Cannibals and Vampires in Aeschylus and O'Neill
Aeschylus and Eugene O'Neill have populated their trilogies with cannibals and vampires. Family members feed off one another both literally and figuratively. For the houses of both Agamemnon and Ezra Mannon, this bloodlust is insatiable and inherited, an inescapable curse. A family curse provides the dramatic force necessary to push characters toward pivotal actions and events. At the conclusion of both trilogies the curse is finally broken (or at the very least supplanted). While O'Neill and Aeschylus articulate the destructive and violent effects of the curse in similar terms, each playwright breaks the curse to achieve distinctly different thematic goals. The curse is described and decentered in order to be critiqued.
Both families attempt to consume themselves. A desire for revenge, to enforce a personal code of justice, carries the family curse from generation to generation. The house of Agamemnon is virtually born out of cannibalism. Tantalus, the founder of the house, is tormented eternally in Hades for feeding the gods the flesh of his sons Pelops. Much later, Agamemnon himself is held accountable for his father's cannibalism by Aegisthus. Aegisthus' desire for revenge is overshadowed only by Clytemnestra's thirst for her husband's blood. She speaks of his corpse as a sacrificial animal and likens his blood to wine. Compelled by Apollo, Orestes also carries the curse. He was fed by his mother's milk as a child but now he will only be satisfied with his mother's flesh. Only Orestes and Electra survive.
The Mannon family implodes, leaving only one survivor, Lavinia. The Mannon's self destructive hunger has a sexual tension absent in the Greek trilogy. This incestuous obsession reiterates the self perpetuating nature of their legacy of hatred and violence. They too feed off each others' suffering, yet there is an almost symbiotic need for each member to survive. More like vampires than cannibals, they drain their victims slowly over time. However, no Mannon thrives from this practice. As the action of the play unfolds Ezra and Christine are drained and cast aside. Their deaths, coupled with Orin's death which follows, bring greater suffering to Lavinia not release from responsibility as she might have hoped. Like Orestes she is both an agent and a victim of her family's curse.
Though achieved by different methods, judgment is passed in each play. The family curse will not claim another generation.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” utilize character responsibilities to create a sinister plot. For Hawthorne, protagonist Young Goodman Brown must leave his wife at home while he partakes in a night journey. For Poe, ancillary Fortunato covets a pretentious manner towards his wine tasting skills, and after being ‘challenged’ decides to prove his expertise by sampling Amontillado. Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting, characters, and fate of entrapment.
In Oedipus Rex by Sophocles and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson, there is a deception where readers think one thing, but are presented with a different point of view. They are profoundly similar for various reasons regarding structure and theme. They are complementary in establishing the primary conflict of drama during the storyline; however, Oedipus Rex encompasses foreshadowing that divulges drama from past experiences. Additionally, the authors incorporate violence as a key component in the conflict presented. However, the drama differs in plot, as well as symbolism, in which the reader understands it before or amid the story through gradual discovery. The themes and presentation of these dramatic plots are initially compelling, distinctive,
To be a true disciple of Jesus one must not disown or deny Jesus but
What a Study of Mark's Gospel can Tell Christians About the Nature of Discipleship In Mark's Gospel, the true nature of Discipleship to Christians was giving all that they have in the service of God and of other people. Also giving time and money to help others and requires total commitment. It was important in Mark's Gospel because Christians were being persecuted for their beliefs in Jesus. True Christian Discipleship means being prepared to accept this suffering even if it leads to death. Christian discipleship was reached out to anyone.
