Hippolytus vs. Pentheus
When arguing the statement, the character of Pentheus in the Bacchae is portrayed as earning his fate, whereas the character of Hippolytus in the Hippolytus is portrayed as an innocent victim of the god, I must both, agree and disagree with it. I would definitely agree with it on a shallow point of view, but would have to disagree with it upon dissecting both the stories. The stories tell of Hippolytus being killed for something he did not do, while Pentheus was killed for not accepting the god Dionysus. But when you look deep into the meaning of each story, the apparent black and white assumptions of innocents and guilt change from definitive to doubt to say the least.
When reading the story of Hippolytus, it would be very easy to label him as an innocent victim. His step mother, Phaedra falls for him, while he promotes celibacy. Instead of being praised for this belief his step mother, who commits suicide was found with a note framing him, telling of his love for her. Upon reading the note, Theseus, his father banishes him and prays to Posiedon to kill him. As Hippolytus leaves, he prays to Zeus to strike him dead if he has sinned and then a wave controlled by Posiedon hits him, almost rendering him dead. Artemis then tells everyone of his innocence, but Hippolytus ends up dying anyway. This may seem like a very open and shut case for him being an innocent victim, but when you look at Hippolytus throughout the story, I tend to think that he wasn't as innocent as he was made out to be. Sure he never was infatuated with Phaedra, but he may have just been a victim of his own pride. Earlier in the story, he is warned to not just devote all his time to worshipping the goddess Artemis, but to...
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...ly lessened in relation to the power of the god, Dionysus. Dionysus continues his show off his power when the initial victim, himself, eventually becomes the aggressor or in simple terms the hunted becomes the hunter.
In conclusion, I believe the stories themselves tell of Pentheus as the deserver of his fate while Hippolytus is shown to be the innocent victim, but I believe the true meaning behind these stories are meant to be interpreted in polar opposites of the initial read through. Hippolytus actually ends up deserving his fate because he sinned against the gods and was too prideful of his own celibacy, while Pentheus was a victim of the social order practiced by humans, in that royalty was thought be above the peasants and strangers. So it seems as though Pentheus was tricked into his fate, while Hippolytus deserved his short comings due to his own faults.
In the story, the supreme ruler of Athens, Thesius ends up marrying Hippolyta, the Queen of the Jungle. However, during the whole story, Hippolyta never throughly discusses her feelings and ideas about the marriage. She acts as if she has no choice but to marry Thesius. This can be proven by examining Hippolyta's position in the relationship between herself and Thesius. Hippolyta was captured by Thesius during battle and Thesius intimidates Hippolyta into marrying him since he is a supreme ruler and she was defeated by him. Thesius reveals that he capture Hippolyta in battle in the following quote, "I wood thee by my sword/ And won thy love doing thee injuries" (Act I, Pg 7). The above quote and the fact that Hippolyta never discusses her feelings about the wedding leads the re...
Odysseus’s revenge towards the suitors, whose only crime was the crime of theft, was unnecessarily cruel, after all, a hero must be able to forgive. It has been twenty years since anyone on Ithaka have seen, or even heard news about Odysseus. Therfore, it would have been perfectly pliable to pronounce him dead. “ He has been gone for twenty years.” The people of Ithaka were all under the impression that Odysseus, has in fact, passed a...
In Philoctetes, the character of Odysseus is portrayed as well accustomed to using deceit for personal gain without much consideration for morality or human compassion. He not only deceives Philoctetes himself, but he has the audacity to con Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, into doing the same. Odysseus's first deception of Philoctetes happens before his second arrival on Lemnos with Neoptolemus. Odysseus and his crew maroon the injured Philoctetes on the island with no one to help him by sneaking away while he is asleep. Odysseus explains their reasons for abandoning him:
This shows that Odysseus’ self-serving nature extends beyond material greed into the equally sinful realm of pride. In a classic display of hubris, Odysseus taunts the Cyclopes fulfilling the sole purpose of stroking Odysseus’s ego. At first it appears that our hero is lacking foresight, but Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name in hopes that tales of his cunning will spread throughout Greece: a very selfish goal, directly resulting in the endangerment of the lives of both him and his men throughout the remainder of their travels.
Oedipus is a tragic hero being that he was a king who had a high position in his community to a person who wished to be released from the city forever. Oedipus says " Cast me out as quickly as you can, away from Thebes, to a place where no one, no living human being, will cross my path" (Sophocles ll. 1697-1699). Oedipus was once a person who citizens looked to for answers to problems, and a person who had control over a whole city. To a person who wished to be banished from a new king of Thebes. The use of tragic hero in the story shows a slow slope of not only his position as king, but a man who loses his family and gains information about his real identity. Sending him to his
Justice is generally thought to be part of one system; equally affecting all involved. We define justice as being fair or reasonable. The complications fall into the mix when an act of heroism occurs or morals are written or when fear becomes to great a force. These complications lead to the division of justice onto levels. In Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Plato’s Republic and Apology, both Plato and Aeschylus examine the views of justice and the morality of the justice system on two levels: in the city-state and the individual. However, Plato examines the justice system from the perfect society and Aeschylus starts at the curse on the House of Atreus and the blood spilled within the family of Agamemnon.
