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Unit 5 |
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English 201: |
| Introduction | Background | .Explication | Questions | Review |
Introduction:
Respect: In the world of The Iliad,
respect measured power. In the beginning we heard Kalkhas worry about
what would happen to him, if AG perceived disrespect in his analysis of the
cause for the plague:
(Iliad) 1.92 A great
man in his rage is formidable
for underlings: though he may keep it down,
he cherishes the burning in his belly
until a reckoning day.
Because Kalhas fears AG he treats him with respect. Conversely, why would you
respect someone without power? There are several kinds of power: AK's
brute strength, AG's military & political power, OD's proto-scientific
power. In addition, this section features the myth about how Hephaistos
caught Aphrodite & Ares in adultery. Each divinity personifies a
different kind of power. We (Greeks) hope to build a more sophisticated
society than the military camp of The Iliad or even than Troy.
This requires various powers. OD's lectures us about how:
8.174 The gods deal
out no gift . . .
birth, brains, or speech--to every man alike.
Then Alkinoos talks about the rare accomplishments of his society:
8.257 feasting,
harpers . . . dancing choirs,
changes of dress, warm baths, & downy beds.
. . . we excel the world
in dance & song, as in our ships & running.
One of the points illustrated here is that it is wise to be tolerant &
respectful to everyone in the city, because there are so many different talents
or powers. This is not only a tactical consideration (thinking that you
never know when a rare talent may save the city), diversity is a positive
culture value. It is unlikely that OD had ever seen anything like the
rhythmic gynastics demonstrated by Alkinoos' sons:
8.389 the dance no
once could do as well as they--
handling a purple ball . . . .
One made it shoot up . . .
as he leaned backward; bounding high in air
the other cut its flight far off the ground
& neither missed a step as the ball soared.
In this section we see OD respectfully soliciting & then following advice
given by apparently callow girls: Ino, Nausikaa, the little girl hugging the
water jar who turns out to be the awesome in pigtails. In Antigone,
Sophocles has Creon's son tell his father: "It's no city at all, owned by
one man alone" (l.824). In ancient Greece, tolerance of diversity
was less a matter of justice (clearly not everyone was inherently worthy of
respect in a world where slaves outnumbered free citizens) than an invitation
to cosmopolitan splendor. How do you engineer a city that people of
worthy will wish to live in & more than that, be dedicated to? The
sword may be necessary in the beginning, but it becomes a burden & obstacle
when it is the sole value. Near the end of his stay in Phaiakia, OD says:
8.497 All men owe
honor to the poets--honor
& awe, for they are dearest to the Muse
who puts upon their lips the ways of life.
Not "the single way of life," but the plural. A city is not a
monastery or a military school. It not only tolerates various ways of
life, it celebrates such diversity as desirable. The symbol for this new
sense of civic respect is seen in OD's respect for girls, from whom he has
nothing to fear & from whom he cannot expect very much. How
surprising, then, to find that they repeatedly save his life, charm him, &
lead him away from the waste of the battlefield into the glittering city.
Click on the next section: Background above.