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The Hollow Horse One of the main stories told throughout Greek mythology is the story of the Trojan War. In the story, the Greeks and The Trojans battle for the fair Helen. When it appeared that the Greeks had lost, they set sail, leaving behind a wooden horse. When Troy decided that they were victorious, … Read more
Antigone written by Sophocles, speaks about the power struggle between Antigone and her Uncle Creon who is the King of Thebes. Both characters seemed to have their own beliefs in how Antigone’s brother Polyneices should be buried. With both Creon and Antigone being strong-willed individuals, they refrain from changing their morals for anyone. As the … Read more
In most Greek tragedies, the writer uses the chorus as a tool to comment on action in the play. The chorus does not play an active role in the story, such that if they were removed from the work, the plot would not be affected. However, in Oresteia, Aeschylus does not keep to this traditional … Read more
Symbolism is a reoccurring theme in the Iliad; one commonly takes note that after the death of Patroclus, Achilles’ old armor transforms from representing “divine Achilles” to the symbolism of death, or Patroclus symbolizing the sacrificial servant. Although the symbolism between Achilles’ old and new armor is often scrutinized, one may notice a reoccurring resemblance … Read more
What makes a character in a story different from any other character? While reading epic novels about the Anglo-Saxon culture and epic heroes, a character’s characterization and his development of characterization set him apart from the other characters in the novel. There are multiple ways that characterization developed while using a different literary element present … Read more
Antigone: an analysis on Power, Authority and Truth In Sophocles’ play Antigone, Kreon, the warrior King may overrule Antigone, a mere woman’s, struggle for political power, but can he match Antigone’s resistance in a fight for political authority? Political power in a state rises from the presence of a force that exerts dominance. The public’s … Read more
Who was Rhea? Rhea was an Earth Goddess, responsible for the fertility of the soil, women and motherhood. She took over most of these responsibilities from her mother Gaia/Gaea. Rhea was the “Mother of the Gods”, her name means “flow” and “ease”. Rhea was the goddess of motherhood and not only that she saved her … Read more
We face moral dilemmas every day of our lives—whether it’s giving money to a homeless man or taking a peek at a peer’s chemistry test. Fortunately, the stakes aren’t high. The tragic figures of Hamlet, The Once and Future King, and Oedipus experience moral quandaries, too; only these characters struggle instead with violence, murder, and … Read more
Sophocles makes frequent use of seafaring imagery in his Oedipus the King, creating new perspectives from which to view its characters and cities. Oedipus tells the story of a king undone by a lack of faith in prophesy, the king of a people in need of spiritual rescue. Arrogant Oedipus is reduced to a wretch … Read more
Urban legends are mythical stories involving occurrences of the recent history. These stories often include elements of humor and horror that spread quickly and are commonly believed to be true; they typically echo humanity’s deepest fears or concerns. An urban legend can be retold with different settings and characters, but the central theme or idea … Read more
Zeus, the King of the Gods, was having an affair with the goddess of the harvest, Demeter. They conceived a beautiful goddess named Persephone. Demeter was very protective of her daughter, keeping her naive to the ways of the world and dressing her as a child, even as she grew into a women. She meant … Read more
The Greek rationalists’ search for the meaning of life through rational thought instead of the traditional legends marked the first radical shift from mythos to logos. While there was no clean break with either traditional religion or belief in the supernatural, Greek thought as a whole during the 7th- through 5th-centuries increasingly trended towards a … Read more
Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood is a powerfully unsettling novel concerning a lost man in the grotesque, dark world of the American South. Published in 1949, Wise Blood’s protagonist Hazel Motes serves as a reflection of the power of mythology that continues to assert itself in O’Connor’s text. Throughout the course of the novel, Hazel Motes’s … Read more
In his Iliad, Homer uses the character of Diomedes to personify his definition of effective leadership, often juxtaposing him with the unproductive and cowardly Agamemnon. Homer believes that the bravery to assert one’s opinions and the willingness to act independently, even against authority, constitutes a successful leader. After suffering severe casualties and losses at the … Read more
Pandora: The first mortal goddess The Pandora’s Box myth focuses much of its efforts towards exploring the curiosity which intrigues individuals of all gender (both men and women). Immediately Pandora decides to open the box given to her by her father, the outcomes are vivid depictions of her being a woman who brought evil to … Read more
Odysseus exemplifies adventure, courage, and the values of the Greeks, but does that make him a hero? An epic hero is not only a personification of that culture but also the best version of that culture. The Odyssey is a narrative poem that was sung by Homer. The Odyssey takes place after the fall of … Read more
