The Character of Criseyde in Troilus and Criseyde
Criseyde is a woman that is easily manipulated by male characters throughout Troilus and Criseyde. Despite being taken advantage of often, she takes advantage of each fall, making it into joy.
The first important passage is when Pandarus first approaches Criseyde on behalf of Troilus. At the beginning on Pandarus' pleading, Criseyde is reluctant to accept Troilus. She has her doubts about the entire affair as any sane girl would. She exclaims that Pandarus is placing a double standard on her by saying she should get to know Troilus knowing his intentions are to love her. "Alas, I would certainly have trusted that if I-through my bad luck-had fallen in love with either Troilus or Achilles, Hector or any other man alive, you wouldn't have had any mercy on me, or restraint, but would have always been reproaching me" (31). If she had been the one in love with Troilus, he would not have been obligated to think twice about her. But as she thinks of the lives of her uncle and Troilus, she decides to give him a chance. ...
Telemachus explains, “Mother wanted no suitors, but like a pack/ they came- sons of the best men here among them“ (II, 53-55). He means no disrespect to the fathers of these men as he refers to their sons as a pack such as that of dogs, but he is explaining that Penelope did not even want these men in her home to begin with, but they came anyway, destroying everything. By saying this in particular instead of just what the suitors are doing he was hopefully sparking a need to protect her from the misbehaviors of the suitors. Telemachus says, “Or did my father, Odysseus, ever do injury to the armed Achaeans? Is this your way of taking it out on me, giving free reign to these young men?” (II, 76-79). Odysseus ruled over Ithaca before leaving to fight in the Trojan war, so in wording it this way Telemachus appeals to their emotions, as if they were leaving the son of a man who had done no harm to them and was a good leader to fend for himself. Behind everything he says there’s a want for pity, he wants the audience to feel sorry for him, so they’ll help him. Also, Telemachus plays to a more selfish side, but nevertheless still an emotional tie to the Greeks by saying, “Think of the talk in the islands all around us,/ and fear the wrath of the gods” (II, 70-71). One’s reputation at this time was vital, without a good reputation there would be nothing to remember them by when they died. Therefore, when he asks
Throughout the tale, Telemachus continually grows into the role of a confident, clever and wise young man, striving to live up to his reputation as Odysseus’ son and Prince of Ithaca. His mother, and Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, is a symbol of marital fidelity, having waited for her husband’s return for twenty long years and refusing to succumb to the Suitors demands that she marry one of them, and instead employing trickery and subterfuge to evade their pressing stipulations. In stark contrast, the Suitors are very static characters, neither growing nor changing in character development throughout the tale. Both Telemachus and Penelope are dynamic characters because their characters grow, develop and change. Through the reading of this epic poem of Odysseus’ ten-year journey, we also gain a keen insight into ancient Greek society, and the social expectations one might encounter. The Greeks were very hospitable and very welcoming, even to foreign outsiders. There is also a great presence of both aristocracy and patriarchy in action appearing in this tale, both key aspects of ancient Greek
Fast forwarding in the epic to the time when Odysseus meets Circe on her island, he was given advice by the god Hermes to take a special potion called Moly to prevent Circe’s magic from affecting him. When she was unable to bewitch him under her magic, he jumped her and threatened to kill her with his blade. Circe instantly submits to Odysseus and offers him sex along with advice for his voyage. After spending a year on her island Odysseus and his crew leave but before doing so, Circe warns him about the dangers of the Sirens and their alluring songs, the dangers of Scylla and her 6 heads and Charybdis the giant
Odysseus’ relations with Circe shows both Odysseus’ loyalty and infidelity. When Odysseus reaches the island of Circe, he tells his shipmates to scout the island and meet Circe. In return Circe turns Odysseus’ scouts into swine. To save them, Odysseus must go to Circe. There, he must threaten and seduce her in order for the pigs to be turned back into men. Odysseus, now being praised by Circe for his resistance to her spell, tells Circe; “If you, you really want me to eat and drink, / set them free, all my beloved comrades– / let me feast my eyes.” (10.425-27) This request of Odysseus shows his loyalty to his crew. Not only did Odysseus ask for his crew, but he asked for his crew before he, himself ate. This l...
