Eye View of a God - Essay Example

God’s Eye View

God’s eye view is a notion where a speaker portrays his understanding of a knowledge that God only has. In literature, this notion arises when an author leaves the point of view of the main actor and describes issues that they could not know if the story were set in real life (Tenney, 26). This paper analyzes the notion of God’s eye view in relation to Homer’s literature piece, the Iliad. It seeks to explain how this universal viewpoint should be described and how the world looks from its vantage point.

The Iliad is an epic poem by Homer and it describes the Trojan War. The story describes the conflict between the Greek Achilles and King Agamemnon, and how the Greek gods fought on various sides of the war. Homer analyzes the role of the Greek God Apollo in creating a conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon, and the roles of the goddess Athena in the defeat of Troy (Paley, 34).  Homer developed this story by using this notion of god’s eye view since whatever he wrote could not be depicted if the story took place in actual life.

The need for a God’s eye view for human beings emanates from their desire to know the causes of certain phenomena. Some things can arise beyond human explanation, and the only way to look at such issues is through divine means. In the Iliad, King Agamemnon captures the daughter of the Priest of Apollo and he refuses to return her, as a result, the Greek army is struck by a plague. This is a supernatural phenomenon, and Homer explains that it arose because Apollo, the Greek god, was angry at Agamemnon.

The need to explain the religious beliefs and the culture of people results in the notion of God’s eye view. In the Iliad, every action of mankind was under the influence of a god.  Zeus exerts influence upon a Trojan warrior to wound Melaneus and, thus, to break the truce existing between Greeks and Troy; Poseidon intervenes in the war and protects the Greeks from slaughter (Paley, 35). Homer managed to bring out the religious culture of the Greeks and the names of their gods.

An analysis of the subject-object principle is essential in order to effectively describe this concept. An examination of human experience should be done, and a conclusion made on what is subjective and objective (Trigg, 51). The notion of the subject-objective principle arises from the knowledge that the world consists of objects which are seen and subjects that are mainly observers. As observers, subjects possess the knowledge and they can explain any circumstance facing the community.

In the Iliad, Homer plays a subjective role. He is an observer and, therefore, he gives out an analysis of the roles of the Trojan conflict. The Greeks and the gods are the objects. Home sees them and, thus, analyses their roles in the conflict. In describing this notion, the principles of subject and object need to be put into consideration.

The world, as construed in the Iliad, is governed by the gods. The Greek gods were part and parcel of the Greeks’ way of life, and this is portrayed in the Trojan War where gods fought on different sides and made circumstances turn in their favor. For example, the death of Hector was a result of Athena’s trickery. She made him stop running away from Achilles which consequently led to his death. Religion influences the lives of mankind in the current global system. For example, the practice of Christianity is worldwide and its notion of holy living is widely obeyed (Winter et al, 23). For the Muslims, their aspects of Mohamed as a prophet of god represent the basis of the religion and his teaching is practiced amongst the adherents of the faith.

From this analysis, the God’s eye viewpoint is necessary for religious purposes. Homer used it to explain the religious beliefs of the Greeks; in the current situation, a poet can use it to explain the same, i.e. cultural practices of various religious beliefs in the world. The success of the Iliad is attributed to Homer’s successful use of this concept, and for any work of art to survive through generations, this concept ought to be applied.