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Role Of Insanity In The Odyssey

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Role Of Insanity In The Odyssey
Albert Einstein once stated that “Insanity: [is] doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” He was and still is right. Everything Odysseus did long ago still connects to our world today because we are just repeating the same actions over and over again on a different scale while hoping for the outcome to be different. Moreover, people are insane, and in Homer’s epic The Odyssey, Odysseus proves this by performing acts that no one dares to try like subduing a gargantuan Cyclops and defying the omnipotent gods. The adversities he overcomes are still the same hardships we overcome and learn from in our world today.
My first lesson is those who are laughed at usually end up having the last laugh. This is shown in The Odyssey when a man named Antinous is competing for Penelope’s hand in marriage even though Odysseus is still alive. Antinous is also “[mocking Odysseus with].../ his boon companions” (21.50-51). This exemplifies his bullying first hand, but when “Odysseus’ arrow hit[s] him under the chin/ and punched up to the feathers through his throat” (22.246-47). Odysseus gets the last laugh by killing Antinous. Likewise, when two men named Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed and wounded about 25 people at Columbine High in Littleton, Colorado, they made their last stand. Because these boys were bullied, they felt the need to get back at the world.
Furthermore, another lesson I derived from The Odyssey is that …show more content…
Einstein noticed this occurrence and said that “the difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.” This is shown everyday no matter how knowledgeable we become because Odysseus seemed omniscient, but still found predicaments for himself. Currently, we are no different because, no matter how academic we may be, our lack of common sense pushes us off the deep end now and
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