Clytemnestra falls into the horrible double standard that women hold in our world and her reputation is tarnished by the misinformation given about her. In Homer’s epic Odyssey Agamemnon labeled Clytemnestra as his ”accursed wife” (Homer 463) who is accused of killing him to be with her supposed lover Aegisthus, but in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon she reveals unapologetically her reasoning for killing her husband, which changes the whole perspective of her character. It is revealed in the play Agamemnon that Agamemnon killed Clytemnestra’s daughter, Iphigeneia, and she seeks revenge on Agamemnon for the death of her child (Agamemnon 1385-1386). Clytemnestra is perceived as evil and cold-hearted in the Odyssey but the information that you gather in
At the start of the book the pigs have ideas of equality and fairness. As at the start of the book Old Major describes his vision of a perfect future without man. He teaches them a song called, ‘Beasts of England’ this helps create the satire of nationalism as the animals sing the song but they don’t truly know the meaning of it. By singing it many times it starts up a revolution and the animals no longer being the rule of Mr Jones. Techniques of imagery are used to show the brightness of the near future, ‘the...
Odysseus is a leader who is smart, strong and stubborn. He uses those traits to get through some bad situations and conflicts. Calypso tries to trick Odysseus to stay with her. He must turn her offer down without offending her or getting her angry. “Can I be less desirable that she is? Less interesting? Less beautiful? Can mortals compare with goddesses in grace and form? “My Lady Goddess, there is no cause for anger my quiet Penelope - how well I know would seem a shade compared to your majesty, death and old age while unknown to you, well she must die. Yet it is true everyday I long for home, long for the sight of home (916).
a different image controlled the animals now. The new pig had new ideas and made the animals feed into what he was dreaming. The new leader made the other pigs believe in something that way not legal in the laws that they lived by before.
Calypso offers Odysseus a passive, peaceful life, “less eventful,” is how she describes it. She is offering a relationship where she will supply all that he needs. What then happens to the warrior hero who loves to share of his adventures as seen with the Phaeaceans ? A life with Calypso would have ultimately crushed the spirit of the man he had been. By sharp contrast, Penelope supported her husband in his efforts to help his friend, Menelaus in the Trojan War.
a real cause. Being the oldest on this farm, I can tell you that the
The character of Criseyde in Troilus and Criseyde is intriguing not only because of the conflicts and tensions she is faced with, but also because of the occasional variations between the type of person she is in her thoughts and the type of person she is when she interacts with Pandarus or Troilus. In her thought she is more independent, self confident and her feelings for Troilus are made evident. Whereas her persona when she’s interacting with Pandarus or Troilus is more reserved and her actions depict her as weak and victim like. In Book II, the passage in lines 695- 765 (pgs. 96-101) reveals Criseyde’s thought process and what specific conflicts she is faced with as she contemplates what her course of action should be regarding Troilus after finding out from her uncle, Pandarus, that Troilus loves her and will die without her. This passage also reveals Criseyde’s view of herself, what she considers to be appropriate behavior, what issues she holds in high regard when deliberating what she should do and most importantly, it shows Criseyde to be a complicated person who isn’t just doing what her uncle says or simply fulfilling the desires of Troilus.
At the outset of Oedipus Rex no female characters are present; the reader sees a king who comes to the door full of curiosity: “Explain your mood and purport. Is it dread /Of ill that moves you or a boon ye crave?” When the priest has responded that the people are despairing from the effects of the plague, the king shows sympathy for his subjects: “Ye sicken all, well wot I, yet my pain, /How great soever yours, outtops it all.” Thomas Van Nortwick in Oedipus: The Meaning of a Masculine Life : “We see already the supreme self-confidence and ease of command in Oedipus. . . . exudes a godlike mastery in the eyes of his subjects. . . .”(21-22); such “godlike mastery” will be his undoing. The critic Ehrenberg warns that it “may lead to ‘hubris’” (74-75). Throughout the drama Sophocles draws out an ongoing contrast between the “godlike mastery” of the king and the softer, more balanced and selfless characteristics of Jocasta, his wife. She is a foil to Oedipus. Shortly thereafter Creon, Jocasta’s brother, is returning from the Delphic oracle with the fateful words of the god’s command: “...
hair and eyes I could stare into all day. I knew instantly I was in
Troilus wasn’t the person to be open and honest about his love for a woman. He was the kind of person to hide behind the sort of feelings he had because of the kind of person that he was. He mocked and made fun of love affairs of others because he is as I would say a little jealous of them. He first sees Criseyde at the temple of Athena. He just falls in love with her.
show it off to their friends, love it, and take care of it, you would feel like