Echoing the words of Alfred Loisy, Alfred says, “It seems obvious to me that the notion of God has never been anything but a kind of ideal projection, a reflection upward of the human personality” (http://www.brainyquote.com). Selfishness and its roots is a significant theme that is apparent in several Greek myths and portrays what is universally human. Selfishness, the act of being concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself, often stems from the basic requisite of self-preservation and personal needs or desires. Throughout the novel, Mythology by Edith Hamilton, a handful of Greek myths display the shared trait between humans and the gods and goddesses. In particular, throughout the myth “Perseus” a noteworthy theme of selfishness impacts the actions of several characters in the myth. In the myth, King Acrisius, father of Danae, is forewarned about his future death by the hands of his daughter’s son. However, once Acrisius learns of this devastating news and in an attempt to prevent his death, he imprisons his very own daughter. In the novel, Mythology, Edith Hamilton states, “The easy way to escape that fate was for the king to have Danae instantly put to death-taking no chances, but seeing to it himself. This Acrisius would not do. His fatherly affection was not strong, as events proved, but his fear of the gods was. They visited with terrible punishments those who shed the blood of kindred. Acrisius did not slay his daughter” (Hamilton 198). This shows how the simple threat to one’s life can have such a momentous influence on a person. The necessity to first protect oneself, even in Greek mythology, brought out a gruesome form of selfishness, which is similar in humans today. Later in the myth, Polydectes, Danae’s fi... ... middle of paper ... ...resent among Greek humans, Greek gods, and Greek goddesses in the past, contributes to the idea of jealousy displaying what is universally human today. The brunt of jealousy can clearly tear apart a family whether it is Greek or human, and according to the myth of “Perseus”, it seems to prove that Greek gods can be jealous of Greek humans, as well. In “Perseus”, Perseus is sent on a quest to defeat and kill Medusa, a Gorgon. At one point in her life, Medusa was gorgeous, however her precious gift of beauty later turned into an accusation and the cause of her becoming a gorgon. When Athena stripped Medusa of her beauty, it was because of all the wonder and admiration that the people had for Medusa and her beauty. Convinced that this was why people were not praying for her and the reason why her temples were empty, Athena took the liberty of making Medusa a gorgon.
What is a hero? The book Mythology by Edith Hamilton has a lot of heroes and most of them have 2 things in common. The heroes are in their own ways superior whether it be strength, intelligence, and/or courage. The second thing they have in common is a quest that establishes their greatness and proving that they are good enough to be called heroes. The catch is that even though they may have the characteristics of a hero, not all of them are epic heroes.
As one of the most well known ancient Roman love poets, Ovid has demonstrated bountiful talents within his writing. When reading myths from his book titled Metamorphoses, you gain an enlightening insight of how he viewed mythology. To Ovid, love was the origin of everything. Therefore, it should not come as a surprise that most of his poems relate to the theme of love. However, not all poets are the same and every re-telling of a myth has its own unique perspective. In this paper I will compare and contrast the myth of Medea in Euripides Medea and Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 7. I will then explain how Ovid’s approach to love and loss correlate to his general approach to myth as a whole. I will support my belief with evidence from Ovid’s Metamorphoses Book 14.
"Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race,” as quoted by William E. Gladstone, supports my thought that selfishness is what causes most of our problems in the modern world. Currently, we are living in an era that is filled with much gluttony and selfishness. However, selfishness is a trait that all of us possess, but the amount of selfishness that we have can determine the type of person we are. For instance, parents should always put their children’s needs before their own. Selfish parents would rather buy materialistic items for themselves than anything useful for their children. In Sophocles’s “Oedipus Rex,” the protagonist is literally blinded by his own arrogance. This attitude begins before he even travels to Thebes, and that is apparent due to the circumstances of his father’s death. Oedipus seals his own fate with his egotistical attitude and he cannot change his destiny after everything is set into motion. During his journey on the road to enlightenment, Oedipus’s selfishness causes him to transcend from being completely ignorant of his fate to holding on to the last shreds of denial to having an overwhelming sense of realization.
Aeschylus’ tragic trilogy, the only play to survive from Ancient Greece, repeatedly calls our attention upon a central concept of justice: justice as revenge. This is a relatively simple concept, with a powerful emotional appeal, linking vengeance to the family and their feelings for each other and for their collective honor. However, one must look past this superficial theme in order to fully appreciate and understand the depth and beauty of Aeschylus’ work, and regard it as a philosophical investigation into the concepts of justice rather than a great artistic fiction or a poetic exploration. The former approach is unfortunate because the Oresteia is not a rational argument. It is, on the other hand, an artistic exploration of abstract and theoretical issues. What matters in this case is the complexity of the feeling that emerges from the characters, the imagery, the actions, and the ideas in the story. In other words, the writer is dealing with a case of how human bei...