Moreover, Oedipus commits the sinful acts of parricide and incest in ignorance which further buys sympathy for him by mitigating his responsibility in the errors committed by him. Thus, Sophocles shows that Oedipus is not only admirable but also innocent; his pride is presented as an intellectual rather than a moral shortcoming leading to Oedipus' moral innocence winning not just the sympathy but also the hearts of the audience.
From this excerpt, the killing of the suitors is compared to a large fisherman’s catch. This being Odysseus’ doing, it is apparent that Odysseus killed many men, most of whom were practically innocent, his own people. Because of this, it creates another point that Odysseus could not be a hero, as Odysseus was killing many men who were involved only as accomplices of Antinous, in a bloodthirsty
Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound portrays a greek god detained by a superior for disobedience against the latter’s rule. On the other hand in Euripides’ Hippolytus portrays lust and vengeance of the gods and the extent that they can go to to avenge it.
In the play,Hippolytus hates women. He openly insult women and thinks low of them. However, Hippolytus conception explain why he hates women so much. Hippolytus parents were of king theseus and an amazon. Hippolytus was raised by his Thesis. However, His mother abandoned him. Hippolytus did not have mother. He did not have some to teach him to respect women and he did not have a women to respect, thus why he acts the way he does, and makes people feel sorry for him, thus validating the
The trial of Socrates in Athens is both similar and different from the trial of Jesus of Nazareth. The trials could be compared in three main areas: the evidence and reasons provided for their executions, their last messages to their accusers, and the two leaders’ thoughts about their impending deaths. For both figures, there is no evidence to support their convictions and they are convicted for similar reasons, though Jesus is given less time to defend himself. Both Jesus and Socrates warn their accusers that they will suffer for their actions. However, Jesus views his accusers as ignorant and Socrates views his as vengeful. Both men conclude that it is G-d’s will for them to die. However, Socrates is more secure about death than Jesus. Despite the differences that exist between the two trials, Socrates and Jesus face similar predicaments and deal with death in comparable ways.
During the dialogue, Euthyphro defines, “Piety means prosecuting the unjust individual who has committed murder or sacrilege, or any other such crime, as I am doing now, whether he is your father or mother or whoever he is.” Given this Euthyphro overarching principles can be summarized as divine law requires to prosecute the offender no matter who she or he is. Also, the ideology should be what befits humans as well. Socrates is fine with how Euthyphro accounts the factual evidence of his father’s misguided acts. What Socrates takes problem is how Euthyphro uses greek mythology to highlight that taking action against your parents is the correct direction of action. Due to the fact that mythology isn’t confirmed to be true in any sense, socrates feels as though this is extremely inappropriate. Euthyphro actions should be based on divine law with results in him being impious. Socrates ultimate principles can be summarized as respect for parents should be the ultimate law combined with whatever does not befit the gods shouldn’t befit everyone else. Insert another
When a person is accused of a crime they are either found innocent or guilty. This is the basic idea of justice and it is what many feel needs to happen if someone has done something controversial. In the play The Oresteia by Aeschylus, the story of Clytemnestra guilt or innocents is questioned. She does many things that people are not too happy with and those controversial actions throughout the story, mainly in the first part Agamemnon get her into the trouble. As we explore the case that builds against her innocents by exploring the killings of Agamemnon and Cassandra and the boastful expression about the killings.
◦I think that when Philoctetes did not kill Pyrrhus was a greater impact than if he were to kill him because then if he decided to kill Pyrrhus, he would have been going against his original statement in towards Pyrrhus that murder was only a blood thirsty act of a beast, and by killing him, it would have ruined his reputation around the camp and it would also put a heavy blanket of guilt on his conscious.
In the play Oedipus we can see how Oedipus innocence leads him to his tragic destiny. The main universal conflict is man vs himself. Tiresias, or the wise old man plays a curtail part . Tiresias is ancient, but knows all...he appears in the story to advise Oedipus. As Tiresias said in a menacing tone, “How terrible it is to know...no good comes of knowing,”(Sophocles 14). If Oedipus just would just have put his curiosity to the side maybe things would have not taken such a harsh turn. Oedipus is the tragic hero who is blinded by his own innocence. In addition, his anger and stubbornness which is part of morals/personality is a key detail. This leads to him killing his father unknowingly at a young age fulfilling the prophecy and contributing to the resolution. Another archetype that is relevant is that of Laios and Jocasta which is bad parenting. They get rid of Oedipus as a child and by doing this they play out the prophecy. This shows their clearly shows how ignorant they are. Instead of taking on the “problem” they simply throw it away and let it grow up into a even bigger problem. This is prime example of a key detail contributing to the tragic hero’s journey. If it was not for abandoning Oedipus he would have not have been presented the same situations, thus leading to the end resolution. Since the key details were presented in this way they molded their morals thus giving us the tragic