The Quest, the Hero, and the World

A Comparative Table of Some European Epics

The Quest, the Hero, and the World						Homer: Odyssey	Virgil: Aeneid	Dante: Commedia	Cervantes: Don Quixote	Goethe: Faust
The Starting Point	Alienation from					home	imperial destiny	God	purpose	experience
	Entrapment in					Kalypso’s island	burning Troy	the dark wood	the real world	learning
	The Summons					memory	destruction of past	spiritual confusion	books of chivalry	the spirit that denies
The Initial Impulse						immobility	directionlessness	the three beasts	the broken helmet	the earth-spirit
The Journey		Transport				single ship, raft	fleet	foot (body), flight (soul)	horseback	flight
		The Guide				Athena	Anchises, Palinurus	Virgil, Beatrice, Saint Francis	Rozinante	Mephistopheles
		The Companion				shipmates	compatriots	ibid. (as above)	Sancho Panza	ibid. (as above)
Obstacles on the Journey		Enemies				Kyklopes et al.	Juno	devils	enchanters	Valentine, Menelaus
Obstacles on the Journey		Physical Barrier				sea	storm	walls of Dis	bars of the cart	[none]
Weapons						arrows, spears	chariots, swords	faith	lance	“Three Mighty Men”
Style of Warfare						single combat, on foot	organized warfare	self-control	single combat, mounted	demoniacal
The Underworld						shore of the dead	lower world	Hell	Cave of Montesinos	“the Mothers”
Temptations			Woman			Kalypso/Kirke	Dido	“false pleasures”	Maritornes	witches
			Mental State			will to plunder	inertia	pride	belief in senses	satisfaction
			Physical State			immortality	sensuality	lust	all bodily functions	stasis
			The wrong Place			Phaiakia	Aeneadae, Pergamum, Carthage	exile	Duke and Duchess’ castle	everywhere
The Hero						the resourceful	the pious	the faithful soul	the knight of faith	he who strives
The Sustaining Virtue						loyalty	pietas	faith	imagination	will to act
What Must Be Accepted						mortality	destiny	humility	reality	care
The Counter-Example				Condition		betrayal	furor	recalcitrance	lack of faith	pedantry
The Counter-Example				Person		Agamemnon	Ulysses/Turnus	the noble damned (Brunetto Latini, et al.)	Anselmo, Claudia	Wagner
The Goal				The Woman		Penelope	Lavinia	Beatrice	Dulcinea	penitent Gretchen
				The Place		Ithaka	site of Rome	Heaven	Saragossa/Barcelona?	[none]
				Social State		family, kingship	triumphant empire	universal monarchy	kingdom as reward	freedom to strive
Obstacles to the Goal				Enemies		suitors	Italians	Dante’s pride	Quixote’s audience	devils
				Political Barrier		suitors’ families	Amata; weakness of Latinus	corrupt church and state	political reality	Baucis and Philemon
				The Test		the bow	the final duel	repentance	the pastoral fantasy	death of Euphorion
The Resolved State						the rooted bed	the law	“In his will is our peace”	sanity	eternal ascent
Range of Obligations				In Space		island	world	city and universe	La Mancha	small world, then great world
				In Time		lifetime	imperial history	lifetime and eternity	illusory past	passing moment
				In Society		family, slaves	citizens	Florence	Spain	[variable]
Family				Father		Laertes found	Anchises lost	God the Father	[none]	lost assurance
				Mother		Antikleia lost	Venus inaccessible	Virgil/Beatrice	[none]	[none]
				Child		Telemakhos maturing	Ascanius in waiting	Dante	[none]	Gretchen’s dead child, Euphorion dead
Relation to Past						memory, restoration	loss	knowledge	nostalgia	rejection
Relation to Future						acceptance	limited understanding	responsibility	anticipation of being remembered	anxiety, eagerness
The Future						the inland voyage	Rome	the future of Florence; the second coming	the publication of Don Quixote	continuing struggle
Forms of Energy					Hero	individual muscle power	group muscle power	divine love	imaginative transformation	mental energy
Forms of Energy					Opponents	water	fire	ice	enchantment	denial
Characteristic Action						sailing, swimming	building	conversing	fighting	experiencing
Theory of Government						local kingship	world-empire	universal church, universal monarchy	Sancho’s governorship	urban renewal
Political Slogan						“Keep the home fires burning”	“What’s good for General Motors is good for America”	“For God, for Country, and for Yale”	“Ich kann nichts anders”	“Liberty or Death”
Economics						gifts	gold	usury, barratry, simony	[none]	paper money
Communications						travelers’ reports	rumor	direct speech	books	[none]
Primary Symbol						sea	city	Beatrice	windmills	[none]
Primary Sense						touch	hearing	sight	[none]	[blindness]
Order						objects	dissociated hierarchy	hierarchical unity-in-differences	dissociated multiplicity	identity
Relation to Self						self-sufficiency	self-negation	completed self-realization	self-deception	incomplete self-realization
Relation to Others						familial	civil	responsibility and love	service	encroachment or desertion
Love						spousal	passionate-illegal	spiritual	chaste-courtly	seductive or familial
Religion					True	just gods	universal spirit	Catholicism	Catholic doctrine	the eternal-feminine
Religion					False	arbitrary gods	individual gods	all others	Catholic hierarchy	organized doctrine
Time						circular return	linear world-time	history in eternity	linear personal time	spiral
Audience						listeners	literate Romans	Florence	literate Europeans	posterity
Concept of Person						focus of family roles	focus of civic roles	citizen; image of God	name and personality	focus of choice

Edward Mendelson fecit 2009