far harder to trust. The lies he tells to them both follow a pattern: he adds intricate (and often excessive) details about location and the people he meets, he presents himself as flawed, and he makes sure that everyone and everything mentioned in the story cannot be proven wrong by the recipient of the lie. Rather conveniently, Odysseus’ tale in books 9-12 follows almost this same pattern: the story takes place far away, with people the Phaeacians don’t know, and is filled with extraordinary details of the 10 years he has spent traveling. The only thing that differs between the two is the way that Odysseus presents himself. In his lies to Athena and Eumaeus, he makes himself seem vulnerable in certain situations, and an overall flawed man. In his story to the Phaeacians, Odysseus is eager to make himself seem great, to the extent of blaming everything that goes badly on his men. Though he is still admitting that there were problems on his voyage, he is much less willing to blame himself for them. There is, however, a reason that he might have told this lie to the Phaeacians, and portrayed himself in this way: when Odysseus tells his lies to Athena and Eumaeus, he is creating a new identity for himself. He does not have any sort of reputation to uphold. When he is telling his story to the Phaeacians, they know that he is Odysseus. If he tells them that he has done a multitude of bad things, his reputation could be ruined or flawed. The Phaeacians might be less inclined to help him get home if he tells them any mistakes he might have made. Because of this, it seems very likely that Odysseus is either lying or stretching the truth, so that the Phaeacians keep thinking highly of him and help him go; especially due to the fact that they have the power to send him back to Ithaca.
ReplyDeleteOver the course of the Odyssey, Odysseus is known as “the great teller of tales” for his way with words and telling stories to all sorts of people. Odysseus intentionally tells two very elaborate lies, one in Book 13 to Athena and the other in Book 14 to Eumaeus. This leads us to know that Odysseus believes that you must use an extraordinary amount of details. He uses confidence and makes himself look good in his lies, but at the same time, brings up times where he is flawed, not bringing too much attention to himself and making himself look like a hero. He emphasizes the importance that the more details including events and people in a faraway place, the more believable and a better lie it is all together. Odysseus certainly know how to lie, but I do not believe that his story in Books 9-14 was a lie. Odysseus, although shown to be a mastermind in words, could not have made up so much on his own. Even if he is not lying in complete, he may be bending the truth a little and exaggerating the truth because of his passionate desire for kleos or fame through the Odyssey. Nevertheless, in these cases, Odysseus uses lies when he certainly must, saving him from life and death when he reaches the shores of Ithaca. Once he reaches the shores, he meets an older man, unknowing that it is Athena in disguise. He lies to save himself. These measures are necessary as he does not want to draw any attention to himself the way Agamemnon did, leading to his death. Odysseus is not lying to Athena and Eumaeus to impress them, but to find out information about his hometown after being gone for 20 years. Later, he clearly does not want to lie to his son. This is the first time he has seen him since he left Telemachus as a baby. This led Odysseus to extraordinary measures, continuing to lie to his son, keeping composure and holding back emotions. Finally, Athena undisguised him and told him to speak with Telemachus, father to son. This leads both of them to tears, “And with those words Odysseus kissed his son and the tears streamed down his cheeks and wet the ground, though before he’d always reined his emotions back (16.212-214).” Overall, Odysseus uses lies to people he cares for deeply when it is completely necessary, saving him from life and death when he reaches the shores of Ithaca.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story of the Odyssey, Odysseus is seen telling many lies. People know him as “the teller of stories” which means he has been known to tell many stories which can be lies. He is seen lying to Eumaeus. A good lie has a little embarrassment so it becomes more believable. If the lie has a setting, it is set in a faraway place so no one can clarify if it is true. The stories in books 9-12 kind of have the same concept of the lie he told Eumaeus. He tells Eumaeus that he is from Crete which is far away from where they are so Eumaeus is unable to clarify that it is true. Odysseus also includes a little embarrassment to make the lie more believable. He says that he hugged the pharaoh’s legs for survival which is embarrassing. In books 9-12, he says that he is from Ithaca. Ithaca is a small city that is pretty far away from the other bigger cities like Sparta. This is so nobody he tells his story to can clarify unless they want to travel a very far distance. He also includes embarrassment in his stories so his story becomes more believable. He talks about how he got a magical bag of winds which could take him home, but it was embarrassing when he said that he blew that chance. It is also embarrassing that he gets a lot of his crew killed just for supplies or cheese. His story in books 9-12 have the same outline of his lie to Eumaeus which means there is a high chance that he could not be telling the truth.
