Location and time period play a big role in the development of myths and cultures. Norse mythology is located in Northern Europe and the Northern Atlantic. Meanwhile, across the world, Mapuche mythology is found in South-central Chile and Southwestern Argentina. Even though these locations are dramatically different, both mythologies believe their worlds were created around the same time. The Norsemen strongly believe that their worlds were developed around 1500 to 500 BC. As a matter of fact, Mapuches adhere to this as well. According to the Mapuche people, their worlds were created around 600-500 BC. Even though these cultures are miles apart, worldly events occurring during this time period were able to shape the ideas and beliefs of both societies. Since …show more content…
Although, each story and idea is not exactly alike. For example, the constant struggle between good and evil has been in the world since the beginning of time. In almost every culture and myth, there is a good and bad character that are absolute opposites. In Norse mythology, the tale of Thor and Odin demonstrate this concept easily. Thor represented order while Odin stood for violence and war. These two gods did not get along and were complete opposites resulting in conflict. In Mapuche mythology, it is more complicated. Tren-Tren and Kai-Kai Filu are similar to Thor and Odin. Tren-Tren was a good serpent with wings that was created to keep an eye on the evil serpent, Kai-Kai Filu. Tren-Tren would warn others when Kai-Kai Filu was in an evil mood. Tren-Tren wanted peace and order while Kai-Kai Filu was angry and destructive, just like Thor and Odin. The folktales and myths of these two mythologies show that there is a constant battle for power and control between two opposing sides, the good and the evil. This constant struggle shows up in almost every mythology all around the world in one way or
Most cultures have a creation myth, a story of how humans came to exist in the world. Often, they involve Gods of some capacity who exist without much question or explanation. Many myths have a common idea for the origin of the world, like Earth being born from water, a golden egg, or a great monster. The Mayan creation myth and the Babylonian creation myth are similar in that they both begin with water, and account the creation and purpose of man. They also differ, as the Mayan Popol Vuh chronicles a peaceful tale of trials to forge the Earth and sentient beings to worship the gods, while the Babylonian Enuma Elish tells of wars between gods that lead to the creation of Earth and of man as a servant to the gods.
The structure of stories, on which Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and Booker’s Seven Basic Plots elaborated, is actually only a portion of the field of study it is under. Comparative mythology not only studies the structure of hero stories, but also origins, themes, and characteristics of myths from various religions and cultures. They study the language, psychology, history, and anthropology in order to identify a common theme or beginning point. Even without delving into religion, many common elements have come to light. For instance, many cultures have tales of people with strange supernatural abilities, others speak of similar creatures that reside in water, air or land, while still others extol the importance of talisman and religious symbols. Despite cultures existing on different ends of the earth and having little contact for much of their existence, they share these common
... or evil. The peace after the subsided storm and the light overtaking the darkness represent the hero or good; these events are inevitable and are representative of the hero always defeating the monster and good always overcoming evil.
Myths tell a certain story, and are meant to give meaning to places, people, and things. Many times myths can be connected to religious beliefs and rituals. A popular theme of myths are creational myths, as a way to give some kind of meaning in the universe. Two creational myths are “Greek Creation” and “The Algonquin myth of Michabo”. Both Myths tell a story of how the earth or universe came to be, but the stories told have many details that contrast and at the same time compare to each other.
In other words, Kaang created the world for animals and humans, warning the humans that if they were to start a fire, great evil would overtake them. Obviously the humans disobeyed Kaang’s one command, and as a result, the animals fled. On the contrary, in the Iroquois myth, the Sky Women gave birth to a son that was evil. Flint created everything bad in the world, messing up everything his twin brother did to make the world good. In the end, the two brothers fought until Flint was beaten. Both creation myths explain how evil entered the world, just in different
The clash between good and evil has been a prominent theme in literature. The Bible presents the conflict between good and evil in the story of Adam and Eve. Many authors use the scene in the Bible in which the snake taunts and tempts Adam and Eve to take a bite of the apple of knowledge to demonstrate the frailty of humankind. John Gardner provides these same biblical allusions of good and evil in his novel, Grendel.
