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Apollo versus Dionysus
Apollo versus Dionysus
Apollo versus Dionysus
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Balance is an essential concept in almost every aspect of life. There is a balance between being underweight and overweight, a balance between being introverted and extroverted, a balance between work and lifestyle. In a person’s life, there will be moments where one must keep a balance between his structured, strict side, coined as being his “Apollonian” [Nietzsche, Friedrich Wilhelm. The Birth of Tragedy.] side, and his wild, carefree side, also known as his “Dionysian” side, based off of the two Greek Gods Apollo and Dionysus. If one does not keep that balance, he risks having his repressed side come out in extreme and dangerous ways. This can lead to being highly irrational, and he can risk hurting himself or the people around him. In …show more content…
By starting out with forcing himself to remain very structured and strict, one small change in his life is all it takes to make the tables completely turn, leading him to making bad decisions and eventually leading him to his …show more content…
In it, they are in the woods, and there are women holding "hissing snakes"[137] and "naked daggers" [137], men with "horns above their brows" [137] lifting "their arms and their thighs" [137], and young boys goading "he-goats" [138]. He hears these people chanting "the Stranger God!" [136], and later describes their activities saying they "raged, stimulating each other with lascivious gestures" [138]. This scene is a classic scene from a Dionysian cult in Ancient Greece. By using an orgy that as performed for the God Dionysus, and the reference to the "Stranger God"[136], his other name, he is using direct references to show how he has transformed into a completely Dionysian person. The feverish and jumbled writing, using words such as "howled", "killing" and calling himself a "slave to the foreign God", he clearly demonstrates his new chaotic and animalistic way of
...ty since "things could happen in the real life of Athens which were virtually unthinkable in tragedy, and vice versa." Perhaps the safest assessment of Dionysus is that while not a direct opponent of the traditional ways, his presence, and especially his effect on other characters, serves to highlight many social norms. According to Bernad Knox, "From start to finish, Euripides was 'attempting to show citizens bred in the traditional views...that such conceptions of the gods should offend them.'" Perhaps we as readers will never fully understand the Dionysus that appears in this play, but a closing look at a remark of the Chorus may bring us a step closer to this understanding:
Dionysos, also known as Dionysus, is an Olympian god of many things such as festivity, pleasure, wine, and vegetation. Dionysos is the god of wilderness and one of his attributes are large cats, helping me recognize the statue of him wearing clothes made of animal skin. According to Metropolitan Museum, it stated that, Dionysos wore panther skin over his skirt like clothes and animal head shaped like a huge cat on his high sandals that look like boots” (MET). Also, despite being a male figure, Dionysos has a petite face and is often attractive or even beautiful because he represents youth. Looking at the statue, another attribute that I recognized was that his face looked pretty and had long hair, making him look very young and feminine while having a masculine body.
Nobody told me how” (Blurb, Anderson). At this point he pursues the bad boy image, and he does not even know it. When a hero lives in a set life, it usually wakes up, gets a job, and sleeps again. There is a set rules that maybe are not set laws but it is the most chivalry thing to do.... ...
...t is also important to notice that every character seems to have wide eyes and dark circles drawn under their eyes. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects because the eyes show the underlying theme of complete inebriation. This in turn, proves the impact that Dionysus had on his followers as well as those who he conquered. Wine brought great power to its creator, and made a lasting impact on history. With these devices of communication, we are able to see that the follower wanted to capture Dionysus’s legacy by creating a sarcophagus of remembrance in his honor.
If an Apollonian Greek were to break his ego, or what Nietzsche would term his ‘shell,’ he would create the possibility of experiencing the pleasure offered by the Dionysian element. He allows himself to be overtaken by an ‘ecstatic’ ocean. The word ‘Titanic’ implies an enormity unable to be controlled. In this sense, the feeling of vastness can present itself as the antithesis to the Apollonian ideal of structure and thus prove overwhelming. So overwhelming, that one may be destroyed.
The evidence of Dionysian imagery and its interpretation seems to lead with considerable frequency away from any conception of religious insight and toward the realm of the ordinary. In his book, Carpenter rejects attempts to see Dionysian images as ‘sacred’ and, finding ‘nothing inherently admirable’ about Dionysus, states that depictions of the Dionysian ‘carry...no demands for religious awe’ (Carpenter, 120). But keep in mind that the artists were painting for various customers and were motiva...
