Comparison Of Job And Odysseus
The agency of Job and Odysseus is controlled by God and the gods. Neither Job nor Odysseus have agency when the gods are against them. The relationship between the divine and human agency is a well-established one in both the ancient Hebrew and ancient Greek cultures. Many acts that could be attributed to human agency are often credited to gods, especially human errors or misdeeds. Humans try to forfeit a good deal of their agency to the gods willingly. Nevertheless the gods have no reservations about revoking agency from humans. Neither Job nor Odysseus had agency when a god was against them.
Job has no agency, no participation in God’s decision to make him the object of a ...
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the work of thy hands and favor the designs of the wicked? Are thy days as the days of man, or thy years as man’s years, that thou dost seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, although thou knowest that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of thy hand?” (Job, chapter 10, verses 3, 5-7). We will assume Job has as much agency as one could who was “blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil” (Job, chapter 1, verse 1).
The events that destroy Job’s property and children seem to be agency limiting by their very nature. To Job, the entire chain of incidents must have appeared as a string of unfortunate coincidences. There was no element of predictability, no chance for Job to prepare for or thwart Satan’s plan. Job was blindsided. His agency was restricted by his limited knowledge of what was happening around him. The events Satan chose as a means to obliterate Job’s possessions and his ...
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Job from cursing God. Yet, he refuses to curse God, even though He is responsible for his suffering.
Odysseus is very much a part of his own loss of agency. It stems from his encounter with Poseidon’s son, Polyphemos. Until then, it was clear that Odysseus was in control of his life, as much as any man can be in control. He used his battle prowess and words as expressions of this agency he possessed. After the confrontation with Polyphemos, Odysseus’ words and skills were no longer effective as a means of control.
Because of Polyphemos’ curse, Odysseus could no longer maintain his agency using his skills as a battle chief. We saw in the Trojan War how Odysseus ...
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Comparison Of Job And Odysseus. (2006, April 13). Retrieved April 25, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Comparison-Of-Job-And-Odysseus/44340
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"Comparison Of Job And Odysseus." Essayworld.com. April 13, 2006. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Comparison-Of-Job-And-Odysseus/44340.
"Comparison Of Job And Odysseus." Essayworld.com. April 13, 2006. Accessed April 25, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Comparison-Of-Job-And-Odysseus/44340.
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