One of the most famous depictions of Norse mythology, in pop culture, is the movie Thor. Norse and Greek mythologies have both made their way into modern society. Yet, Greek mythology has a definite depiction of the afterlife while Norse mythology has no consistent idea of the afterlife. (McCoy, Daniel).
Norse, Japanese, and Greek mythologies, too, agree on a lot of ideals. They each contain a clash of gods and the death of certain gods in order to form life. The list of creation myths, and myths in general, that relate to each other could stretch out for miles. With these parallels, humanity can better understand earlier cultures and document the method to how mythologies change over time. Works Cited Browning, W. R. F. Dictionary of the Bible.
The Vikings have garnered attention over the years not only for their raiding and trading, but also for the Paganist gods and religion. Similar to many other ancient civilizations, the Vikings leave behind many myths containing tales of their gods and their beliefs. Marvel’s 2011 film Thor serves as an introduction to Norse gods and mythology, but it does fall flat in term of accuracy and detail in certain areas. Despite various large and small-scale changes to its overall plot and characters, Thor has been well-adapted to portray Norse myths as best as possible within an existing Marvel franchise.
To many, thanks to Marvel’s movie Thor, the most known Norse gods consist of Thor, Odin, and Loki. Those three gods are important to Norse mythology, but an overlooked Norse goddess is Hel the goddess of the underworld or her other title Hel of Helheim’s Hell Hall (Saunders, 2013). Hel is Loki and Angrboda’s daughter and it is said that her birth marked the beginning of disease (Took 2013).It is also said that Hel’s arrival to your village means that plaque was to come (Took,2013).According to the mythology she rules Helheim which is considered the Norse equivalent of the underworld (Saunders,2013). Unfortunately for Hel she was half dead, half blue, with a hideous face and gangrene on her legs, because of her ugliness she was banished by
In the movie Thor the title character is cast out of Asgaurd by his father and returns by proving himself worthy of his power and his father’s thrown. Similarly, the Odyssey is about Odysseus’ long journey back to his kingdom after the Trojan War. Thor and the Odyssey are very alike; but great hardship and historical literature reveals a contrast.
Throughout the novel good and evil is a way of life in Narnia. In The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis uses the characterization of the White Witch as Satan and Aslan as Christ in order to convey the opposing forces of good and evil in the Christian religion.
Wicked, dishonorable, corrupt, villainous, malicious, and vicious all have one thing in common: they define evil. A person or a group of people that display these qualities are often to be defined as evil beings or creatures. Two people that have many of these characteristics developed within them are Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello and Lucifer from the Bible. Both Iago and Lucifer are developed with many “evil” qualities woven intricately into their character development. The representation of each “evil” characteristic gives them something they have in common allowing the description and portrayal of both Iago and Lucifer in literature show the audience they share common “evil” characteristics and that they lead to chaos and downfall.
more than evil is capable of what seems to be good. More often in the story, God
Throughout studying many myths, I came up with many new observations. Many questions came into my mind about these myths. Greek mythology takes us back to a time when people had a connection with nature and when nature played a major role in people’s lives. The religious beliefs of the people who wrote the myths are found in the background of these myths; however, they are not to be read like religious texts. The myths try to offer explanations of “how”, which makes us think deeply about the purpose of these myths and the questions they draw to our minds. According to the myths we studied in class, the world created the gods, not the other way around. The gods were always created in the image of man, which shows how much men were important in their society. Furthermore, many of these Greek myths show us the difference between the views of the Greek then and our view towards many aspects of the society, including nature. Monsters appear in Greek myths and have different representations and roles. Greek mythology reflects a view of the Greeks towards the world and how certain aspects of their lives are similar and different to modern society.