The Problem of Responsibility and the Internal World of Homeric Man

Abstract

In the article "Guilt and Responsibility in the Homeric Epic" [Vina i otvetstvennost' v gomerovskom epose] (VDI, 1962, No. 2, pp. 3-26), we strove to clarify the significance for this problem of those objective, concrete historical conditions in which Homeric man functioned. No it is necessary to consider a second aspect 01 the question: how did the epic author conceive of the internal world of his heroes? Was Homeric man capable of recognizing his own responsibility? For the fact is that the epic here is quite often shown acting under the direct influence of a divinity, who either prompts him with advice or grants him courage and valor. Does this not mean that Homer's heroes are no more than marionettes, their strings pulled by the gods? If this is the case, human responsibility is ruled out a priori. Or, on the other hand, is divine interference merely a tribute to tradition, an "outworn mechanism," in which the gods' "superfluous grinding of their teeth" drowns out the major fascination of Homeric poetry - the depiction of man? (1) If this is the case, Homer's gods must be regarded as an unnecessary appendage tacked onto a psychologically quite-modern description of man, (2) who must bear the full weight of moral responsibility for his behavior.