Gods in Homer are used for comic effect where as the gods in Virgil have a more serious role. Discuss.

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Gods in Homer are used for comic effect; only in Virgil do they perform a serious purpose. Discuss.

In the Odyssey, I don’t feel that the gods serve any more a comical purpose than they do in the Aeneid. The role of the gods is in fact very serious, and very significant. For example, Athene is constantly following Odysseus, checking up on him and trying to help him. More specifically, she makes him appear handsome and more approachable at key moments, she pleads on his behalf at the council of the gods and she watches over the battle with the suitors in the hall, as Mentor and the bird on the ceiling. In Virgil’s work, he creatively imitates this act of divine protection; Venus also looks out for Aeneas, by making him more handsome at important stages and standing up for him, this time during the prophecy of Jupiter. She also gets a shield crafted for him. However in the book entitled Dido, in the Aeneid, we are shown that Venus isn’t as serious about protecting Aeneas, as Athene is about Odysseus, because Juno suggests that Dido and Aeneas marry to bring peace between the Trojans and Tyrians. Venus knows that Juno is just trying to keep the Trojans from going to Italy but she lets the plan go ahead anyway, perhaps because she wants to see the result of the change to plan.

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The gods seem further more serious in the Odyssey for the reason that, after Calypso has released Odysseus; they are all, apart from Poseidon, willing to get Odysseus back home to appease the fates. This means that they are performing a serious purpose. Zeus too at one point, like Poseidon, tries to hinder Odysseus. However both Zeus and Poseidon have a right to revenge, Zeus because Odysseus has offended the gods, and his men have eaten cattle of the son-god, and Poseidon because Odysseus has blinded his son, and failed to make any sort of sacrifice or acknowledgement to him. ...

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