The God Apollo Introduction: Mythology is everywhere. In fact it has such a grip on our world that our lives would be very different without it. Mythology is the subject of myths and legends, normally dealing with imaginary creatures. Myths have been told since the beginning of time. The purpose of these myths is to … Read more
Although Euripides was known for his propensity to challenge tradition and complacency, his Medea was quite controversial when it was introduced in 431 B.C. in Classical Greece (ca. 479-323 B.C. ). Athenian society, a man’s world by organization, had no place for women outside of the home. When a girl was young, she was ruled … Read more
Throughout the Iliad, conflict commonly arise between characters regardless of whether they are allies, close friends, or enemies; many of these conflicts arise due to issues involving pride, power, glory, and honor. In Book Nine of the Iliad, Agamemnon’s embassy utilizes logos and ethos in order to convince Achilles to rejoin the Greeks in battle. … Read more
As a kind of collective character onto itself, the Chorus in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex assumes multiple functions and qualities that, together, effectively blur the lines between the private and public spheres of the drama. Evidenced in the text by their roles as observers and instigators, as well as social commentators, and then in the film-version … Read more
What lends tragic literature its proximity to human nature is that the border between being a tragic villain and a tragic hero is extremely thin. A question that this statement will certainly bring up is whether there is such a thing as a hero or a villain or whether these terms are defined by the … Read more
What makes a Hero? Being known as a hero is a great honor. You are held in high esteem by people all over the world. You have great fame and sometimes even great fortune. But to become a hero is a challenging path. It requires you to have great strength of character, being honorable and … Read more
In “Oedipus Rex,” the chorus represents the voice of the average citizens and contributes insight that cannot be communicated by the other characters in the play. The chorus moves along the story by announcing the arrival of characters and answering questions that help the plot progress. Sophocles also utilizes a chorus because it helps the … Read more
In Greek mythology, the Sphinx was a female monster with the body of a lion, the head and breast of a woman, eagle wings and according to some, a serpent’s tail. Many people know the myth of the Sphinx as a monster who devours all who fails to solve her riddle. She was sent by … Read more
Translations of Sophocles’ play are generally interpreted in one of two ways, ‘Oedipus Rex’, meaning Oedipus the King, or ‘Oedipus Tyrannus’, meaning Oedipus the Tyrant. The exact distinction between the two titles is undefined, though through the lens of Socrates’ five characterizations of the soul, the readers can identify what type of man he is. … Read more
In describing the characters of Odysseus and Oedipus, Homer and Sophocles both avoid defining these men by typical physical characteristics such as stature or distinctive facial features. Instead, these authors focus on detailing specific bodily wounds that function as embodiments of each character’s identity. Parallel plotlines in The Odyssey and Oedipus the King reveal the … Read more
Achilles, the swift, godlike warrior of Greek lore, is among the most complex of Homer’s epic characters. Achilles and his ill-fated tendon figure prominently in the Western archetypal notion of a tragic hero; however, the application of the term “hero” to the Achaean fighter is disputable. Homer creates in Achilles a character that challenges the … Read more
How far is it true to say that Medea loses her identity throughout Euripides’ Medea. Perhaps in order to address this title, it is necessary to look for a definition of ‘identity’. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as ‘individuality, personality… absolute sameness’. The question now becomes firstly does Medea the character change fundamentally in … Read more
She was a Greek Titan Goddess, she was the Goddess of motherhood, and fertility. She took over most of her traits from her mother Gaia Goddess of earth. She was known as the “Mother of God” because she was the mother of the most powerful Titan Gods. Rhea was known as my Goddess such as … Read more
Athena and Venus Athena, the goddess of wisdom, rose from Zeus’ head clad in full armor. Zeus had swallowed his wife Metis in fear that she would give birth to a son that would overthrow him as he had overthrown his father Kronos. Athena was frequently thought of as a man because she did not … Read more
Types of Blindness Life is full of things that humans wish to forget. Using blindness as a buffer from reality is a natural response to dangerous stimuli. The types of blindness are easily classified into many categories. These classifications make understanding stories and characters much better. The characters in Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and The … Read more
Odysseus: A Realistic Barbaric Hero The ancient hero, often being assumed to be a beacon of perfection and civilization among the hordes of barbarians, is considered by modern standards to be less perfect, but more realistic. In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, the main protagonist, Odysseus, is meant to be seen as a … Read more
The Iliad: Book and Film Comparison The Iliad became adapted into a film during 2004 called Troy, in which the story was both dramatically and subtly changed in its adaptation. A major difference in the film was that there were no intervening or actions of the gods whatsoever, whereas in the book, the gods were … Read more
