The three major changes that I noticed between the translations include the death of Eurydice. The myth tells readers that Eurydice get bit by a snake and dies, but in the play the writer introduces a strange man that leads to Eurydice falling down the stairs and dying. The second major difference that I noticed was the portrayal of the relationship between Orpheus and Eurydice. Ruhl shows that the couple flirts, disagrees, and generally get along very well. Throughout both myths there is no information given about their relationship. Lastly, the main characters were depicted in a variety of ways. In both the Ovid and Bulfinch myths Orpheus is the main character. He is characterized as a very heroic and charming man. In contrast, in Ruhls adaptation Eurydice is the main character as she is illustrated as a very curious and loving woman.
The original depiction of the loving relationship between Orpheus and Eurydice seems unclear. Throughout the myths the only information we receive about their relationship is that they are keen lovers which leads to their marriage. This general lack of knowledge, along with the mystery of Eurydice gives us a gloomy view of what their relationship was actually like. The only
My mind was quickly altered after I read through Ruhl’s version of the play. The first scene was enough to bring up a red flag for me. Orpheus and Eurydice are playing by the water and they seem very flirtatious. Orpheus writes a song for Eurydice in lou of their love for one another. This sense of compassion made both characters more relatable to my own life because it showed that they had human characteristics. This most definitely changed my opinions from the original myth, but I don’t think it really affected the outcome. Although there is a different story line, there are some similar events that contribute immensely to the outcome of the
Visual connection in both Inception and Metamorphoses signals trauma. Cobb’s primary look through the window reflects Orpheus’s glance backwards which causes Eurydice to die a second time. In the flashback scene, Mal closes her eyes when Cobb shouts to her, “Look at me!” The closing of her eyes reverses the Orpheus and Eurydice myth. Here, Mal’s refusal to look toward Cobb causes her death. We see the action through reverse shots between the point of view of Cobb and Mal, heightening the scene’s traumatic nature. However, the camera stays with Cobb’s point of view for longer in scenes where both character interact, especially true when Mal falls from the window ledge as the camera tracks her progress down, mimicking Cobb’s line of sight. Just
One key idea in the books that Ovid explores in great detail throughout book 10 is the idea of love, both tragic and the madness of it. Orpheus is the secondary narrator of most of book 10. At the beginning of the book we are introduced to the tragic love of Orpheus and Eurydice, the result being Orpheus losing his love to the underworld for a second time after a failed attempt to get her back. As a result most of the stories Orpheus tells are of tragic love, like his and his doomed love Eurydice’s. The effect is that the stories of book ten have a structural link in the love theme. We see the lovers of Apollo suffer a similar fates as well as Myrrha and Adonis. All of these stories are linked by love that can be described as tragic as it results in someone’s transformation or downfall. However the love can be presented in another light as well. The love Ovid also explores is worrying or mad love. The love is Ate or madness in the hubris cycle in Greek literature. The love causes many negative things to happen. This is explored in great detail with Myrrha and her love for her father. The love is madness and is presented as an illness that resorts in her breaking the norms of society...
During this class, we’ve read a number of great works written by great people. The three works that are great to compare are “King Lear” by William Shakespeare, “Antigone”, and “Oedopus” both by Sophocles. They are great works to compare because they all have the same theme of death. The stories have many other themes but death seems to be the most prominent one. By death being a prominent theme, main characters died in each of the stories. Theme is the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person’s thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic.
In the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, the two get married but Eurydice quickly perishes. Overcome with grief Orpheus convinces Hades to let him bring back Eurydice to the world of the living. He agrees but on one condition; Eurydice has to walk behind Orpheus and he cannot look back to see if she's following. Orpheus agrees, but when the couple are just about to leave Erebus, Orpheus looks back to see his lover. With a final "Farewell" Eurydice
...es gave verbal permission for Orpheus to take back Eurydice whereas the video employs a more physical sign of permission. Eurydice then tells Orpheus that he must not let Hades see us and do not look behind you. This against contrasts from the original version as it is Hades that mentions he cannot look back at Eurydice as they exit the underworld. Without doubt, Orpheus looks back and catches Hades’ eye. As they exit the club and begin to enter civilization, the lovers run down a series of step that represent the division of the underworld and the mortal world. Thus, the video retold version emphasizes on the theme of hubris and boundaries. The theme of boundaries is coherent to the original story whereas hubris is not mentioned. Moreover, the mood also sets a great divide because the original is much more focused on the grief of losing Eurydice twice instead.
