Reflections: Oddysey, Rama's Exile, Oedipus and Medea - Essay Example

It pits the good people against the evil as it tries to describe the perfect character traits that people in the society should emulate. For instance, Rama and Sita are perfect, and each person in the audience would want to emulate their behaviors and wisdom. It also shows the evil character traits the society should not emulate. In “Ramayana”, Kaikeyi and Ravana possess the perfect examples of such traits. These traits are greed and jealous which lead to all the evil deeds in the play. On the other hand, “Odyssey” revolves around love, war and loyalty.

Odysseus, the protagonist has to fight many battles to get home after twenty years away from home. In the process, he also has to fight away several advances from women. His wife, Penelope also has to fight the approaches from her many suitors. The two endure the trying times because of the loyalty they have for one another, despite; the long period that has lapsed without seeing each other. The differences in focus of the epics lead to different emotions from the audience. For instance, the fact that the “Ramayana” focus on the good and the evil invokes the feelings of love for the good and hatred for the evil in the epic.

The audience becomes interested in how the good shall triumph over evil. In “Odyssey”, the fact that the story revolves around Odysseus and Penelope struggles leads to envy and sympathy from the audience. The audience becomes interested in their struggles hoping to witness their meeting again. In the “Ramayana”, heroism revolves around the good people fighting the evil within the society. The characterization of good people and evil ones help the narrator to develop the themes of evil and goodness.

In “Odyssey”, the strong will and commitment of the protagonists helps the narrator develop the theme of love and loyalty. The inclusion of gods within the epic helps to show the extent of the protagonist’s commitment. The protagonist puts up fights against anything that gets between in them, not even the gods, magic or misfortunes will separate them. In Penelope’s case, she is willing to wait as long as it takes even though she has had no news of the husband for the last ten years. In addition, she has many suitors who are willing to go any length to have her hand in marriage.

Oedipuscommitment, like his birth father, is to ensure that the prophecy that predicted that he would kill his father and proceeds sleep with his mother does not come to pass. However, all the steps he takes to avoid this only leads him to play a major role in fulfilling the prophecy. He kills his father and marries his mother while trying to run away from this prophecy. This tragic play shows the power of the Greek god and how their will triumphs despite human opposition. Despite the measures that Oedipus and his birth father, Laius take to ensure that the prophecy does not happen, it still happens exactly the same way it the oracle predicted it.

The play also depicts male chauvinism in the fact that the people of Thebes give Oedipus mother to him for marriage as a reward for his heroism. On the other hand, Medea’s inclination to revenge makes her kill Cleon, Glauce and her children. She kills Cleon and his daughter, Glauce because they conspire to take her husband away from her. She feels that she has not been treated fairly. According to her, Glauce attracts Jason because she comes from a royal family while she is just