ReplyDeleteAlmost everyone who has the chance to tell a story from their perspective likes to bend the truth in a way. It could be exaggerating something they did or trying to make things important then they really were. It is just the nature of telling an adventurous story. Odysseus seems to be a prime example of this exaggerative nature. Not only does he exaggerate but he lies multiple times. His lies aren’t simple lies either. They are very detailed and complex enough to be believable. At the beginning of Book 9 he is even referred to as, “Odysseus, the great teller of tales” (9.1). This epithet is just before he starts to talk from his point of view on what happened. I do not think it was right for Odysseus to lie as much as he did, some of his circumstances are understandable. When he finally reached Ithaca he disguised himself as a traveler from Crete. In the end, the benefit of this lie way outweighed the cost. He had to wait a little longer to see his family but he could’ve have been killed if he had gone straight home. He had learned from Agamemnon’s story and knew to be cautious. Personally I would much rather wait an extra day to see my family than be killed. Odysseus is clearly a very good liar and he gets away with it quite often. But I do not think that this raises the question of the truth of the whole story. He is doing what almost everyone would do if they were given the chance to tell a story, exaggerate. Although sometimes, Odysseus seems to bend the truth a little too much. He is telling a story and as far as I’m concerned we have no reason not to believe it. But, if it really is a lie, then it is quite an impressive lie to say the least.
ReplyDeleteThe Story of the Odysseus' return in the Odyssey is partially the truth. I think that the story may be quite exaggerated to make Odysseus look greater than he really is. Odysseus always talks about himself saving his crew and in a way makes them look lesser than he is. For example, when they dock on the island with the God's herds, Odysseus argues that they should not stop the ship, but the crew groans and they conclude that they will stop for the night if they do not kill any of the herds and pray to the Gods. However the crew goes against Odysseus' word and kills one of the herds which enrages the Gods. He blames anyone but himself when they encounter obstacles on their journey. Also, some might say the tale is a lie because mythical creatures such as the Cyclops, sirens, and Scylla and Charybdis, do not appear at any other time in the Odyssey. I am not saying that all the mythical creatures in the Odyssey actually appeared, but that they were either exaggerated stories of humans, Gods, or beasts that he and his crew encountered on their journey. This however could be explained by the fact that many people didn't leave their islands back then because travel was so difficult, frightening, and uncustomary. So the creatures could be heard of and written about but not many people would see them with their own eyes, relying on the stories that brave crew members brought back if they were lucky enough to survive. Other creatures however do appear on islands where many ordinary mortals live, such as Gods and Goddesses and nymphs.
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ReplyDeleteThe average human during a ten minute conversation with a stranger will tell at least three lies. In books thirteen and fourteen, Odysseus tells two very large lies, this makes him a skilled deceiver, but it does not make everything he says a fiction; but it also does not mean that everything that he says is a retelling of the truth. I believe that most of his story is true, but he did tell an exaggerated version of the story. While he was telling about his travels, he constantly made himself look like a good leader, and while he is an effective leader, the made mistakes Odysseus made were so great that he lost his crew. Because of this, he probably exaggerated the truth when it came to his comrade’s death. Although he lied at points while retelling of the events that brought him home, he couldn’t have lied about everything in the story. Even though we know Odysseus is able to fabricate complex and intricate lies instantaneously, this particular fib is on a different scale. It is easy to say that you are from a faraway land, but to construct a lie of this complexity can be infinitely harder to do. In order to tell a believable lie, one must not have conflicting statements and keep the story simple. Odysseus violates both of these rules. Because there are so many details in the story, it would have been impossible to keep track of all the details so that there are no conflicting statements. Odysseys told too much information; it would have been too hard to keep track of. In a room full of strangers, and a two or three hour story, Odysseus must have told at least exaggerations of the truth, but not full-fledged lies as the amount details would cause inconsistencies in his story.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus is known for being a big liar and the ‘Great Teller of Tales’ so we can assume that not one hundred percent of what he is saying is true. Throughout the book unless we know he is telling a lie because we read something different before or it says that he is lying there is no way for us to know what is real and what is fake. The only one to know would be Homer. Odysseus tells such great lies with so much detail that if you are hearing or reading this for the first time than you could have no way that he was lying. For example, when he got home from Ithaca for the first time since after the Trojan War, he lies to Eumaus in such great detail about how he was from a faraway island that there was no way for Eumaus to confirm that he is telling the truth or not. Also in his lies he makes sure that he doesn’t sound like he is bragging too much so people will think it is made up or fake. An example of that is when he begs an Egyptian king to spare him by hugging his knees and crying. You would never think that someone would make themselve look so bad in a lie that you have to believe they are telling the truth. In books 9-12 there is no possible way that we could know if he is lying or not but we do know that Odysseus is not one to trust.
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