Orpheus cares about Eurydice, his wife, and travels to Hades, god of the underworld, to express his desire to bring her back, despite the fact it had never been done before. “Give me back my wife again,” Orpheus demands. “For [he] will not leave without her-not for all the torments that can be devised.” (Evslin 82). Because of his resolution and willingness to endure, Orpheus is able to convince Hades of a deal to get Eurydice back. A benevolent dance partner such as Orpheus would make a tremendous teammate, since, for success, dancers must trust and rely on one another in dance moves like lifts. However, since Odysseus is inconsiderate, he would steal the spotlight since he is a discourteous partner. Odysseus refuses to follow his men’s ideas and instead wants to see the cave man, which “[is] no pretty sight, it [turns] out, for [his] friends” (Homer 867). Odysseus, knowing his men could be put in danger, makes a vacuous decision revealing he does not care about his men. Having a teammate like Odysseus, who is obstinate and inconsiderate would be atrocious, contrary to Orpheus, who is
Michael J. O’Brien in the Introduction to Twentieth Century Interpretations of Oedipus Rex, maintains that there is “a good deal of evidence to support this view” that the fifth century playwright was the “educator of his people” and a “teacher”. Sophocles in his tragedy, Oedipus Rex, teaches about “morally desirable attitudes and behavior,” (4) and uses three women to help convey these principles of living. This essay will explore the role of women in the drama, the attitude toward women therein, the involvement of women in plot development, and other aspects of women in Oedipus Rex.
The play Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles and translated by Robert Fagles, encompasses well developed characters which reveal much about the culture of Greek society; the quintessential character to show these cultural values is Oedipus. Oedipus’s confrontations with characters such as the Priest, Jocasta, and Creon reveal that he is not only a king, he is also prisoner, plagued by blindness and rage. Throughout the play, Oedipus’s confrontations with Creon, Jocasta, and the Priest bring to light the presence and contrasting lack of Greek cultural values such as intelligence, family, religion, and intelligence embedded in his character.
There once lived an infant boy named Orpheus. He was raised by his mother, whose name was Calliope, and taught Orpheus poetry and music. With the help of Calliope’s sister, Muse, Orpheus grew up to be a master of arts, music, and poetry. When Orpheus played his lyre, the plants on the land, the beast from the harshness of the world, to the gods in the sky would stop and listen. His music would smooth the hearts of the evil, and inspire people from all over the world to do all good deeds. With this musical talent, Orpheus also sailed with Jason to find the lost Golden fleece. He played his part by helping the sailors not lose hope, and encourage them to keep moving.
In the play The Oedipus Play of Sophocles, by Paul Roche, the antagonist, Oedipus, unknowingly commits two dreadful crimes. One of the crimes was murdering his father and he unknowingly married his mother Jocasta. During the marriage, Oedipus, blindly searches for the dead king’s posse of assassins. Ultimately Oedipus begins to question his recalling of the murder he committed and and wonders if he actually killed the king himself. Although Oedipus’s destiny would remain the same his tumultuous past would alter his journey to the final outcome.
Greek theatre was entwined within Ancient Greek society. Multiple didactic, dramatic works were directed and performed for the Greek society, from multiple tragedies invoking thought upon the layered meanings of the work, to the satyr comedies, which provided relief from the dark tragedies, while also educating the audience. Oedipus Rex is a theatrical tragedy directed by Sophocles in which it describes the consequences of King Oedipus’s past. The dramatic work begins ‘in medias res” in which it commences after the Greek myth tale of Oedipus’s homicide, the banishing of the wicked sphinx and his incestuous activity. Oedipus is oblivious of his past sins, and the dramatic tragedy depicts the events leading up to, and regarding his anagnorisis, then the ramifications of committing his immoral crimes. Within Greek tragedies, the narratives presented a catharsis of the main protagonist to the audience in which the protagonist analyses their flaws and results in some form of ‘restoration’ or ‘renewal’ of the protagonist. This was enhanced via the application of the conventions of tragedy which contributes to the emotion that the audience experiences, therefore likewise, their reaction to the catharsis. Generally the catharsis of the protagonist invokes a catharsis of the audience members. The conventions of tragedy were present within each Greek tragedy, most following the same events, however with varying situations and motives. The protagonist must be viewed by both the audience and characters within the play as someone to be admired which causes audiences to identify with them. They must suffer from some form of hamartia which the audience can identify, therefore when the anagnorisis occurs, they can understand the reasoning and avo...
The tragic hero's Oedipus and Othello share a lot of the qualities that lead to their downfall. This paper is meant to convey to the reader the personality characteristics that made Oedipus and Othello's life paths lead astray. Both Character's had people that helped them and people that hindered them. In this paper we will cover both of the character's axis and allies that helped them and hindered them eventually leading to their descent. Ultimately it was the Character's way of looking at the given situation that led to an unforgiving fate.
A tragic hero ,,,hero, is “a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is destined for downfall, suffering, or defeat” (“Tragic Hero”). A tragic hero meets the qualifications it takes to be a hero, however, can never achieve their goals because he or she is consistently going to fail. A tragic hero has an intrinsic flaw, or external forces working against him or her, that will unfailingly cause his or her downfall.
The story of Orpheus and Eurydice is one that has been retold countless times over the years. It started as a Greek myth, later being made into a movie titled Black Orpheus. After reading the myth and watching the movie, it is easy to see that there are far more differences in the two works than similarities. These differences are not only in the way the story is told, but also in the organization of the events that take place and in the description of the characters. The main differences in these two versions of the myth are the role of the characters, the main plot scheme, and the journey into the underworld.
The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. "Orpheus (Greek Mythology)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.