Ilir Hasi

After reading the selection of stories in The Norton Anthropology of World Literature, from “The Thousand and One Nights”, I came to a conclusion that all the selections were similar to one another. Of course each story was different, but all the stories followed the same style. One common similarity which I noticed was that each story portrayed a sense of hope for the hopeless. Even if something seemed impossible, there was still hope and in the end the impossible became probable. Such as was depicted in the selection of the merchant and the demon. According to the demon, the merchant was going to be killed by him. It seemed that the merchant was going to die and excruciating death. However, three tales told by three different strangers were able to save the merchants life thus depicting hope.
Also, a sense of hope was portrayed in the fisherman and the demon. In this selection, the demon was going to kill whoever opened the seal to the jar and freed him. Thus, it seemed that the fisherman had no chance of escaping death. However, with a little hope, the fisherman was able to out wit the demon and seal the jar with him inside again. The reason that the Norton editors choose these particular selections were to show that there is always hope even though something seems impossible. As human beings, we should always strive for the impossible because in the end it may be achievable.

These past two month, I have read a variety of texts all appealing and exciting. Thus, it has been hard for me to choose a specific text to write a five page paper on. Finally, I was able to narrow my selection down and decide to write my paper on The Odyssey. The reason for choosing The Odyssey is because of Homer’s writing style. Homer’s writing is engaging because he was able to embellish to no ends Odysseus’s character. In The Odyssey, the character of Odysseus was portrayed by Homer to help bring out certain exaggerations and unrealistic elements. Odysseus is introduced as a man of strong and prudent character at start. Since Odysseus was able to overcome such great obstacles such as escaping from Kyklops’s in order to free himself and his men, Homer almost made me believe that Odysseus was not human but a instead a god. Thus, what I would like to examine in my paper is how Homer is able to portray Odysseus to the audience in a variety of different ways.

According to Aristole, a tragic hero is one of noble status and greatness. In Medea, Medea has noble status and has greatness because she is the princess of Colchis and the wife of Jason, son of Aeson, King of Iolcos. Medea is a tragic hero because she is able to achieve her goal but at the end still suffers. Medea’s goal is to make her husband Jason, undergo suffering for his doings towards Medea. According to Medea, “I pray that I may see him, / Him and his bride and all their palace shattered/ For the wrong they dare to do me without cause” (Euripides, 698, 161-163). Medea specifically states that she wants harm brought upon Jason and his new wife. Medea portrays heroism because she is able to prove her point by standing up for herself. Something which was unheard of for a woman during those times. However, in the process of making her husband suffer, Medea kills her own two children. Thus, making herself endure pain as well. Therefore, Medea is a tragic hero because although she displayed a sense of heroism in her decision makings, her decision to kill her children was a tragic one, one that she bears for the rest of her life.