Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on Authority in Homer and Sophocles. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 4 page paper which examines the idea of authority in Homer’s The Iliad and the Tragedies of Sophocles. No additional sources cited.
Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: JR7_RAauil.rtf
Buy This Term Paper »
Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
and a political system in ancient societies. Homers The Iliad and Sophocles tragedies are texts that do just that, illustrating the authority that existed in their particular culture. The following
paper examines various forms of authority as seen in Homers The Iliad and Sophocles The Oedipus Trilogy. Authority in Homer and Sophocles In both of the authors works
the authority, regardless of its focus, comes from the culture itself, a culture of men and a patriarchal society. While there is a strong belief in the gods, the gods
are not necessarily actively involved and in ancient Greece it is generally assumed that people merely worshipped their gods but were also afraid of them because gods were generally unpredictable,
getting involved as they saw fit. As such, for the most part, the characters in The Iliad and The Oedipus Trilogy the authority came from a world of men, a
culture of men. This plays into the relationship between men and women in both texts. In The Iliad the entire war was based on the fact that a woman,
Helen of Troy, was abducted. It was essentially a false "rape" of Helen, but the men utilized her abduction to their advantage, using it as an excuse to involve themselves
in war. Helen had no power, and no women in the story had power. Helen was simply a symbol of beauty and purity and hence justified patriarchal control through war.
this sort of attitude is evident in the words of Nestor who states, " let none make haste to go till he has first lain with the wife of some
Trojan, and avenged the toil and sorrow that he has suffered for the sake of Helen" (Homer Book II). In this one can see that while they revere Helen they
...