Slice of Life: The Worlds of Women and Men in Ancient Greece Throughout this slice of life, various questions were posed. Questions such as What emotions does Sappho express in her poem? How does Sappho describes her body's reaction to jealousy? What does Alcaeus long for while he is away from his homeland? Why is Alcaeus away from home? And How does the mood of these poems by Sappho and Alcaeus differ from the mood of Homer's Poetry? As I proceed I will answer these various questions.
To start, Sappho expresses heartbreak and jealousy in her poem through vivid imagery. She describes how her body aches and begins to become warm showing initially the jealousy of this other women. Then Sappho goes on to talk about how she develops a cold sweat,
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She talks about how it starts with a pain in her breast and a jolt in the heart. It quickly goes from there to a describing how her mouth becomes dry and how her tongue sticks. This further escalates to her feeling a fire beneath her skin. This fire causes her to lose sight and her ears begin to ache and "roar in their labyrinths" (Matthews/Platt/Nobel 46). From this fire, her body develops a cold sweat, and she starts shaking. Proceeding this, her body the becomes "greener than grass" (Matthews/Platt/Nobel 46). After this vivid description of anger and envy her body enters a state of numbness that she describes as "I am neither living nor dead and cry from the narrow between." (Matthews/Platt/Nobel 46). This masterful ordering of words has painted such a clear picture of her pain and reaction to …show more content…
Unlike Homer, who seemed to tell more stories of and epic proportion. Sappho and Alcaeus seem to focus more on real life, or life as it was. Where Homer has taken real life and exaggerated it some, adding details that may or may not have been completely factual. Homer also tended to over exaggerate the roles of the acclaimed hero, and how a person was perfect outside of one major flaw that would lead to their demise. Whereas Sappho and Alcaeus kept it more personal and realistic. Though they were still divided in that Sappho only talked about the women in the reading and how they felt only referencing man as the object of her pain, and Alcaeus spoke mostly of men, of himself really, and merely referenced women as a source of amusement for
Athena, the Greek goddess of both wisdom and war, is often considered the craftiest of all Olympian gods. She was born of a headache, and erupted from Zeus’ head fully armed and ready for battle. However, beside all this pomp, she is a rather caring, if war-loving, immortal. Throughout the entirety of The Odyssey she conveys an entirely platonic, almost motherly love for Odysseus. It is this that makes her significant character in Homer’s work. In The Odyssey, Athena is portrayed as a, if not the, major female figure throughout the entire epic poem. With her affection for Odysseus and her frequent appearances she plays a major role throughout the entire poem. Evidence of this integral role will be presented as proof of her importance to the story.
“She cried out, she cried for her mother, she felt her breath start jerking back and forth in her lungs as if it were something Arnold Friend was stabbing her with again and again with no tenderness. A noisy sorrowful wailing rose all about her and she was locked inside it the way she was locked inside this house” (Oates
Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex introduced the one of the most important tragic heroes of Greek literature. First performed in the fifth century B.C.E., the play is centered around Oedipus, the king of the Greek city-state Thebes, and his struggle to conquer his emotions as he seeks out the true story of his life. This work, inspired by a well-known Greek myth, scrutinizes both the tragic flaws of Oedipus and his heroism. Examples of Oedipus’ tragic flaws abound in the play. In his condemnation of Tiresias and Creon, Oedipus is controlled by his emotions. However, the heroism of Oedipus is also an essential theme of the drama, though it is often downplayed. Despite this, careful analysis can uncover many instances in which Oedipus exhibits his heroism by attempting to control his emotions and discover the truth of his origins. In his finest moments, Oedipus is in complete command of his emotions as he searches for the truth, while at his nadir, Oedipus is completely controlled by his emotions and is absolutely unpredictable. This contrast is, in large part, what makes Oedipus a tragic hero. Oedipus, King of Thebes, is among the greatest Hellenistic tragic heroes because of his fight to overcome his greatest flaw, his uncontrollable anger, as he heroically searches for the truth.
