Wednesday, September 1, 2010

SHANTRA SARAH HENRY QUESTION 1


The characters in Book 1 of the lliad are, or at least they seem to be very engulfed in the religious view that the gods are the beginning and ending of society. So, in that regard they must be pleased above all else. The idea of loyalty and pleasing the gods so comes to mind when it comes to the religion as well. As read, the gods have those "special" followers; these are those that remain loyal to them the fullest extent. Such as Chryes, who seems to be a fateful follower of Apollo, not automatially Zeus. And, because of his loyolaty Apollo punished the whole Achaeans army. These beliefs order the characters life on a daily basis, in accordance to how they bahave and what is ultimately acceptable in society. This is where i believe communal ethics plays an important role. A code of conduct is established when it comes to obeying the gods and thier rulings as a final say or solution. Such as accepting what the gods rule as final, Achilles,the famous warrior, was stopped in his tracks of rage to listen to the gods Athena and Hera. He did not fight their word nor did he disobey them. other examples of communal ethics in this text I believe would include reaching out to the gods for solution and reasoning.This is exactly what Chryses, Achilles, and Thetis have done. In regards to personal morality, I honestly believe that these immortals have been coerced into taking the gods' ideas on right and wrong and on how to enrich a person's life so that they may be a ''good person.'' Personal morality has to do with one deciding for themselves the difference between rght and wrong according to their beliefs. But, when you think about it, being forced feed ideas and values is not much different in this text that how things are in present day America. We have been. for the most part, forced to accept ideas and traditions wiothout giving it a second tought. So maybe our Greek god in the society we live in and its ethics that we are forced to accept.

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