Heroism in “Odyssey” by Homer and “Inferno” by Dante
For this assignment, you will write an analysis of no less than 1000 words and no more than
1500 words (4-5 double-spaced pages) in which you present a tightly constructed argument
that links your reading of Aristotle’s Poetics and its themes of recognition to one of the
following prompts. Treat the following prompts not as a specific set of questions with fixed
answers but as open-ended provocations for well-argued ideas, thoughts, and reflections that
are interesting and maybe even counterintuitive. At least one of the texts you pick has to be
from the reading list after the midterm essay.
Hint: Pick specific moments in the text that exemplify these Aristotelian themes of
recognition and analyze these scenes closely to make an argument. The paper must be
a textual argument: that is, it must analyze your chosen work by using textual evidence that
you will quote and analyze as necessary. Avoid broad and generalized claims (the sort that
ChatGPT usually throws up, because they are not good whatsoever).
Prompts:
1. Define and explain dramatic irony. Identify at least two different uses of dramatic
irony in texts and films from the syllabus and compare their roles in the mechanics of
recognition. You might want to base your analysis on themes of fate and agency, fear
and prophecy, past and present, or reality and illusion, and how dramatic irony is used
to convey these thematic tensions.
2. While being both embedded in narratives of return/nostos, the figure of the hero differs
between the Odyssey and Inferno. Compare and contrast the heroic figures envisioned
in both texts. How does their relation to knowledge and fate determine their quests for
recognition?
3. Themes and images of ascension and descension are recurring motifs in many of the
texts and films we have studied this semester. Identify and analyse at least two works
(for example Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Dante’s Inferno) where quests for knowledge
seem to be tied to such movements or aesthetics, with reference to specific symbols or
motifs.
4. Cordelia, Shehrazade, and Rebekah go on a walk down the circles of hell (Dante!).
Who could they recognize there and why? What might these characters talk about?
Feel free to re-interpret this prompt in any way you might judge appropriate or
conducive to critical analysis.
Solution
How The Figure of The Hero Differs Between the Odyssey and Inferno
Introduction
Both The Odyssey and Inferno place their heroes in tales of return (nostos in the case of Odysseus, a spiritual homecoming in the case of Dante) but the two poems envision radically different heroisms. The heroism of Odysseus is manifested in the ability to be himself in the world where the gods are changeable; he is able to survive thanks to his manoeuvre in the world of fate, but not by yielding to it. The pilgrim, Dante, is a hero in the exact sense of this word. That is, by obeying, he declines to be self-reliant and places his own will at the mercy of a providential order to which he must learn to be subject. The experience of reading…
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