After hearing of her diagnosis, the narrator travels from his residence in “California to New York” where his mother lives (3). Staring out of his airplane window, he noticed a change in the scenery. The “mountains giving away to flatlands” is used to not only describe the scenery, but how his life is changing (3). He will no longer be living a lavish life in California, but a depressing one that would “bring tears to his eyes” (22-23). He got a “sense of slippage” at the thought of losing his mother (3). When he finally arrived to his parent’s residence, the narrator was greeted with “brittleness and frost” (4). The author uses these two words with a cold denotation to describe more than just the weather on Long Island (4). Brittleness and frost are utilized to display the narrator’s feeling, as well as the theme of the book. The weather wasn’t the only thing the narrator noticed when he entered his parent’s town. His mother's actions caught his attention as well. When she held his hand, he again felt a sense of slippage (9). It mirrored the sensation he experienced on the airplane. His mom is slipping out of his hands, while life
Her bedroom was closed but with an “open window” (463), with a roomy armchair she sank into. As she is looking out the window she sees “the tops of trees,” “new spring life,” “breath of rain was in the air,” and she could hear a peddler below in the street, calling to customers, and “patches of blue sky showing” (463). The author depicts in the previous sentence that when she uses “breath of rain was in the air,” rain is more like a cleansing so she could be feeling a sign of relief but can’t recognize it. She sat with her head on the cushion “quite motionless,” except when a sob came in her throat and “shook her,” like a child “continuously sobbing” (463) in its dreams. The author uses imagery in the previous
The subject of Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, is very clearly stated--it is “the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles.” The reader remains continually aware of the extent of Achilles’ rage, yet is never told the reason why Achilles remains angry and unreconciled. There is no definitive answer to this question. Achilles is not a static character. He is constantly changing; thus the question of why he remains angry solicits different answers at various stages throughout the poem. To find an answer, the reader must carefully examine Achilles’ ever-changing dilemma involving the concepts of mortality and honor. At its simplest, Achilles’ dilemma is that if he goes to war, he will die. But he will die with glory.
Sappho, as seen in poem 16 when she states that Helen went sailing for Troy not for her children or parents, but for love, implies that love is of utmost importance, more so even than one’s family. Sappho attempts to portray love realistically; with both the joy and pain that love brings to one’s life. In poem 31, Sappho focuses on the sharp pain love is capable of bestowing on someone. Sappho first speaks bitterly about the man talking to the women she loves. After recounting the passion she feels for this women, Sappho then discusses how she feels as if her despair might kill her. The jealousy expressed in this poem is one of the many woeful consequences of
Oedipus the King, written by Sophocles, is a tragic drama that portrays a great deal of irony. Oedipus, the protagonist, suffers serious misfortune that is significant in that the “misfortune is logically connected with the hero’s actions” (AbleMedia LLC). When the reader learns about the background of Greek culture and the life of Sophocles, this tragic drama is able to become more alive and valuable. It is important to familiarize oneself with the author because it allows for a greater connection to the dialogue presented. Through the character development of Oedipus, one can see how ironic circumstances can turn a prideful king into a tragic figure.
The affair between Ares and Aphrodite poses the question of whether Odysseus will return home to find Penelope with another man. The story of Klytemnestra and Agamemnon is a theme itself throughout most of the poem. Therefore its is hard to ignore it as both hold the same story with different outcomes. In addition, the level of anxiety builds through Penelope's actions and the contradicting traits of different women.
“The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.
Homer, Iliad is the narration of the Trojan war. The Trojan war was one of the most important and significant wars of Greek mythology, Homer described how the war was triggered by the abduction of the most beautiful women known as Helen. This paper will argue how the traditional view of this poem is accurate because it indeed was Helens beauty and her selfishness that sparked the Trojan war. Although Helen was not happy about the outcomes of her mistakes. This paper will present how Helen faced many forms of self judgment, how she created many relationships with significant characters, such as Paris, Priam and Aphrodite. Homers portrayal of this significant women was remarkable as we were able to feel her pain and anguish, the readers were
The characters in a novel or play are attributed certain characteristics by the author. The opinions one might form of a character are based on these; therefore, the characteristics suggested by an author are intrinsic to the reader having a complete and subjective understanding of a work. Characteristics are often displayed through a character s actions, in what is said about them, and what they themselves say, which shall be the focus of this essay. Both Oedipus, in Sophocles' King Oedipus and Odysseus, in The Odyssey of Homer, oftenare spoken of by others, but their own words are telling, as certain emotions and traits can be seen. Traits of a character can often be masked or distorted by favorable or unfavorable descriptions by others, but their own speech, however calculated or controlled, often clearly shows character flaws and attributes that one might not come across otherwise. Strict narration often polarizes a character, casting them as black or white, good or evil. However, in most writings, and certainly in The Odyssey and King Oedipus, the speech of a characterallows us to see the various shades of grey, thus portraying the character more fairly. One might see Oedipus and Odysseus as being in some ways quite similar, but their speech and the characteristics revealed therein is what sets them apart.
Men and women lived in completely dissimilar spheres, until the time of marriage. Even after marriage, they still retained strong ties to their own spheres, as Achilles and Patrocleus. This aspect of young life is depicted by Sappho in her poems. Apparently alternative lifestyles were commonly accepted in youth and continued throughout adulthood.
tragedies that befell her. She is an example of a melancholic character that is not able to let go of her loss and therefore lets it t...
The 'Iliad'; by Homer is a book that deals with many emotional issues. I am going to talk about a few emotional parts of the Iliad and compare them to the emotional life of today. I have chosen a section of the book and will talk about the emotions that come up there. The section that I have chosen to talk about is in book 18 when Achilles is very angry and very sad about Patroclus death. After that he wants revenge by killing hector.