How does Virgil deviate from Homer in the underworld, and why Essay

When comparing The Aeneid to The Odyssey, it is impossible not to notice the similarity between Homer and Virgils poems. Both heroes conduce Troy, granted atomic number 53 and unaccompanied(a) b bely escapes and the another(prenominal) leaves victoriously, and twain in one sense or the other atomic number 18 trying to reach their home, whether it is the olderer or future day home. The adventures of the two heroes argon incredibly similar on a number of ac take cares with the trip to the the pits being most intriguing. offshoot of all it is important to understand that Homer and Virgil wrote their poems for different rea give-and-takes Homers The Odyssey was written for entertainment purposes, dapple Virgils The Aeneid was written in format to subtly praise Augustus and promote the glory of capital of Italy. This could in accompaniment explain most of Virgils deviations from The Odyssey.The two poems present us with very suck in similarities both heroes go to travel to the underworld in club to pr take downt their voyage both meet friends, foes and most importantly a get up. overly that, both Odysseus and Aeneas are guided by a god with verboten whom they whitethorn have not been able to enter the underworld, and would definitely would not have been able to leave it. Even with these similarities til now, the tasks of Odysseus and Aeneas are all told different and the underworlds which they break down acquainted with are also not explained in the same manner. Therefore, while the basic idea of the underworld go acrossms to be the same for both poets, their exposition of Odysseuss and Aeneass trips make these passages entirely different. whiz of the most patent comparisons of the poems is Aeneas and Odysseuss skirmish with old friends and family both for example meet one of their enhances. In this case, Odysseus may be sympathized with more for he did not shaft of his mothers death and in the underworld had learnt that she miscarry d because of his absence and her craving for her son. Aeneas on the other hand does know that his father is no monthlong alive, exclusively that does not stop both characters from crying when seeing their parent and both trying to embrace him/her three times. The gender of the dead parent also makes a pointAeneass dad could be referring to the omniscient Caesar and the male dominance in capital of Italy. Odysseuss mother on the other hand, once again for the purpose of entertainment, could be representing Penelope, Ithaka and all the love Odysseus has for his home. to a fault the meeting with their parent, both heroes are undermined finished their treatment of the spirits. For example, both are captains and both have managed to miscount their sailors not noticing that one of their men has died.This is pivotal for Aeneass story for if he is the founder of Rome and cannot keep count of a handful of men, how is he to establish and control a newly city? Besides that, another inte resting point is Odysseuss meeting with Ajax and Aeneass meeting with Dido. Here, the similarities are bewildering both of these characters die because of the heroes, both of them die by thrusting a knife into their chest and both of them are still angry with Odysseus and Aeneas. As interesting as their actions may be, Odysseus and Aeneas both blame their actions on the gods, Aeneas more than Odysseus.Once again this undermines the founder of Rome for he cannot take responsibility for what he has ca apply and expects the gods not only to booster him get to Italy, scarce also to be able to blame his mistakes on them.Even the reason for Odysseus and Aeneass trip to the underworld creates confusion as to what is similar and what is not. For example, they both enter the underworld because they need to in order to complete the voyages merely also because they have been told to do so by the gods. Odysseus enters sin in order to find the prophet Teiresias to guide him bottom to Ithaka , even though by going to this meeting he is risking his life, and Aeneas enters the underworld to see his father who tells him of the future of the city he is about to found.One of the main contrasts of the two poems is that Odysseus focuses more on the past of his life he is trying to get home where he was before, in the underworld he sees his fallen friends from Troy, he is trying to get back to his wife and son etc. Aeneas on the other hand is much more center on the future he is also trying to get home, but that home does not exist yet, besides that, while seeing his old friends he also finds out about the future of his generations and yet even more about the city he is on his way to establish.This could lease us to the point of Homers vs. Virgils reasons for writing their poems as mentioned earlier,Homer wrote his poem for entertainment purposes. This explains why the majority of book football team is made up of Odysseus meeting his old friends and prominent warriors of the war finished telling their stories, Homer entertained the readers and the audience by letting them venture how the heroes act after their death (what still matters to them, which quarrels have not been bury etc.).Virgil on the other hand skips most of the greetings of Aeneas with old friends and focuses instead on the meeting with his father. There, while including sentimentality, the main point of the meeting is for Aeneas and the readers to find out about where the rulers of Rome came from. Aeneas in the underworld gets to see, although not speak to, his future son, the future Caesars and learns all about the glory of the future empire.Even the rendering of the underworld itself may fall under the same entertainment vs. glorifying Rome purposes. Homers Hades is filled with darkness, screams and demarcation even in order to get the spirits to talk to him, Odysseus has to give them fresh blood to drink (whom you allow to enter where the blood is will speak to you 164). That d ouble going alongside the terrifying dark description of Hades shows how queer Odysseus was despite the fact that he does confess I grew sick with fear. (46).This is an entirely different perception of the underworld Aeneas enters even though on the outback(a) it is surrounded by the souls of the unburied who incite fear, once Aeneas has gone through with(predicate) the darkness and the souls he meets his father in a places of delight unripened park land (855). This is an interesting description because it suggests to the readers that once you pass through the darkness and hardship, you are rewarded with happiness and freedom.Through this Virgil could be describing not only everything Romes founder had to do for the city, but also glorifying Augustus by describing that none of the benefits of Rome have come easily. Even small remarks such(prenominal) as Some train on grassy rings, others compete In field games (860) could be referenced back to the how strong and hardworking the papist nation is.While glorifying Rome and Augustus, Virgil also includes some subtle criticisms or questions about the founder of Rome. First of all, while Odysseus was able to enter Hades alone, Aeneas had to be shown the way by the prophetess and servant of Apollo when following her heels Aeneas walkedwith determination and pride, but without her fear overwhelmed him.This could suggest that Aeneas is not in fact as great and fearless as he may seem. Besides that, one of Aeneass main tasks was to retrieve the golden bough (would the whole notion that it was golden think of that the Romans are now a golden nation?) which only those who are destined by fate can take down easily. Aeneas however could not even find the bough himself, his immortal mother had to send doves to shoot the way. Afterwards, when his mother did show him where the golden bough was, though it clung, he greedily broke it off, (298).The fact that the bough clung could be interpreted in two ways for those who w ere reading it to see the glory of Rome, it could suggest the battle between Juno and Venus with Aeneas caught in between them, and the fact that he does take it down in the end suggests that the gods are in his favor after all. For those who are open to the criticism of Rome, it could be interpreted as the fact that Aeneas was not entirely brought their by fate, that perhaps he specifically did not have to be the founder of Rome, but Venus made it happen.Furthermore, the word greedily is interesting to have been used in this context when reading about a hero who has launch one of the greatest empires one would not expect him to be greedy, rather fearless but calm and level headed Aeneas greedily ripping off the bough does not create and image of a hero.In conclusion, Virgils The Aeneid greatly resembles Homers The Odyssey and this is seen clearly through the poets descriptions of the underworld. However, while The Odyssey was created for entertainment purposes, Virgil has manage d to subtly praise and criticize his city, its ruler and its founder making his poem, and book sextuplet specifically, full of surprises.