with you at all times. To become a Christian you must try and be the
The Meaning of Discipleship In this piece of coursework I will be writing about the meaning of
Orestes pretends to join Aegisthus in an animal sacrifice but murders the usurper and wins over the king's guards to his side. He parades the severed head to Electra, who is elated but not sated. Orestes balks at the idea of killing Clytemnestra, their mother. Electra sends word that she has given birth. Clytemnestra visits and does a rather convincing job of explaining her side to all the famous events, particularly her wrath at Agamemnon for tricking their daughter Iphigenia to her sacrificial death before the Trojan War. She was also less than pleased that Agamemnon brought back Cassandra as his new slave toy. The Chorus is characteristically idiotic: "Your words are just; yet in your 'justice' there remains / Something repellent. A wife ought in all things to accept / Her husband's judgement, if she is wise. Those who will not / Admit this, fall outside my scope of argument" (141). Electra aligns Clytemnestra with her sister Helen. She accuses her mother of primping before the mirror long before Agamemnon's crimes, obviously for someone else. And Electra claims Clytemnestra's rationalizations do not address the persecution of Orestes and herself. Clytemnestra accepts that Electra favors her father, but as to this business of the new baby?
Teachers around the time when Jesus lived thought that learning was such that the people who wanted to learn should come to them to be taught. But Jesus felt differently and rather than waiting for people to come to him, he went out to find them and then chose them to be his followers. He called them disciples and this word means one who learns. But Jesus chose his disciples carefully as we are told in Mark 1:16-20 and also in Mark 3:13-19. In the first passage, Jesus appoints his first four disciples, Simon, Andrew, James and John. Jesus said to them “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (Mark 1:17) In Mark 2:13-17, Jesus calls up the fifth disciple, Levi who was a tax collector, and Jesus later renamed him Matthew. But Levi was not called in the same way as the other four disciples. Jesus was with him at the tax collector’s booth and Jesus simply said, “Follow me” (Mark 2:14) and he rose and followed Jesus.
What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? While I’ve never really thought too much about it, I feel that it’s something that I learned subconsciously while growing up in church. After reading Lee Camp’s Mere Discipleship, I find that a lot of what I believe to be considered a part of being a disciple is in fact true, but I also find my knowledge about the topic to be greatly expanded and mostly cleared up from what I understood before.
Menelaos' brother, Agamemnon, does not have a healthy family relationship. His family is held up to everyone as what a family should not be. It is ironic that the marriages of two brothers, Agamemnon and Menelaos, to two sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra, should be such exact opposite in their outcome. During his absence during the Trojan War, Agamemnon's wife, Clytemnestra, took a lover, Aigisthos. Upon Agamemnon's return, Clytemnestra kills him and his slave-mistress, Cassandra.
for each other and for the people that they see as the weak in society
Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is a frightening and entertaining short story about the severe consequences that result from persistent mockery and an unforgiving heart. Poe’s excellent use of Gothicism within the story sets the perfect tone for a dark and sinister plot of murder to unfold. “The Cask of Amontillado” simply overflows with various themes and other literary elements that result from Poe’s Gothic style of writing. Of these various themes, one that tends to dominant the story as a whole is the theme of revenge, which Poe supports with his sophisticated use of direct and indirect factors, irony, and symbolism.
The Effect of Teaching About Discipleship on Christians Today The teaching of discipleship affects the life of a modern day Christian in many different ways. The teaching of Christian belief, practice, authority, organization and sacrifice affects how a modern day Christian lives his life. Christian belief affects how a modern day Christian lives his life because he must consider how he can show as much belief as the original twelve disciples showed in Jesus and what he did. Belief is shown many times in Mark's gospel.
In the play Oedipus the King, Sophocles affirms that the gods ultimately have the final say to control one’s destiny; however, an individual is solely responsible for the decisions he makes. Approaching near the climax, Sophocles sets up a fundamental conflict of the play, the need for Oedipus and Jocasta to perceive the immutable state of prophecy through the consequences that deliver itself when the gods fulfill their plans for one’s destiny. The messenger even describes the omnipotent power of the gods, and witnesses the augury of death proposed by the supernatural, finally stating:
Discipleship According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a "Disciple" is one who takes another as his teacher and model. Christian Disciples have faith and commitment to God, they use their own time to give service others; they sacrifice their home-life possessions and money. Christian Disciples preach to others about the Good Doings of Jesus and the excellence of God. Christian Disciples resist other temptations.