At first glance, the system of ethics presented by Euripides in his masterpiece Medea seems to parallel the systems found in several other tragedies of ancient Greek theatre. This system of helping friends and harming enemies, which recurs throughout many of tragedians’ works, attempts to rationalize the excessive violence and hostility (Blundell 1989). This system … Read more
Aristotle’s passage Poetics (350 BC) was written the century after the composition of Sophocles Oedipus the King (428 BC). Despite their chronological separation, the two texts relate in incisive ways. In particular, Aristotle used Oedipus as the foundation for his explanation theory. For Aristotle, a tragedy must have certain characteristics that Oedipus the King contains … Read more
Oedipus Rex is a play written by Sophocles a great Greek play writer. It is perhaps from one of the great tragedies written in the history. Here the question arises what is a tragedy? Tragedy, a branch of drama that treats in a serious and dignified style the sorrowful or terrible events encountered or caused … Read more
“Anyone who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two causes, either from coming out of the light or from going into the light,which is true of the mind’s eye, quite as much as the bodily eye; and he who remembers this when he … Read more
Cassandra’s final monologue in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon plays a transformative role in terms of the movement of the plot and, upon close examination, functions as a key for many of the tragedy’s larger themes. She begins by equating prophecy, be it the physical act or the emotional ramifications of foreknowledge of events, with intense pain. ‘Oh, … Read more
Frank Kermode writes in his book The Genesis of Secrecy “We are most unwilling to accept mystery, what cannot be reduced to other and more intelligible forms. Yet that is what we find here: something irreducible, therefore perpetually to be interpreted; not secrets to be found out one by one, but Secrecy” (143). Sophocles’ play … Read more
As some may know, Till We Have Faces is far from being C.S. Lewis’ most beloved work nor is it the most accessible. However with the central story of the broken protagonist, Orual, we get a glimpse into Lewis’s interpretation of how souls are often damned by their own excessive desires. For Orual, her main … Read more
The Greek goddess Athena was the goddess of wisdom and war. She was one of the most powerful goddesses. She was known for her strategic skill in war. Also, for being fierce and courageous in battle. Athena’s parents are Zeus and Metis. There’s a myth that says she was born from Zeus’s head. The story … Read more
Homer’s Iliad tells the tale of how Achilleus, the all-powerful warrior of the Achaian army, turned the tides of the Trojan War following a dispute with Agamemnon, the king of Mycenae. While this story does not serve as a telling of the commencement or conclusion for this great war, much like its companion piece The … Read more
Who is Medusa? Many parts of the myth suggest, through its basic obscurity, the tragic nature of Medusa. Even though the gifts that Medusa was given was the gift from Athena to Asclepius of two drops of Gorgon’s blood. One of the drops has the power to cure and even resurrect, while the other is … Read more
Andromache, one of the few female characters in the Iliad, is part of perhaps one of the tenderest sections of Iliad. Along with Helen, she is the only other mortal woman to have any substantial speaking lines in the entire epic. Unlike women in general in the Iliad, Andromache’s role goes beyond being just another … Read more
Writing towards the end of the twentieth century, German literary scholar Hans Wagener reflects on the deep resonance of war literature, stating: “When we think about certain periods of history, epoch-making books come to mind that capture the spirit of those times most vividly”. Indeed, literary expressions of the Great War have performed a crucial … Read more
Prompt 2 – The Humbling of Odysseus The Odyssey presents its readers with many moments of grief – Penelope grieves over the possible loss of her husband, Telemachus is riddled with the grief the suitors give him by trying to take over his missing father’s estate. Perhaps the most striking example of grief is during … Read more
Consider how conflict is an essential element in two of the short stories you have studied. Conflict is of huge significance to every story, whether it be a scuffle among teammates or a full-scale war. The stories chosen to be discussed in this essay are The Sniper and My Oedipus Complex. These stories have been … Read more
Aristotle’s favorite tragedy was Oedipus the King by Sophocles. The play begins with the Laius and Jocasta, the king and queen of Thebes. Upon the birth of their son, Oedipus, an oracle proclaims that he will kill his father and marry his mother. Petrified the king and queen abandon their son to die in the … Read more
The Iliad by the Greek poet Homer is a patriarchal epic led by fearless men with a supporting cast of female characters. In Greek society, women are either a man’s prized possession or a man’s impediment and are the symbol of masculine pride. In the Iliad, Homer illustrates that these women have depth and that … Read more
In Homer’s epic ballads The Iliad and The Odyssey, Achilles and Odysseus are the outstanding saints. Achilles battles Hector outside the dividers of Troy since Hector executed his closest companion, Patroclus. In the wake of battling in the Trojan War, Odysseus goes up against an excursion to return back to Ithaca to see his significant … Read more