Euripides’ plays Hippolytus, The Bacchae and Iphigenia at Aulis all revolve around the journey of key characters that fail to show respect to various deities within the Greek Pantheon. This disrespect, in all three plays, is met out with retaliation from the gods themselves, thus effecting those that disrespected them as well as their families. To convey these tales Euripides implements many themes, one such theme being divine retaliation. Euripides’ use of the theme of divine retaliation provides a stark illustration of the Greek Pantheon striving to prove their superiority relentlessly and gives insight into their merciless use of mortals as pawns to achieve this.
Some explanations actually see Perseus and Medusa as being symbolic. Some claim that Perseus symbolized the reason and good in our souls and that Medusa symbolized the bad and evil desires that transform reason and wisdom to stone in people. They say that she was very ungodly. Because of that she served as a warning against people misusing the gifts that God graciously gives us or dishonoring God by our pride. Medusa was very proud of her beauty and especially her hair. As is explained in the myth, her hair got turned into snakes and she would turn anyone to stone
The story of Medusa and Perseus is known as one of the top thriller tales in Greek Mythology. To begin, Medusa is one of three sisters, Sthenno and Euryale. However, she is the only mortal one. Originally, Medusa had golden, long, beautiful hair. She was Athena’s Priestess and swore to a celibate life. Later on, Medusa met Poseidon, fell in love with him and completely forgot about her vows to Athena. The Goddess Athena was so infuriated that she turned Medusa into a hideous looking monster. Her golden locks became venomous snakes and her face became so grotesque that any God or immortal to look into her eyes would become a statue of stone. Athena did this so Medusa would not attract any man. The same came for her sisters because Poseidon
By examining the clash of the two primary values found in Sophocles’ Antigone, one can infer that the citizens of ancient Greece were heavily conflicted in their views regarding the importance of loyalty to the state. Some felt that the loyalty to the state trumps all other values, while others maintained that this is not necessarily the case for every situation. Sophocles clearly supported the latter idea and chose to use the value of loyalty to one’s family in order to illustrate an example. At the same time, he used the conflict of these two values to demonstrate the challenges faced by individuals in positions of power. The story depicted by Sophocles provides insight into a point of contention within the society of ancient Greece and displays the potential damage that results from irrational leadership.
The society in which classical myths took place, the Greco-Roman society was a very patriarchal one. By taking a careful gander at female characters in Greco-Roman mythology one can see that the roles women played differ greatly from the roles they play today. The light that is cast upon females in classical myths shows us the views that society had about women at the time. In classical mythology women almost always play a certain type of character, that is to say the usual type of role that was always traditionally played by women in the past, the role of the domestic housewife who is in need of a man’s protection, women in myth also tended to have some unpleasant character traits such as vanity, a tendency to be deceitful, and a volatile personality. If one compares the type of roles that ladies played in the myths with the ones they play in today’s society the differences become glaringly obvious whilst the similarities seem to dwindle down. Clearly, and certainly fortunately, society’s views on women today have greatly changed.
In her poem "Myth," Natasha Trethewey uses mythology, a unique structure, rhyme pattern, and punctuation to make form and content inseparable. Each of these elements serves to share the stages of grief one goes through one feels at the death of a loved one as well as the feelings of deep loss and longing.
Mythology is known as a collection of myths, mainly belonging to a specific religion or cultural tradition. Mythology is known worldwide and is passed down, usually orally, to the youth. Mythology cannot be proven to be completely true, due to the lack of verified written proof. The three in this section include; Hindu, Egypt, and African each has their own way of how the world was created.
An interesting and important aspect of this Greek notion of fate is the utter helplessness of the human players. No matter the choice made by the people involved in this tragedy, the gods have determined it and it is going to come to pass. T...
The depiction of the Greek and roman myths are given unique insights from different authors. The Hymn to Demeter and Ovid's Metamorphosis provide and insight to Demeter's love for her daughter, Persephone, and explores its affect on the surrounding environments. The theme of separation and isolation is present in both of these myths, however, in Ovid's Metamorphosis, he symbolizes the environment in important events, has characters playing different roles, and empowers female deities.
“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of Thebes with a dreadful plague. Fundamentally, by utilizing fate, prophecies, the oracle of Apollo, and the plague, the gods played a significant role in the destruction of Oedipus and his family.
Sophocles’ tragic play, “Oedipus the King”, or “Oedipus Rex” as it’s known by its Latin name, is the Athenian drama that revolves around the events which lead to the demise of Oedipus Rex. The King Oedipus is forced down a preordained path that throws his entire world into a spiral of tragic providence, in this trilogy of a Theban play. Sophocles assigns the tragic hero to a downfall with the impossibility of changing the written fate; perhaps the views of today’s society would feel sympathy for the predicament that Oedipus is forced into, however, the publics of ancient Greece would accept that the path laid before them was a creation of the Gods. “Oedipus the King” reflects the ancient Greek credence in the belief that a person can do nothing to avoid their destiny, an idea that contrasts with what society believes today.