Being an English major, I very much
enjoy figures of speech, alliterations, and rhetoric. As a writer
myself, I have found how important all of these things are in
writing, and in relating to my readers. But the first thing I think
about before writing a story is my audience, and how I would be able
to relate to them through my writing.
As a few people have already commented,
paying special attention to your audience is a crucial thing. The
Iliad does a great job of this,
in my opinion. I found several passages in which the speaker related
to the audience in terms of their interests and where they are at
that point in time, physically and mentally. Also, when the person
speaking is someone who the audience likes or esteems highly, the
better change the speaker has of convincing the people with his/her
rhetoric.
An
example if this is when Agamemnon was told in a dream to go and tell
the people to go to war against Troy because they were likely to win.
After Agamemnon goes and informs the people about this dream, they
get excited because these words and council have come from a person
whom they respect—their king. His words were convincing to them
because he is someone who they esteem as important, and as someone
who has great authority and should be obeyed. Also, these people were in
the mindset of war, and were very interested in this subject because
of the current circumstances, so Agamemnon's words were sounded
through their ears, grabbing their attention.
An
example of this in my life would be when I was younger, and even now,
I would always want to obey my parents, teachers, or whoever was my
superior. It was because I saw them as someone higher than myself,
smarter, and more important. Just like the people in The Iliad,
I was convinced, or at least paid undivided attention to, those
higher than myself.
Have any of you had similar experiences?
It is interesting to me the stark contrast we see between leaders and 'rank and file' people in Greek culture. While most of history only reports on the important individuals, the Greeks take it to a whole new level. They have many heroes whom they idolize. Some, like Achilles, are even demigods, reaching that brink of what is humanly possible. "Don't be a nobody" is what Greek literature seems to say.
ReplyDeleteIn the Iliad we see humans obeying the commands of other higher-up humans, but like Nathan B pointed out, the humans are making demands from gods. The gods become their errand boys and girls for all intensive purposes. I wonder what Homer was trying to say about our relationship with the gods? Do they owe us a solid or something? Or are they just like that high school teacher that will do whatever it takes to help their favorite student get an A.
ReplyDeleteThe gods definitely had favorites, which helped the Average Joe's become the somebodies. Not everyone gets a dream from Zeus himself, though he did take the form or image of someone else at the time. What your audience is interested in is also part of the importance, as I'm sure if Agamemnon woke up and went to tell everyone about how he dreamed of delicious Greek food instead of battle, they wouldn't have been as interested. I guess the real trick is to get your audience interested, no matter what your topic may be, if that's possible.
ReplyDeleteI feel Greek literature is very effective at demonstrating how detrimental "hero worship" can be. Like you said, growing up we find ourselves subject to it simply because we're naive and need a foundation. However many people continue to hero worship as adults.
ReplyDelete