The physical abuse is the root of his problems, affecting his self-esteem and self-image. He may be a genius, but he has thought of himself not to be worthy of anything including the praise of being an intellect. He runs away from the professor unwilling to be acknowledged for his intellect. He suffers from an inferior complex which he tries to counter by being the only one among his friends with a high intelligence to give him a superior status among them. His relationship is affected too when he tries to form one with Skylar. The young man also displays an impulsive nature which has gotten him in trouble in the past with the law which is why the judge was ready to be hard on him in the recent anger display. The same character flaw has been causing trouble for him in his relationship with Skylar which has been unstable. The moment she tells him she is leaving, the emotional mood swings and the explosive anger kick in and he pushes her away, and he even takes up a job to avoid confronting his fear of being abandoned. His fear of authority has made him humble and left him with no growth goal in his personal and work life. He wishes to remain hidden and unnoticeable. When this did not work he out rightly rebels against the authority figure like he did with the therapist he initially wanted to treat
Although, he is the god of wine who gives festivities and tranquil state of mind. He causes people lose control of their sanity which leads to negative consequences. These actions contradict the norms of society, specifically targeting the role of women who are supposed to be civil. Instead, they dance and worship Dionysus out of their own will. He has a wicked way of punishing those who denied his existence as a god by driving them crazy. His powers lead from being peaceful to destructive. If Dionysus was concerned with morality he will not lead others to lose their sanity or control them against their own will. His actions of seeking revenge are viewed as cruel for murdering those who claim he is not a god. The way he sought revenge to punish those who believed he was not a god shows that he is not concerned with
In the Christian tradition, Satan is commonly accepted as a hideous and monstrous being in direct contrast to God’s graceful mercy, often a shadowy figure with little depth. Yet there exists another very gothic view of this figure, as demonstrated by Milton in Paradise Lost, of a long suffering villain who appears more tragic artist than ultimate deceiver. The Monk, by Matthew Lewis, makes use of more tragic and mythical elements to make something altogether different, a Dionysian figure. Lewis uses such descriptive speech, symbols, and themes all connected to Greek myth to present a chaos creating character who transgresses not only God, but societal boundaries. While transgressions have been profusely researched in Gothic literature, the Dionysian myth connected to the Daemon spirit have been overlooked. I will reveal how much the scene of Ambrosio’s first meeting with Satan draws upon myths, symbols, and perceptions of the Greek God, and furthermore why these connections exist and reinforce the gothic genre.
...ed on him. He however goes back to previous ways for a while until he gets a job and finally realizes that he is grown up. This relates directly to society because we must all grow up and we are unable to do so until we realize it for ourselves.
The importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle will allow one to achieve the most worthwhile existence. Nikos Kazantzakis’ Zorba the Greek dramatizes the significance of balance between the Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy, through the characterization of the contrasting protagonists, Boss and Zorba. Kazantzakis typifies the differences amid the philosophical ideologies through the comparison of Boss and Zorba’s beliefs. Moreover, he represents Boss by his willingness to try to improve oneself and live more like Zorba. Through the progression of their journey, Zorba’s Dionysian lifestyle becomes a primary influence to Boss and begins to alter his perspectives on the true meaning of life. Throughout the novel, Kazantzakis outlines the
Dionysus symbolizes the untamed irrationality that cannot be controlled despite the relentless efforts of Pentheus the civilized rationality. He becomes infatuated with apprehending Dionysus, but suffers a horrible death when Dionysus manipulates him into dressing up as a woman and retrieving the maenads from the wild and bring them back to civilization. This leads to his own mother, Agave, and the rest of the savage women of the mountains to tear him apart limb from limb. Dionysus watches his violent punishment play out and witnesses the once proud Pentheus become a
Nietzsche introduces the Apollonian and the Dionysian as being part of the “Greek Life.” The Apollonian was based off of the Greek god Apollo. It represented culture, order, and art. The Dionysian was based off of the Greek god Dionysus. It represented nature, chaos, and feeling. Both the Apollonian and the Dionysian were combined with the creation of tragedy and became the core o...
So impelled, the individual forgets himself completely. the chariot of. Dionysus is bedecked with flowers and garlands; panthers and tigers stride beneath his yoke.his. Apollonian consciousness was but a thin veil hiding from him the whole Dionysian realm.(Nietzsche The Birth of Tragedy. “The Apollonian tendency is associated with the instinct for form, beauty, moderation, and symmetry.
... way of thinking is wrong and he admits that he is wrong and reconciles himself with his friends and family.