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- How are the characters in the Iliad different from us,
and/or how are they the same? (Here ``us'' means, roughly speaking,
modern people--but you may want to make it more precise.) (Obviously
3-5 pages is not enough to discuss this question in full
generality. Try to focus on particular characters/situations and on
some particular issue: e.g., justification of actions; reasons for
praise or blame; attitudes towards one's enemies.) (Note: if you only
want to argue that Homer's characters are the same as us, you
had better say first why someone might think they were
different.)
- How is the Iliad different from a book we would write
(the kind of book we normally write)? Say something about either (a)
what those differences show about the way this book was produced and
used or (b) what those differences imply about our use of the book
(e.g. our treatment of it as a ``classic''). You may or may not also
want to discuss passages from the beginning of Numbers (which you can
cite by chapter and verse). For alternative (a), you might want to use
material from Plato's Ion.
- How are the gods depicted in the Iliad, how do the human
characters relate to them, and how do those two things fit together
(or fail to fit together)?
- Discuss the relationship (as depicted in the Iliad) between (a)
virtue or praiseworthiness and (b) physical appearance and/or physical
strength. You might also want to mention intelligence; also what it is
that makes a god or gods love certain characters. (Note: the intent of
this question is for you to discuss the attitude of Homer and/or his
characters about these issues, not your own attitudes.)
- What is the status of women in the Iliad? Try to
discuss: (a) how they are treated (by men); (b) what men say/think
about them; (c) what they say/think about themselves. How did Homer
and/or his audience think about women? (Note: it is not safe to assume
that his audience was all male!)
- How is war viewed in the Iliad? When and how is war
``glorified,'' and when and how is it not? Discuss one or more of:
(a) how the (human) characters see war (b) how the gods see war (c)
how the narrator portrays war.
- Discuss the character of Nestor. What does he represent? On what
subject(s) does he have good advice, and why? What is the relationship
between his advice and what characters actually do? (By this I mean to
ask not only whether his advice is taken on particular occasions, but
whether he advises the kind of thing that people ordinarily
do.)
- In the Ion, we see a philosopher, Socrates, confronting the
society or culture in which Homer plays a central role. What does this
encounter show about the nature of that society and/or its use of
Homer, and about the nature of philosophy? What was new about
philosophy compared to what came before?
Next: About this document ...
Up: HUMA 11500, Autumn 2002,
Previous: Instructions
Abe Stone
2006-01-02