Author: jannile williams

Jealousy is a dangerous seed that once planted can never be removed and will always linger. Jealousy plays a very strong role in this play because it made even the most powerful warrior weak. Othello is a character who at nature is very honest, trusting and loving. Iago knew this and played it to his advantage making him his prey. Iago himself jealous that after all his hard work in the army, his efforts haven’t been rewarded. Not only has he been passed over for General for Othello, he was also passed over for lieutenant for Cassio. Jealous brought death to many of innocent characters all caught up in Iago’s twisted plot.

I believe that Aeneas is a hero, in the same way that Odysseus is. His men where his top priority and he tried hard to keep them safe though their home land was destroyed. After their ships were  destroyed by  Juno and they were shipwrecked he hunted enough food for his “surviving” men and still mourned the lost of comrades he thought he had lost. He is the kind of hero that even though he pushes through for his men, he still shows respect to the ones that no longer were with them. Aeneas seems like a proud man that is wears his trials and tribulations like a badge and still continues keep hope. Like Odysseus he too is protected by the gods even though it seems as if the protection is  off and on. Being that his mom is a god you would think that he had a sense of entitlement but he seems to think of himself in the same manor of his men. Which is something I think that Virgil wanted to depict.

Is Odysseus or anyone else in The Odyssey a hero? If so, what does this tell us about western ideas of heroism? Do any of these ideas remain in place today or have they changed? If so, how or how not and why or why not?

I think that Athena is the true hero in the story because without her neither Odysseus nor Telemakhos would have the will or courage to incite on their journey. Athena is the one who got the ball rolling with getting Odysseus out of Calypso’s captivity, while he was reduced to longing for home during the day and sleeping with Calypso at night. To me Athena embodies what it means to be a hero which I believe is to be someone who stands up for what is right. Someone who is willing to help push people in the right direction but not force their beliefs onto another. This is what she has done, Telemakhos knew that it was his time to stand up to the suitors and find out what truly happened to his dad but he just needed the motivation to do it. In today’s world I feel like we lost the meaning of a hero and people really just focus more on what others think of them rather than how they think about themselves.