American poet Audre Lorde once wrote, “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” Throughout history, there have often been instances where people reject people or things who seem ‘alien’ and foreign to themselves and their own culture, often causing war and bloodshed. In The Odyssey written by Homer, The Man of Law’s Tale from The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer, and The Spanish Inquisition edited and translated by Lu Ann Homza, there are characters or accounts of stories about real individuals who attack those who are different from themselves because of their own selfish motivations, such as wanting to return home safely or simply just fearing change from entering their lives.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew stumble upon the Island of the Cyclopes, where they encounter Polyphemus, a cyclops who is the son of Poseidon. Homer does not describe the cyclopes kindly, calling them uncivilized and stating that they don’t really have much respect for the gods, or anyone for that matter. Polyphemus, with no sort of hospitality present, immediately eats two of Odysseus’ men. The cyclops continues to attack the men for his own selfish reasons, trapping them within a cave and eating them one by one, making them his meal. Odysseus and his men decide to fight back, not wanting to be the next ones to be killed and hoping to reach home safely. Odysseus comes up with a plan, telling the cyclops that his name is “Noman” and giving him wine to make him intoxicated, causing him to pass out. The group then creates a wooden stake out of Polyphemus’ walking stick that they use to blind the cyclops, driving it into his eye while he is passed out. They then disguise themselves using the herd of sheep that the cyclops takes care of and escapes when he moves the rock in front of the cave’s entrance the next morning. Although Polyphemus tries to call out for help, the other cyclopes on the island do not answer, as they do not understand why he is shouting that “Noman” is attacking him.
The suitors are another form of ‘alien’ that are presented by Homer in The Odyssey. Although they are human and not technically ‘monsters,’ they still do not belong where they are in the story. The suitors enter Odysseus’ home in Ithaca while he is presumed to be dead with intentions to marry Penelope and take over his fortune. They don’t show any respect for Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, or Penelope for that matter, destroying their home, eating all their food, and abusing their hospitality for years and years. In a way, Penelope attack them, but in more of a figurative manner. In order to fight off their advances, she states that she will not choose one of the suitors to marry until she finishes weaving a cloth she is creating to bury Laertes, Odysseus’ father, in. Every night for years, Penelope would weave and unweave this cloth to avoid marrying one of these terrible men, holding out hope that one day, Odysseus would return. “The young man sat there, just about to lift his golden goblet, swirling wine around, ready to drink. He had no thought of death…Odysseus aimed at his throat, then shot” (Wilson 476). The suitors do not even have a second thought about the terrible way they are treating their hosts, but eventually, they get what they deserve for their behavior. Once he returns, Odysseus slays the suitors because they have taken advantage of his family and his home, and they pose a threat to his return.
In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer presents individuals who resist those who seem different from themselves using religion. The Man of Law tells a tale that features a character by the name of Constance, the beautiful daughter of a Roman emperor who is extremely pious when it comes to her Christian faith. Much like Penelope and the suitors in The Odyssey, Constance does not have much of a choice when it comes to marriage. Constance is forcefully betrothed to a Sultan from Syria who becomes infatuated with her and promises that he and his court will convert to Christianity just so he can marry her. The two do get married, which enrages the Sultan’s mother. She states, “What will this new faith bring us, if not ill? Bodily suffering and remorse, bondage, and afterwards to be dragged down to hell for renouncing Mahomet and our faith!,” (Chaucer 125). Because of this fear that this new faith will overpower her people, the sultaness, along with a few of her closest lords, decides to plan the downfall of these newly converted Christians. When they all arrive, they have a banquet to celebrate the marriage. Instead of a celebration, however, the newly-wed couple receives a bloodbath. Each and every one of the Christians, including the sultaness’ son, is stabbed and hacked to death. Constance is the only one who is spared, and she is sent away on a ship where she spends her time floating through the sea for three years. Nothing, not even the love a mother should have for her own son, could save these individuals from the sultaness’ wrath.
Unfortunately, Constance does not get to live a happy life after this incident, as Chaucer makes her face another difficult situation. After Constance drifts off to sea, she ends up in a castle where she meets King Alla. After being falsely accused of a murder and being declared innocent, the two get married. Constance discovers that she is pregnant while the king is away in battle, so she sends a messenger to tell him the good news. This message is intercepted by Donegild, King Alla’s mother who dislikes Constance because she feels like she is tainting the family’s royal bloodline. She even goes as far as calling her a “strange and foreign creature,” making Constance the outsider of the family (Chaucer 135). She falsifies a letter to King Alla, writing that the baby that Constance has given birth to is some sort of a monster with deformities. While the king is upset, he writes a letter back stating that he is leaving everything in the hands of God. Donegild once again intercepts the message and rewrites King Alla’s letter, making it state that Constance and her son are to be banished from the kingdom. When he returns, King Alla discovers the truth and kills his mother, eventually reuniting with Constance and his child in her homeland.
Attacks such as the ones previously presented do not only happen in stories, but also in real life as well. The Spanish Inquisition occurred from 1478-1614 and was started when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella established a force to “purify” the people of Spain and rid them of heresy, ensuring that everyone living in the country was of the Christian faith. Like the sultaness in the Man of Law’s tale, they feared that other religions, especially Judaism, would taint their community. There are numerous documents recounting the trials that those who were accused of practicing Judaism after undergoing conversion had to face. Individuals who were originally Jewish but converted were known as conversoes. There were quite a few reasons that one would be accused of secretly practicing Judaism. These reasons included eating meat during Lent for no reason, not eating pork, observing the Sabbath on Saturdays, not attending Mass on Sundays and eating unleavened bread on Passover. Marina Gonzalez was one of these people who was accused of heresy and apostasy–the abandonment of one’s religion. One of the main pieces of evidence they brought against her was that she had no images of religious figures, such as saints, or crucifixes in the home. Some witnesses claimed that they never saw Gonzalez doing work on Saturdays, besides some light chores. Pedro de Teva, a friend of Gonzalez’s husband, also claimed that he never saw her eat pork and that she would even excuse herself from the table if the family was eating it for dinner. One of the most bizarre reasons for her accusation was the face that she possessed a little red skirt that she would wear from time to time. The color scarlet was banned by a Reverend where she resided, but not any other variations of red cloth. A man by the name of Diego Tellez provides his own defense for Marina Gonzalez during the trial. “The proof that the venerable prosecutor adduced against her has not impeded our case” (Homza 42) Tellez provides a number of reasons for this conclusion. For one, she actually did own images of of saints, St. Catherine in particular, and a cross of St. Anthony. She would also work on the Sabbath, cooking and doing other domestic duties. Tellez states that many of the witnesses that testified against Gonzalez used hearsay and small incidents to back-up their case and even included false testimonies, and therefore, they aren’t extremely reliable. Many of these witnesses were neighbors of Gonzalez that could have been jealous of her life and wanted to testify against her out of hatred. Unfortunately, Marina Gonzalez was water tortured after she would not confess and eventually declared guilty. In many cases, individuals were declared guilty even though the testimonies against them were not strong because the Christians were so paranoid about the Jewish population becoming more powerful than them and taking over their monarchy.
Although it has been decades since these works were written and these events occurred, there hasn’t been much change in society, and people continue to turn away those who are different from their own ‘kind.’ Today, including in the United States, those who try to integrate into new societies are often attacked and turned away as they try to be a part of different places that would be safer for them. While it is necessary to protect oneself in some cases, such as in Odysseus’ situation, in other cases, the motivation are just selfish paranoia. Perhaps in the future, it will become more acceptable for individuals to cross borders and be accepted by those around them despite their differences.
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