Four Epics: Odyssey, Aeneid, Ramayana, and Mahabharata

There appears to be fairly wide agreement among commentators on epic literature and cultural myths that certain consistent patterns of narrative action and treatments of human experience can be discerned across cultures. One is heroic activity in poems that deal with the history, actions, personal development, and destiny of one or more heroic figures. What these heroes do, what is done to them, and their ultimate destiny take on symbolic weight and become determinants of what is valued and distinctive in a culture.

Epic focus on heroes of a mythic past may be relevant to a culture's history as well as its present concerns. Thus for example from a modern perspective the Odyssey's account of Athene's favoring Odysseus and Poseidon's hatred of him need not be taken as literal religious truth. On the other hand, in describing Odysseus's offense against Poseidon, the gods set forth in Book I a principle of piety to which humankind is obliged to adhere or suffer the consequences; Odysseus is prevented from finding an easy way home because he has blinded Polyphemus, a son of the sea god Poseidon (I.89-90). The insistence on piety is s

. . .
s Rome's destiny that it would be impious of Aeneas not to act on the imperative. The Odyssey and the Aeneid give an account of heroic progress in the context of the vicissitudes of human experience and the emergence of social organization in a cosmos made perilous by divine behavior and caprice. Much the same dynamic is taking place in The Ramayana of Valmiki and The Mahabharata, but in these stories human and divine personalities are collapsed into one. Thus in The Ramayana, the figure Prince Rama is an incarnation of the god Visnu, and his fate as hero becomes symbolic of an ideal type of human action. Book 2 of the Ramayana deals, not with the voyage home, as do the Odyssey and the Aeneid, but rather with the circumstances that oblige Prince Rama to leave his home and enter exile. Similarly, the excerpt from The Mahabharata deals with the circumstances that oblige the Pandava brothers and their wife Draupadi to leave their own kingdom in disgrace and wander in exile for 12 years. In the Ramayana, Rama is presented as an absolute icon of virtue and heroism in the shape of supreme deference and self-sacrifice, acquiescing in the hierarchical authority of his father Dasaratha, lord of the earth. Rama "surpassed his brothers in vi
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Despite Dasaratha's, Pancali Pandavas', Valmiki Mahabharata, Kirke Od, Ramayana Rama, Peterson Draupadi, Rama Odysseus, Prince Rama, IV353-59 Odyssey, Aeneas Trojans, world masterpieces expanded, masterpieces expanded edition, expanded edition vol, world masterpieces, 1 ed, masterpieces expanded, expanded edition, vol 1, ed maynard, ww norton, vol 1 ed, edition vol 1, york ww, norton 1995, edition vol,
Approximate Word count = 2587
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Four Epics: Odyssey, Aeneid, Ramayana, and Mahabharata