This research will examine four epics from the Greco-Roman and Indian cultures: Homer's Odyssey, Virgil's Aeneid, The Ramayana of Valmiki, and The Mahabharata. The research will discuss the degree to which these epics reflect the heroic context of a given society's past and/or its present concerns.
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 set beside a principle of divine justice, however, for Athene successfully pleads with Kronos and Zeus to overrule Poseidon's control over Odysseus's seagoing fortune (I.80-81; 99-101) and allow the homeward journey to continue.
Meanwhile, Odysseus's bold and shrewd engagement with forces more powerful than himself helps reinforce the credibility of his heroic image. The homeward journey itself is also meant to be an exercise in the establishment of social ...