Immortality In The Odyssey
Mankind has always been fascinated with the idea of immortality. Cultures from all across the world have stories or fables that allude to this fascinating fate. While physical immortality is a rather far-fetched idea, a certain level can be achieved. Poets have been keeping people alive for millennia with their words and artists have been capturing eternal youth in portraits and sculptures for generations. With memory, art, and legacy, it seems that immortality is a very obtainable thing to the average mortal.
One such example of this can be found in Homer’s The Illiad. The character Achilles, an incredibly strong and fearsome warrior, is given a choice that will determine his destiny. He must choose between fighting in the war or staying home …show more content…
After several hundred years, there is not a single person left that could tell exactly who the friend in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 was. Even the gender of the friend is unidentifiable. While many scholars agree that the gender of the friend in the sonnet is male, there are still disputes over this minuscule detail. Only the author himself could give the true answer. Since legacies leave behind a more physical trail that can be traced back, it is a bit harder to be forgotten. The main issue with this form of immortality, however, goes back again to human error. For some legacies, the name or the act is no longer or was never common knowledge to the people. It is doubtful that a secluded nomad from the jungles of the Amazon will know who Carnegie Hall is named after, who David O. McKay was, or better yet how Dante Alighieri helped to save the Italian Language. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus seemed to understand that immortality was not all it was made out to be. When given the opportunity to live forever among the gods with the minor goddess Calypso, Odysseus chooses instead to live out the rest of his life as a mortal with his wife and son. He chooses to return to a life of trial and hardship than live forever. Unlike Achilles, Odysseus does not find immortality to be so
One such example of this can be found in Homer’s The Illiad. The character Achilles, an incredibly strong and fearsome warrior, is given a choice that will determine his destiny. He must choose between fighting in the war or staying home …show more content…
After several hundred years, there is not a single person left that could tell exactly who the friend in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 was. Even the gender of the friend is unidentifiable. While many scholars agree that the gender of the friend in the sonnet is male, there are still disputes over this minuscule detail. Only the author himself could give the true answer. Since legacies leave behind a more physical trail that can be traced back, it is a bit harder to be forgotten. The main issue with this form of immortality, however, goes back again to human error. For some legacies, the name or the act is no longer or was never common knowledge to the people. It is doubtful that a secluded nomad from the jungles of the Amazon will know who Carnegie Hall is named after, who David O. McKay was, or better yet how Dante Alighieri helped to save the Italian Language. In Homer’s The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus seemed to understand that immortality was not all it was made out to be. When given the opportunity to live forever among the gods with the minor goddess Calypso, Odysseus chooses instead to live out the rest of his life as a mortal with his wife and son. He chooses to return to a life of trial and hardship than live forever. Unlike Achilles, Odysseus does not find immortality to be so